Patent ID: 11885536
Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
Field: Other consumer goods (Other fields)
Classification: CPC F  D | IPC D  F

Claim 0:
1. A method of controlling a clothes treating apparatus including a container configured to accommodate clothes therein, a duct forming a passage for circulating air inside the container therethrough, a fan provided in the duct, a refrigerant pipe forming a refrigerant and a lubricant circulation passage, an evaporator configured to evaporate refrigerant by exchanging heat with air, a condenser configured to condense the refrigerant by exchanging heat with air passed through the evaporator, a compressor configured to compress the refrigerant discharged from the evaporator and transferring the compressed refrigerant to the condenser and includes a body which compresses the refrigerant via either rotary or linear reciprocating motion, and an expansion valve configured to open and close the refrigerant pipe, the method comprising:
operating the fan a first time to circulate air through the duct and the container;
opening the expansion valve for a drying step;
operating, for the drying step, the compressor at a first operation speed when the expansion valve is opened for the drying step to circulate the refrigerant through the refrigerant pipe;
performing a determination to determine that a dryness level of clothes stored in the container has reached a predetermined reference dryness level or a reference time has elapsed;
terminating the operating of the fan the first time after the determination that the dryness level of clothes stored in the container has reached the predetermined reference dryness level or the reference time has elapsed;
closing the expansion valve after the terminating the operating of the fan the first time after the determination that the dryness level of clothes stored in the container has reached the predetermined reference dryness level or the reference time has elapsed; and
in response to the closing of the expansion valve and while the expansion valve is closed, retrieving the lubricant inside the refrigerant pipe by operating the compressor at a second operation speed lower than the first operation speed,
wherein a number of revolutions of the body is configured to be less while the expansion valve is closed for the retrieving of the lubricant than while the expansion valve is opened for the drying step.