A clothes dry-cleaning machine

Abstract: The machine in object envisages a heating-condensation chamber (8) of the solvent with a first through-circuit (9) inside which flows the solvent arriving from a second tank (10) outflowing from a barrel (1), which supplies a distillation chamber (5) in accordance with the quantities present in the said distillation chamber (5); the said distillation chamber (5) sends to the chamber (8) hot solvent outflowing from the distillation chamber (5) through a second circuit (13) passing successively through a solvent cooling chamber (14) in which some solvent is present at a lower temperature inflowing from a third tank (15) and a third through-circuit (16) equipped with refrigerating liquid; the second circuit (18) passing through a condenser (7) so as to permit of a further cooling of the refrigerating liquid of the refrigerating system (6r) and terminating, at its end, in the third tank (15).

Description: The invention relates to a clothes dry-cleaning machine. In the design and realisation of dry-cleaning machines for clothes there is a continual need to make technical improvements and pay even greater heed to the ecological norms required by law, while keeping the work rate and quality high. At present machines exist which perform dry-cleaning by following a continuous distillation process, with practically all of the functioning devices closed in an internal closed circuit. The only two connections with the outside are the electric power connection for the principal apparatus (for example, motor compressors) and a water-supply connection for the cooling of the vapour condenser and for the cooling circuit cooling. More precisely, the water (coming from the principal acqueduct or well and channelled into appropriate conduits) passes through small tubes, possibly equipped with fins, arranged internally to a case, which defines the collection tank of the distilled solvent vapours, which can thus condensate and be recuperated: the water, circulating in other appropriate conduits, serves as a cooling element for the condenser of the general cooling circuit of the machine. The drawbacks of such a connection are the following: the positioning of the machine inside the building, which obviously must be such as to enable an easy link-up to the water supply; the considerable volume of water used for the various cooling operations after each cleaning cycle with consequent high running costs, and a further, ecological problem, caused by the need to dispose of the water used by the machine, apart from the problem of actually finding a water supply that can provide the quantities of water needed. For overcoming these problems, the European Patent application EP-A-0 239 663 proposes of substituting the water coming from the acqueduct for the cooling circuit of the machine, with a cold carrier, preferably antifreeze liquid, in closed circuit. In a unit, acting as a heat pump, comprising two columns and a compressor, at the same time, in one column the cold carrier is cooled and in the other column a heat carrier, preferably dyathermic oil, is warmed up. The heat carrier is then used to heat the dry cleaning liquid. The use of two different carriers and the arrangement of the heat pump unit make the machine quite complicated and encumbering. The aim of the present invention is that of obviating the above mentioned drawbacks through the realisation of a dry-cleaning machine with an autonomous solvent-cooling and general circuit condenser cooling device, which device runs in a closed circuit internally to the machine and uses in part the cleaning solvent. The technical characteristics of the invention, according to the above-mentioned aims, can clearly be seen from the contents of the accompanying claims, and the advantages of the invention will be better evidenced in the detailed description that follows, made with reference to the accompanying figure which shows a block drawing of the machine which is object of the present invention, in an embodiment to be considered purely in the form of a non-limiting example. With reference to the figure, the clothes dry-cleaning machine comprises, in its essential parts inherent to the invention, a circular-section barrel 1 for dry-cleaning, which barrel 1 is connected by means of a sealed door (not illustrated) to the outside, while on the other side it is supplied by first pump means 2 constituted by an aspiration pump, from a first tank 3 containing solvent and equipped with a filtering element 4, such as for example a cartridge filter, or alternatively ecological nylon discs. The cleaning barrel 1 is also connected to a distillation and cleaning chamber 5, evaporating the solvent used in the barrel 1, using autonomous heating means 5a (for example, electrical resistance elements): the chamber 5 is connected in its turn to the first tank 3. A drying circuit 6 is also envisaged for drying the clothes, functioning by closed-circuit air circulation according to a direction S. The said circuit 6 comprises, arranged one downstream of the other, a refrigeration cooling system 6r equipped with a compressor 6a to permit the flow of refrigerating liquid (for example, freon) to the zone to be cooled, a coil-tube heat-exchanger 32 and a condenser 7 for cooling the refrigerating liquid already in circulation by means of for example a fan 6b in such a way as to condense the solvent exiting from the barrel 1. The circuit further comprises a heating system 6c comprising a main heat exchanger 30 and an auxiliary heat exchanger 31 connected in closed circuit to the distillation chamber 5 to permit the drying of the clothes. The machine illustrated in the accompanying figure comprises a pre-heating -condensation chamber 8 of the solvent, which is crossed by a first through-circuit 9, constituted in the internal zone of the pre-heating -condensation chamber 8 by a coil-tube heater, inside which flows the solvent arriving from a second container tank 10 of the solvent used during the cycle and exiting from the barrel 1, which solvent is already at atmospheric temperature. Through this first circuit 9 the distillation chamber 5 is supplied, also by means of a first conduit 11 equipped with valve means 12 which terminates in the said distillation chamber 5, but which valve means 12 also supply the chamber 5 according to the quantity present in the said chamber 5. The said valve means 12 are constituted by a timer valve 12v aimed at supplying the distillation chamber 5 with the solvent, by means of discontinuous jets of heated solvent into the chamber (a sort of injection-supply), and according to the requirement of the machine (that is, washing or pre-washing). In its turn the distillation chamber 5 directly supplies the pre-heating-condensation chamber 8, by means of a relative conduit 5b, with the vaporised solvent exiting from the said chamber, through a relative second circuit 13, passing through the pre-heating-condensation chamber 8 and across a solvent cooling chamber 14; internally to the solvent cooling chamber 14 there is some solvent at atmospheric temperature arriving from a further, third tank 15 (of greater capacity with respect to the previous ones) for the accumulation and containment of the said solvent and a third through-circuit 16 inside which the abovementioned refrigerating liquid coming directly from the compressor 6a flows. The second circuit 13 (which is also a coil tube heat-exchanger internally to the cooling chamber 14 together with the third circuit 16) is in its turn connected to a separation chamber 17 of the cooled and cleaned solvent and is connected at its outlet both with the first 3 an with the third 15 tanks in such a way as to supply, through special valves 17a and 17b, the said tanks with the solvent according to the requirements of the machine. The cooling solvent, on the other hand, outlets from the cooling chamber 14 through a second conduit 18 passing across the above-mentioned condenser 7 (in which the conduit 18 is equipped with a further coil tube heat exchanger 18s), so as to permit of an eventual further cooling of the refrigerating liquid of the cooling system 6r, and then terminates, at its end, internally to the third tank 15, to be reintegrated with the solvent. The said second conduit 18 is equipped both with second valve means 25, which permit its opening in accordance with the cooling requirements of the freon and with a further branching conduit 21, controlled by further, third valve means 22, which conduit 21 permits the solvent to pass directly from the cooling chamber 14 to the third tank 15 without flowing internally to the condenser 7. Naturally both the second 10 and the third 15 tanks are equipped with second pump means 19 and 20, both constituted by pumps, so, as to permit the solvent to flow externalwise from them. As can be deduced from the above description, the dry-cleaning machine functions in the following way at least as far as the internal heating and cooling circuits are concerned: after the prewashing phase of the clothes contained in the barrel 1 has been concluded, using the clean solvents coming from the first tank 3 (see arrow P), or alternatively from the third tank 15 the now-dirty solvents are removed (arrow F) at atmospheric temperature (about 18-20 degrees) internally to the second tank 10; from here the said dirty solvents are taken and sent towards the pre-heating-condensation chamber 8 (see arrow F1), passing through the through-circuit tube heat-exchanger 9 and according to necessity are made to flow inside the distillation chamber 5 (see arrow F2). Inside the distillation chamber 5 the dirty solvents are purified by means of evaporation and are sent (at a temperature of about 121 degrees Celsius) inside the pre-heating-condensation chamber 8 (see arrow F3), in which the hot solvent undergoes a first drop in temperature, thanks to the dirty solvent at atmospheric temperature flowing in the heat-exchanger 9. Subsequently the solvent reaches the solvent cooling chamber 14 at a temperature of about 95 degrees (see arrow 4) where it is cooled by the selfsame solvent flowing from the third tank 15 at a temperature of about 5-10 degrees and thanks also to the third heat-exchanger 16 (since the first tank alone is not sufficient) wherein the refrigerating liquid flows (in effect a second, closed-circuit condenser). Thus the cooled and cleaned solvent (at about a temperature of 30 degrees) can flow into the separation chamber 17 which divides it between the first 3 and third tanks 15 according to the cleaning needs of the machine (see arrows F5 and F6). The cooling solvent flowing out of the cooling chamber 14 is sent to the second conduit 18 (see arrow F7) in order to return to the third tank 15; in the second conduit 18 the solvent, making a longer circuit, can cross the cooling condenser 7 for the refrigerating liquid to speed up the cooling phase (this passage becomes necessary in the critical functioning moments at full power of the entire cooling system when the fan 6b alone is not sufficient), or, if this phase is not necessary, the solvent can be de-routed more quickly towards the third tank 15 across the branching conduit 21 (see arrow F8). Thanks to this type of machine it is possibly to have all of the solvent cooling phase contained in a closed circuit, without the need to link up to external water sources, since the cooling is achieved thanks principally to the use of other, cooler solvent; this factor makes possible a considerable user-saving as well as a speeding-up of the cleaning cycles.

Claims: A machine for clothes dry-cleaning of the type comprising at least one one washing barrel (1) connected through a sealedly closable door to the outside and supplied by means of first pump means (2), from at least a first tank (3) of solvent equipped with at least one filter element (4); said washing barrel (1) being also connected to a distillation chamber (5) having autonomous heat means (5a) to evaporate the solvent used in said barrel (1), said barrel (1) also being connected, in its turn, with said first tank (3); a close type air-circulation circuit (6) to dry the cleaned clothes in said barrel (1), comprising a compressor refrigerating system (6r) having at least a condenser (7) and an evaporator (32) to condensate the solvent vapours coming from the barrel (1), which compressor refrigerating system (6r) is downstream, in accordance with the air circulation direction, of a heating system (6c) for drying the clothes contained in the said barrel (1), characterised in that it comprises: a pre-heating-condensation chamber (8) of said distilled solvent crossed by a first cooling circuit (9) of the distilled vapours in which the solvent arriving from a second container tank (10) flows, said solvent being the same as used in a cycle, at atmospheric temperature, exiting from the said barrel (1), said first circuit (9) supplying said distillation chamber (5) through a first conduit (11) equipped with first valve means (12) aimed at supplying said distillation chamber (5) in accordance with the quantities present in the selfsame distillation chamber; said pre-heating-condensation chamber (8) being connected, in inlet and through a conduit (5b) with said distillation chamber (5) and crossing in outlet and through a second circuit (13); a cooling chamber (14) of said solvent in transit in said second circuit (13) and inside which said solvent is present on arrival from a third tank (15) of accumulation and containment of the solvent, said second circuit (13) being in its turn connected to a separation chamber (17) of said cooled solvent connected, in outlet, with said first and third tanks (3, 15) and supplying said first and third tanks (3, 15) with said cooled distilled solvent in accordance with the needs of the said machine; said cooling chamber (14) being further connected with a third through-circuit (16) inside which a refrigerating liquid flows, being part of said compressor refrigerating system (6r); the exit of said cooling solvent from said cooling chamber (14) being equipped with a second conduit (18) passing, through a heat-exchanger element (18s), through said condenser (7) of said compressor refrigerating system (6r) so as to permit of a further cooling of said refrigerating liquid and terminating inside said third tank (15); second valve means (25) being envisaged along said second conduit (18) and aimed at opening said second conduit (18) in accordance with a cooling request on the part of said condenser (7); second pump means (19, 20) acting at least on said second and third tanks (10, 15) so as to permit an externalwise flow from said second and third tanks (19, 20) of said solvent. A machine as in claim 1, characterised in that the said second conduit (18) is equipped with a further, branching conduit (21) controlled by further, third valve means (22) aimed at permitting a passage from the said cooling chamber (14) to the said third tank (15) of the said solvent not flowing internally to the said condenser (7). A machine as in claim 1, characterised in that each of the said first, second and third through-circuits (9, 13, 16) comprises a coil-tube heat-exchanger, respectively located at the inlet of the said first through-circuit (9) into the said pre-heating-condensation chamber (8) and located at the inlet of the said second and third through-circuits (13, 16) into the said cooling chamber (14). A machine as in claim 1, characterised in that the said first valve means (12) are constituted by a timer valve (12v) aimed at supplying by means of discontinuous jets of the said solvent, in accordance with the requirements of the said machine, the said distillation chamber of the said solvents. A machine as in claim 1, characterised in that the first and the second pump means (2, 19, 20) are constituted by a pump for each of the said tanks (3, 10, 15) so as to permit the outflowing of the said solvent from the said tanks. A machine as in claim 1, characterised in that the said heating system (6c) is constituted by a heat exchanger (32) constituting the heat pump of the said compressor refrigerating system (6r) and by an auxiliary heat exchanger (30) connected, in closed circuit, to the said distillation chamber (5).

Inventors: BIAGI GINO, BIAGI, GINO
Applicants: FIRBIMATIC SRL, FIRBIMATIC S.R.L.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: D06F43
IPC codes: D06F43