Patent ID: 7866061
Filing Date: 2011-01-11
Classification: D06F

Abstract:
1. A clothes dryer to perform a drying operation for drying clothes, comprising: a water tub having a hot-air exit formed in a front thereof and a hot-air entrance formed in a rear thereof; a rotating container provided in the water tub; an airflow path connecting the hot-air exit and the hot-air entrance to each other; a drive unit that rotates the rotating container; an air circulation blower that circulates air in the water tub from the hot-air exit through the airflow path and the hot-air entrance into the water tub; and a heat pump formed by circularly connecting an evaporator and a condenser both of which are disposed in the airflow path, and a compressor; a discharge airflow path leading to the outside of the clothes dryer from a portion between the rotating container and the evaporator in the airflow path, where the portion between the rotating container and the evaporator in the airflow path is toward a front of the clothes dryer; an airflow path switching unit which is switched so as to open the portion between the rotating container and the evaporator in the airflow path in the drying operation, and to open the discharge airflow path in cooling an atmosphere in a place where the clothes dryer is placed; an air inlet provided in a portion of an upper wall between the evaporator and the condenser in the airflow path, said upper wall defining the airflow path; an air discharge blower that introduces air outside the airflow path from the air inlet to be passed through the evaporator, and discharges the air from the discharge airflow path to the outside of the clothes dryer; and a cooling device that cools down the condenser.