JPH0951999A - Clothes dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: [PROBLEMS] To provide a clothes dryer that is hygienic without releasing steam contained in laundry into the room and can reduce the amount of heat supplied for drying. SOLUTION: When the laundry 12 is dried, a silica gel 3 is placed in a drying chamber 16, and the silica gel 3 absorbs water vaporized from the laundry 12 and generates heat, so that steam is released to the outside of the dryer. It is possible to prevent this and reduce the amount of heat supplied. Also, the silica gel 3 can be left outside the drying chamber 16 to absorb the natural heat generated by sunlight, wind, etc., so that the adsorbed moisture can be released to the atmosphere. Therefore, the silica gel 3 can be used only as a moisture adsorbent. Instead, it is repeatedly used as a heat storage body equivalent to natural heat.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clothes dryer that can dry laundry indoors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, laundry is hung on a hanger or the like and housed in a drying chamber that is kept in a substantially sealed state, and warm air is blown onto the laundry to evaporate the water content of the laundry and evaporate it. There is a clothes dryer that dries the laundry without returning the water vapor to the water droplets and then removing the water vapor from the inside of the drying room without scattering the water vapor inside the room.

As a method for returning evaporated water vapor to water droplets again, high-temperature and high-humidity air in a drying chamber is cooled below a dew point by a cooling member and condensed on the surface of the cooling member to collect the water droplets. .

[0004]

However, in the conventional clothes dryer, in order to dry the laundry, at least the amount of heat of evaporation latent heat for evaporating the moisture contained in the laundry is supplied by the electric heater or the like. It is necessary to. The reason is that when vaporized steam returns to water droplets again, it generates almost the same amount of latent heat of condensation as the latent heat of vaporization that was absorbed earlier, but reuses it by directing it to part of the latent heat of vaporization. This is because there is no recycling means in place.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is hygienic without releasing steam contained in laundry indoors and reduces the amount of heat supplied for drying. It is an object of the present invention to provide a clothes dryer that can be used.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, the clothes dryer according to claim 1 of the present invention is arranged so that it can be attached to and detached from the inside of a casing, and the clothes dryer is stored in the casing. An adsorbent that adsorbs evaporated water is provided, and the adsorbent is made of a material that can release the adsorbed water to the atmosphere by leaving it outside the housing.

Therefore, when the laundry is dried, if the adsorbent is placed in the housing and the drying operation is performed, the adsorbent adsorbs the water vapor evaporated from the laundry, but at the same time as the adsorption, heat (mainly Latent heat of condensation) is generated, the temperature of the air in the housing rises due to the heat, and drying of the laundry is promoted. After that, the adsorbent is left outside the housing to absorb the natural heat produced by the solar radiation or the wind, so that the adsorbed water can be released to the atmosphere as water vapor. Not only as a moisture adsorbent, but also as a heat storage body equivalent to natural heat, which can be repeatedly used for drying clothes, and the amount of heat supplied can be reduced.
In general, in order to condense the water vapor contained in the air into water droplets, it is necessary to cool the air below the dew point, but in that case, the latent heat of condensation generated by the condensation is unilaterally It flows to the cooling side and cannot be reused. On the other hand, when water vapor is adsorbed on the surface of the adsorbent, heat of chemical reaction and latent heat of condensation due to capillary adsorption occur, and condensation due to capillary adsorption occurs on the surface of the adsorbent at a temperature higher than the air temperature. Since the air that comes into contact with the adsorbent is also heated not only by the heat of chemical reaction but also by the latent heat of condensation, it is possible to evaporate the moisture from the laundry by the heated air. That is, heat is recycled by diverting the latent heat of condensation to the latent heat of evaporation.

Further, in the clothes dryer according to the second aspect, since the adsorbent is made of water resistant silica gel, a large amount of water is absorbed in the clothes dryer having a high relative humidity and the relative humidity is low. The water adsorbed in the external space can be released.

Further, the clothes dryer according to a third aspect of the present invention can easily store the adsorbent accommodated in the accommodating body by accommodating the adsorbent and having an air-permeable accommodating body. Since it is a storage body that can be placed inside the housing or left outside the housing and has air permeability, the adsorbent adsorbs the water that evaporates from the laundry, and the adsorbed water is stored in the atmosphere. It does not interfere with the release.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a clothes dryer embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the outline of a clothes dryer 7 of the first embodiment.

The clothes dryer 7 of the first embodiment comprises a housing 8 as a housing, a water tank 15 arranged at the lower part of the housing 8 and legs 6 for supporting the housing 8.

The housing 8 is made of a metal material such as aluminum having a high thermal conductivity. A housing opening portion 4 is provided at the center of the housing bottom surface 5 so that water droplets, which will be described later, flow out to the water tank 15. Further, the housing bottom surface 5 is inclined so that the water droplets can easily flow into the housing opening portion 4. Inside the housing 8, a drying chamber 1 capable of accommodating a laundry 12 together with an upper wall of the housing 8.
An inner wall 9 forming 6 is installed at a predetermined distance from each inner side surface of the housing 8 and parallel to each inner side surface of the housing 8.

The inner wall 9 is made of a material such as foamed polyethylene having low water absorption and high heat insulation,
An inner wall opening portion 17 is provided in the central portion of the bottom surface thereof to circulate the air in the drying chamber 16 again to the drying chamber 16 through the air passage 10 described later. A fan 13 is installed in the inner wall opening portion 17, and a heater 14 as a heating unit is installed above the fan 13. With this structure, the air warmed by the heater 14 is supplied from below by the fan 13 into the drying chamber 16 to heat the laundry to evaporate the moisture, and then from the upper portion of the drying chamber 16 to the housing. 8 and the inner wall 9 formed down the air passage 10, passing through the housing bottom surface 5,
It is again heated by the heater 14 and circulated. Therefore,
The air containing moisture evaporated from the laundry 12 is cooled by the air outside the clothes dryer 7 when passing through the air passage 10. Then, water droplets are generated on the inner side surface of the housing 8 forming the air passage 10, the water droplets flow down, flow through the inclined housing bottom surface 5, and flow down from the inner wall opening 4 to the water tank 15.

On the upper portion of the inner wall 9, a clothes rod 1 for storing the laundry 12 through a hanging tool such as a hanger.
1 is provided. The adsorbent container 1 serving as a container that accommodates the silica gel 3 serving as an adsorbent is hung on the clothesline 11. As the silica gel 3, a JIS-B type silica gel (hereinafter, referred to as a water resistant type silica gel)
B-type silica gel is used for the sake of simplicity.

The adsorbent container 1 is, as shown in FIG.
It is made of a material such as plastic and is formed into a slit-like substantially box shape. When the silica gel 3 is stored in the adsorbent container 1, a net-shaped bag 2 made of plastic fiber is used.
The inside is filled with silica gel 3, and the bag 2 is housed in the adsorbent container 1.

Next, as the silica gel 3 of the first embodiment, B
The reason why the type silica gel is used will be described with reference to FIG.
In addition, FIG. 3 shows four kinds of adsorbents (B type silica gel, A type silica gel, activated alumina, synthetic zeolite).
The relationship between the relative humidity and the moisture absorption rate indicating the ratio of the mass of water adsorbed by each adsorbent to the amount of adsorbed material is shown.

Generally, in most of the outdoors on a sunny day, the humidity is 70% RH or less (hereinafter, to simplify the explanation, the humidity 70% RH is simply 70%).
It is often around 50%. On the other hand, since the humidity in the clothes dryer is 80% or more for most of the drying period, the humidity is 70 to 70%.
It is desirable that the rate of change of the moisture absorption rate near 80% is large, and the maximum moisture absorption rate near humidity 100% is at least twice as high as the moisture absorption rate near humidity 50%. B-type silica gel has characteristics close to this, and according to FIG. 3, the maximum moisture absorption is about 77 when the humidity is 100%.
%, And the moisture absorption rate at a humidity of 50% is about 11%, so that a maximum moisture absorption of 66% is possible.

Next, the operation of the clothes dryer 7 of the first embodiment will be described.

When the clothes dryer 7 is not used, the adsorbent container 1 containing the silica gel 3 is taken out of the clothes dryer 7 on a sunny day and left. Here, assuming that the humidity of the atmosphere is 50%, the silica gel 3 housed in the adsorbent container 1 begins to evaporate the adsorbed water in order to shift to the state of the adsorption rate of 11%, as shown in FIG. With evaporation, latent heat of evaporation is removed, the temperature of the air in the vicinity of the adsorbent is slightly lowered, and a heat flow is generated from the surrounding air based on the temperature difference, so that evaporation is continuously performed. The evaporation rate becomes higher as the flow of air near the adsorbent becomes faster due to wind or the like, and becomes higher if the solar radiation is strong. After that, the adsorbent container 1 is housed in a vinyl bag or the like (not shown) so that unnecessary moisture is not adsorbed on the silica gel 3 whose moisture absorption rate has dropped to nearly 11%.

When the clothes dryer 7 is used, after the adsorbent container 1 is taken out from the vinyl bag, the laundry containing water is hung on the clothes rod 11 together with the adsorbent container 1. Then, when a door (not shown) is closed and an operation switch (not shown) is pressed, the heater 14 is energized, the fan 13 is rotated, and the air warmed by the heater 14 is supplied into the drying chamber 16. In the drying room 16,
Moisture contained in the laundry 12 begins to evaporate and the humidity becomes 100%.
% Or higher humidity. In this state, the silica gel 3 housed in the adsorbent container 1 can adsorb water vapor up to a moisture absorption rate of 77%. Silica gel before use 3
Assuming that the moisture absorption rate of is 11%, it is possible to adsorb 66% of the moisture which is the difference. For example, when 2 kg of silica gel 3 is used, 1.32 kg of water can be adsorbed.

The hot and humid air containing water vapor which has not been adsorbed by the silica gel 3 is supplied again into the drying chamber 16 through the air passage 10. In the air passage 10, the hot and humid air is cooled by the inner surface of the housing 8 which is in contact with the outside air, and is condensed to form water droplets. The water droplets flow downward along the inner surface of the housing 8, flow on the inclined bottom surface 5, and from the housing opening 4 to the water tank 15.
Flow into. When the drying progresses and the amount of water contained in the laundry 12 is reduced, the humidity in the drying chamber 16 gradually decreases. As shown in FIG. 3, the moisture absorption rate of the silica gel 3 decreases as the humidity of the ambient air decreases. Therefore, the adsorption stops at a certain humidity. From that state, further dry room 16
When the humidity in the inside decreases, there is a disadvantage that water vapor starts to be emitted contrary to the conventional case. However, it may be controlled so that the drying is finished when the humidity falls below the set humidity. still,
Assuming that the laundry initially contained 3 kg of water, 1.68 kg of water, which is a difference from 1.32 kg adsorbed by the silica gel 3, is condensed on the inner surface of the housing 8 and flows into the water tank 15.

Next, the respective directions of the heat (mainly condensation latent heat) generated by the adsorption and the condensation latent heat generated on the inner surface of the housing 8 will be described. As previously mentioned,
Assuming that silica gel 3 has adsorbed 1.32 kg of water in the drying chamber, at least 3200 kJ (kilojoules) of heat (mainly latent heat of condensation) is released at a temperature higher than the drying chamber temperature to heat the air in the drying chamber. . On the other hand, the water vapor condensed on the inner surface of the housing 8 generates latent heat of condensation of about 4100 kJ (kilojoule), but this heat is generated at a temperature lower than the air temperature in the drying chamber, so that the air in the drying chamber is It is discharged unilaterally to the outside of the dryer through the housing 8 without heating. Therefore, the amount of heat generated when the water vapor is adsorbed by the silica gel 3 is effectively recycled as latent heat of vaporization for evaporating the water content of the laundry, and the heater 14
However, the latent heat of condensation generated when dew condensation occurs on the surface below the dew point such as the inner surface of the housing 8 is not recycled.

As is apparent from the above description, according to the clothes dryer 7 of the first embodiment, when the laundry 12 is dried, the silica gel 3 is placed in the drying chamber 16 and the silica gel 3 is washed. Since at least a part of the water vaporized from the item 12 is adsorbed and heat is generated to accelerate the drying of the laundry 12, it is possible to prevent water vapor from being released indoors and reduce the amount of heat supplied by the heater 14. be able to. In addition, the silica gel 3 is left outside the drying chamber 16 to absorb the natural heat generated by sunlight or wind, so that the adsorbed water can be released to the atmosphere. Therefore, the silica gel 3 is used as a water adsorbent. In addition, it can be repeatedly used as an equivalent natural heat storage body.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above in detail, and within the scope of the invention,
Various changes can be made. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the heater 14 may not be used.
Incidentally, in FIG. 4, for the same members as in the first embodiment,
The same reference numerals are given and the description is omitted.

In FIG. 4, the clothes dryer 1 of the second embodiment is shown.
8 is configured such that the adsorbent container 1 is arranged in a horizontal state above the drying chamber 16 and serves as an upper wall of the drying chamber 16. Therefore, the air circulating in the drying chamber 16 flows through the adsorbent container 1 by the fan 13. The clothes dryer 18 dries the laundry 12 using the latent heat of condensation generated when the silica gel 3 adsorbs the steam generated from the laundry 12. The housing 8 is
It is made of a heat insulating material such as polyethylene foam so that dew condensation does not occur inside.

With the above-mentioned configuration,
The adsorption rate of water vapor generated from the laundry 12 can be increased, and the heat output is increased. Also, the housing 8
The heat release from the outer surface is suppressed, and the heat generated by the adsorbent is effectively used. In this configuration, the temperature in the drying chamber 16 increases slightly as the air in the drying chamber 16 passes through the adsorbent container 1 once. Evaporation of water becomes active, and drying proceeds at a temperature where heat output and heat consumption are in equilibrium. Due to the characteristics of the adsorbent, the heat output of the adsorbent becomes maximum in the initial stage of drying and decreases with the progress of drying, but since the evaporation rate of water also decreases with the progress of drying, the amount of adsorbent, the amount of laundry, If the passing air velocity is properly set, it is possible to dry without using a heater.

Due to these circumstances, the clothes dryer 18 according to the second embodiment cannot adsorb moisture exceeding the adsorption capacity of the silica gel 3, so that the amount of laundry is limited.
Although the drying time becomes long and other inconveniences occur, it is possible to provide the clothes dryer 18 which has a simple structure and does not release water vapor indoors and has an extremely low operating cost.

Further, in the first and second embodiments, the granular silica gel 3 is used as the adsorbent, but it is also possible to use an activated alumina molded body formed into a honeycomb shape or the like. By configuring, the air permeability can be further enhanced and the adsorbent container 1 can be simplified.

Further, the adsorbent may be composed of silica gel having a larger pore volume or pore diameter than B type silica gel and having a maximum moisture absorption rate of 120%. Further, by mixing a plurality of kinds of granular adsorbents having different moisture absorption characteristics, it is possible to obtain a material having an arbitrary moisture absorption characteristic. Considering the season when the clothes dryer is used, etc., it is suitable for that season. An adsorbent can also be provided.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the clothes dryer of the first aspect of the present invention, when the laundry is dried, the adsorbent is placed inside the housing, and the adsorbent is Since moisture that evaporates from the laundry is absorbed and heat is generated, it is possible to prevent water vapor from being released indoors, and it is possible to reduce the amount of heat supplied for drying. Further, the adsorbent can be released to the atmosphere as water vapor by leaving the adsorbent outside the housing to absorb natural heat energy caused by sunlight, wind, or the like. Can be repeatedly used not only as a moisture adsorbent but also as a heat storage equivalent to natural heat for drying clothes.

Further, according to the clothes dryer of claim 2, since the adsorbent is made of water-resistant silica gel, a large amount of water is absorbed in the clothes dryer having a high relative humidity and the relative humidity is high. Most of the adsorbed water can be released in the low external space.

Further, according to the clothes dryer of the third aspect, since the adsorbent is accommodated and the accommodating body having the air permeability is provided, the adsorbent accommodated in the accommodating body can be easily stored in the clothes dryer. Since it is a storage body that can be placed inside the housing or left outside the housing and has air permeability,
It does not prevent the adsorbent from adsorbing the water vaporized from the laundry and releasing the adsorbed water to the atmosphere.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an outline of a clothes dryer according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a structure of an adsorbent.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between relative humidity and moisture absorption rate of various adsorbents.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an outline of a clothes dryer according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Adsorbent Container 2 Bag 3 Silica Gel 7 Clothes Dryer 8 Housing 9 Inner Wall 10 Airway 11 Clothes Drying Rod 12 Laundry 13 Fan 14 Heater 15 Water Tank 16 Drying Room

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An adsorbent that is removably disposed in the housing and that adsorbs moisture that evaporates from laundry stored in the housing, and the adsorbent is left outside the housing. A clothes dryer, which is made of a material capable of releasing adsorbed moisture to the atmosphere. 2. The clothes dryer according to claim 1, wherein the adsorbent is made of water resistant silica gel. 3. The storage body for storing the adsorbent and having air permeability, according to claim 1 or 2.
A clothes dryer according to claim 1.