Patent EP-2241826-A1 (EP)
Inventor: TEUBER JOSEF
IPC: A47L15/42
Filed: 2010-07-15
Abstract: The household appliance such as oven, extractor hood, clothes dryer, clothes drying cabinet and/or laundry refresher unit and washing machine or dishwasher comprises a photocatalyst, a light source for activating the photocatalyst, a catalyst section between a starting point and an end point, along which the photocatalyst is arranged, a process air circuit for guiding drying air through a drum, a vapor generator for steaming and/or refreshing clothes, a process water circuit, into which the process water is cyclically pumped, a conveying unit for conveying the liquid, and a filter. The household appliance such as oven, extractor hood, clothes dryer, clothes drying cabinet and/or laundry refresher unit and washing machine or dishwasher comprises a photocatalyst, a light source for activating the photocatalyst, a catalyst section between a starting point and an end point, along which the photocatalyst is arranged, a process air circuit for guiding drying air through a drum, a vapor generator for steaming and/or refreshing clothes, a process water circuit, into which the process water is cyclically pumped, a conveying unit for conveying the liquid, and a filter and/or a tank. The catalyst section is disposed in the process air circuit. The photocatalyst is disposed in the process water circuit. The household appliance is designed to convey a liquid from the starting point to the end point through the catalyst section, to guide along the liquid repeatedly to the photocatalyst in a cycle and to guide along an air mixture to the photocatalyst. A path of the liquid through the catalyst section is longer than a distance between the starting point and the end point, where a part of the catalyst section runs in meander-like, spiral-like or helical-like manner. The oven has a muffle and is designed to guide along the air from the muffle to the photocatalyst and then deliver to the environment, where the air from the muffle is circulated for heating by a heating chamber and is disposed in the heating chamber in the catalyst section. The extractor hood is designed to guide along the sucked air to the photocatalyst. The laundry refresher unit has a chamber for receiving the laundry for washing. A cooling device and a heating device are arranged in the process air circuit, where the catalyst section in the process air circuit is arranged between the heating device and the chamber. A product to be cleaned is admitted into the washing machine or dishwasher with process water. The washing machine or dishwasher is designed to guide along the process water to the photocatalyst. The dishwasher has a tub (1) for receiving the dishes, a spray arm disposed in the tub, a circulation pipe (4a) from a bottom area of the tub to the spray arm and a pump (4) for conveying the process water through the circulation pipe, where the photocatalyst is disposed onto the circulation pipe. The dishwasher or washing machine has tub for receiving the dishes or clothes, and is designed to contact the air from the tub with the photocatalyst. A part of the photocatalyst is arranged in or at the conveying unit, and is arranged at a part of the conveying unit driven to a movement. The conveying unit is arranged in a housing, which guides the liquid into an area of the conveying unit. The part of the photocatalyst is arranged at an inner side of the housing. The photocatalyst contains titanium oxide and/or nanoparticle, and is suited to degrade under illumination of organic compounds. The photocatalyst is arranged to the filter and/or in the tank, and has partial surfaces of the walls, covers and/or bases, separating surfaces and/or air-conducting surfaces, where the partial surfaces are photocatalytically coated and are enriched with photocatalytic material. The photocatalyst has a coating on a first side of a carrier, where the light source is arranged on a side of the carrier opposite to the first side, so that its light falls on the coating through the carrier. The carrier is partially transparent for the light and separates the liquid from the light source.