Patent Publication Number: US-9845566-B2

Title: Clothes treating apparatus with heat recovery device

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(a), this application claims the benefit of earlier filing date and right of priority to Korean Application No. 10-2013-0048613, filed on Apr. 30, 2013, the content of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to a clothes treating apparatus with a heat recovery device, and for example, to a clothes treating apparatus having a unit for utilizing thermal energy of hot air discharged from a drum. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In general, a clothes treating apparatus having a drying function, such as a dryer, is an apparatus that blows hot air generated by a heater to the interior of a drum to absorb moisture of a drying target to perform drying on the target. A clothes treating apparatus may be classified into an exhaust-type dryer and a circulation-type dryer depending on a method of processing moist air generated when a target is dried by absorbing moisture thereof. 
     The exhaust-type dryer uses a method of discharging moist air from a drum to the outside, and to this end, the exhaust-type dryer requires an exhaust duct for discharging high temperature moist air containing moisture evaporated within a drum to the outside. In this case, a gas may be used as a heat source and carbon monoxide, or a similar combustion product, is also discharged, and thus, the exhaust duct needs to reach an outdoor area. A circulation-type dryer uses a method of condensing moist air discharged from a drum by a heat-exchanger to remove moisture, and transferring moisture-removed dry air to the drum to re-circulate air. 
     As for configuration, a circulation-type clothes dryer may include a body, a drum rotatably installed within the drum, a circulation duct having both ends connected to the drum to form a flow path along which air is circulated, a heater installed within the circulation duct to heat air, a blowing fan forcibly circulating air, and the like. The circulation-type clothes dryer further may include a heat-exchanger or a condenser removing moisture included in air discharged from the drum. 
     The condenser may be structured for heat-exchanging air or a coolant introduced from the outside of a dryer with air discharged from a drum to reduce a temperature and humidity of exhaust air sufficient to be re-supplied to the interior of the drum. As the condenser, a water cooling-type condenser using a coolant supplied from an external water source or an air cooling-type condenser using ambient air may be used. When using an air cooling-type heat-exchanger, cooling air heated through heat exchanging with exhaust air is discharged to the outside of a body. 
     In some cases, in order to reduce energy consumed during a drying process, thermal energy generated by a heater is used only for drying clothes as much as possible. To this end, a heat pump may be used to heat hot air supplied to a drum with thermal energy of air discharged from the drum, or a behavior of a drum may be controlled to allow hot air to come into contact with clothes evenly during a drying process. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one aspect, a clothes treating apparatus includes a cabinet, a drum located within the cabinet and configured to rotate about a rotational shaft, and a circulation duct that defines a circulation flow path in which exhaust air discharged from the drum is re-supplied to the drum. The clothes treating apparatus also includes a condenser configured to allow the exhaust air and cooling air introduced from outside of the cabinet to be heat-exchanged and a blowing duct configured to guide the cooling air toward the condenser. The clothes treating apparatus further includes a blowing fan configured to introduce air from outside of the cabinet to an interior of the cooling flow path and a discharge opening that discharges cooling air, which has passed through the condenser, to an interior of the cabinet. The rotational shaft of the drum is disposed between the discharge opening and the blowing fan. 
     Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, the discharge opening may discharge the cooling air toward the drum. In this example, the condenser may be located on a bottom surface of the cabinet. 
     In addition, the cabinet may include an air vent for discharging, from the cabinet, cooling air discharged from the discharge opening into the cabinet. Also, a partial amount of cooling air which has passed through the condenser may be discharged to the interior of the cabinet through the discharge opening, and a remaining amount of cooling air may be directly discharged to the outside of the cabinet. 
     In some implementations, the clothes treating apparatus may include a guide member arranged in the discharge opening and configured to guide cooling air discharged from the discharge opening. In these implementations, the guide member may include a fastening portion fastened to an outer circumferential portion of the discharge opening and a discharge guide portion configured to guide a direction in which cooling air is discharged from the discharge opening. 
     The discharge guide portion may direct cooling air discharged from the discharge opening toward the drum. The discharge guide portion may direct cooling air discharged from the discharge opening perpendicular to the rotational shaft of the drum at a bottom of the drum. The guide member may include a hook portion located at one end portion thereof. The hook portion may couple to a hook coupling portion that is located proximate to the discharge opening. 
     In another aspect, a clothes treating apparatus includes a cabinet, a drum located within the cabinet and configured to rotate about a rotational shaft, and a base that is located on a bottom surface of the cabinet, that defines a circulation flow path that guides air discharged from the drum back to the drum, and that defines a cooling flow path that crosses the circulation flow path. The clothes treating apparatus also includes a condenser that is located at an intersection between the circulation flow path and the cooling flow path and that allows cooling air from the cooling flow path and exhaust air from the circulation flow path to be heat-exchanged. The clothes treating apparatus further includes a blowing fan configured to introduce cooling air to an interior of the cooling flow path and a discharge opening that discharges cooling air, which has passed through the condenser and the cooling flow path, to an interior of the cabinet. The rotational shaft of the drum is disposed between the discharge opening and the blowing fan. 
     Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, the clothes treating apparatus may include a base cover located above the base and defining at least a portion of the cooling flow path and at least a portion of the circulation flow path. In this example, the discharge opening may be defined in the base cover. 
     In some implementations, the clothes treating apparatus may include a guide member arranged in the discharge opening and configured to guide cooling air discharged from the discharge opening. In these implementations, the guide member may include a fastening portion fastened to an outer circumferential portion of the discharge opening and a discharge guide portion configured to guide a direction in which cooling air is discharged from the discharge opening. 
     The discharge guide portion may direct cooling air discharged from the discharge opening toward the drum. The discharge guide portion may direct cooling air discharged from the discharge opening along a surface of the base cover. The guide member may include a hook portion located at one end portion thereof and the base cover may include a hook coupling portion that is located proximate to the discharge opening and that is configured to couple to the hook portion of the guide member. 
     In some examples, a partial amount of cooling air which has passed through the condenser may be discharged to the interior of the cabinet, and a remaining portion of cooling air may be directly discharged to the outside of the cabinet. In these examples, the clothes treating apparatus may include an auxiliary discharge portion that communicates with the cooling flow path, that discharges the remaining portion of cooling air to the outside of the cabinet, and that is located at a front surface of the base. 
     Further scope of applicability of the present application will become more apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a first example of a clothes treating apparatus according to the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view illustrating a state in which a side panel is removed in the first example illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view illustrating a base provided in the first example illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view illustrating a base cover provided in the first example illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  is a view illustrating an internal structure illustrating an air flow in the first example. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view illustrating an example discharge guide provided in a second example of a clothes treating apparatus according to the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view illustrating a state in which a discharge guide illustrated in  FIG. 6  is installed in a base cover. 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view illustrating a modified example of the discharge guide illustrated in  FIG. 6 . 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view illustrating a state in which the discharge guide illustrated in  FIG. 8  is installed in a base cover. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a first example of a clothes treating apparatus according to the present disclosure, and  FIG. 2  illustrates a state in which a side panel is removed in the example illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a clothes dryer  100  includes a cabinet  110  constituting the exterior and a drum  120  rotatably provided within the cabinet  110 . 
     A control panel  112  is provided in an upper portion of a front surface of the cabinet  110  to control functions of the dryer and display an operational state. A door  114  is installed in a lower side of the control panel  112  to open and close an entrance communicating with the drum  120 . 
     A base  130  is installed on the bottom within the cabinet  110 . The base  130  provides an area in which various components are installed within the cabinet  110 , and forms a circulation path and a cooling path as described below. 
     Hereinafter, an internal structure of the first example will be described.  FIG. 3  illustrates a base provided in the example illustrated in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 4  illustrates a base cover provided in the example illustrated in  FIG. 1 , and  FIG. 5  illustrates an internal structure showing an air flow in the first example. Referring to  FIGS. 3 through 5 , a lint filter  122  is installed in the vicinity of the door  114 . The lint filter  122  serves to remove lint included in air having a high temperature discharged from the drum  120  and guide exhaust air toward a circulation flow path as described hereinafter. 
     The base  130  includes a filter installation part  132  in which the lint filter  122  is installed. A fan installation portion  133  is formed on a rear surface of the filter installation part  132 , and a circulation blowing fan  124  is disposed in the fan installation portion  133  and sucks air within the drum  120  to guide the air toward the circulation flow path. A circulation flow path part  136  is formed on the side of the fan installation portion  133  and forms a circulation flow path along which exhaust air discharged from the circulation blowing fan  124  is re-supplied to the interior of the drum. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , a heat exchanger  140  as a condensing unit is installed within the circulation flow path part  136 , and exhaust air introduced to the circulation flow path part  136  passes through the heat exchanger  140  and is subsequently re-supplied to the interior of the drum. In addition, an upper surface of the circulation flow part  136  is opened, and a base cover  150  is installed in the open upper surface to form a circulation flow path. The base cover will be described in more detail hereinafter. 
     Apart from the circulation blowing fan  124 , a cooling blowing fan  126  is installed in the base  130  to suck cooling air from the outside of the cabinet to supply the same toward the heat exchanger. A hood  127  is installed in an inflow side of the cooling blowing fan  126  to allow ambient air outside of the cabinet to be introduced. The hood  127  is fixedly installed in the base  130 . The cooling blowing fan  126  is disposed in a cooling fan installation part  135  provided in the base  130 . 
     The cooling fan installation part  135  forms a portion of a cooling flow path along which cooling air is introduced, and cooling air discharged from the cooling blowing fan  126  moves toward the circulation flow path part  136 . Thus, the heat exchanger  140  is disposed in an intersection between the circulation flow path and the cooling flow path to allow exhaust air and cooling air to be heat-exchanged. Here, the exhaust air and the cooling air transmit heat through a surface of the heat exchanger  140 , but may not be mixed with each other or may not be in contact with each other. Also, a space denoted by reference numeral  134  is a space for installation of a driving motor for driving the circulation blowing fan and the cooling blowing fan. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the base cover  150  is formed to cover an upper portion of the circulation flow path part  136 , and one end portion (the right side based on  FIG. 4 ) of the base cover  150  is connected to a discharge opening of the cooling blowing fan  126  and the other end thereof covers the side of the heat exchanger  140 . Two discharge openings  152  are formed to be adjacent to the other end portion of the base cover  150 . The discharge openings  152  serve to discharge cooling air, which has passed though the heat exchanger  140 , to the interior of the cabinet, and the discharged cooling air comes into contact with the drum positioned above the discharge openings  152 . 
     Here, a partial amount of the cooling air is discharged through the discharge openings, and the other remaining partial amount of the cooling air is directly discharged to the outside of the cabinet. To this end, an auxiliary discharge portion  138  is formed in a lower portion of the front side of the base  150 . The auxiliary discharge portion  138  forms a discharge opening allowing a partial amount of the cooling air to be discharged therethrough together with a bottom surface of the cabinet. 
     A ring  156  is formed in an upper surface of the base cover  150  in order to fix various hoses, wirings, and the like, disposed within the cabinet. 
     Hereinafter, operation of the first example will be described. 
     When drying operation starts, hot air having a high temperature is supplied to the interior of the drum by a heater, and the supplied hot air is brought into contact with the laundry within the drum to dry the laundry. Thereafter, exhaust air having a high temperature and containing moisture is discharged from the drum and introduced into the lint filter  122 . Such a flow of exhaust air is incited by the circulation blowing fan  124  as mentioned above. 
     Exhaust air, which has passed through the lint filter  122 , passes through the circulation blowing fan and is introduced to the circulation flow path formed by the circulation flow path part and the base cover. As mentioned above, ambient air is introduced to the cooling blowing fan through the hood and transferred to the heat exchanger. Thus, as hot and humid exhaust air passes through the heat exchanger, temperature and humidity of the air may be lowered, and the air having low temperature and humidity may be heated by the heater and re-supplied to the drum. In addition, cooling air is increased in temperature due to thermal energy transmitted from the exhaust air, and the cooling air having the increased temperature is discharged to the interior of the cabinet through the discharge opening. 
     In this case, the cooling air moves to the drum above the discharge opening. In some implementations, a surface temperature of the drum is approximately 40 degrees, and the discharged cooling air has a temperature of approximately 50 degrees. Thus, when the cooling air comes into contact with the drum, the surface of the drum may be heated, and accordingly, energy consumption required for generating hot air may be reduced. In addition, since heated cooling air remains within the cabinet, the interior of the cabinet may be maintained at a high temperature. Thus, heat loss through a surface of the cabinet may be minimized. Namely, the cooling air serves to insulate the drum or reserve heat of the drum. 
     In some examples, the discharge opening is positioned in the opposite side of the motor based on a rotational shaft of the drum. Namely, the rotational shaft of the drum is positioned between the discharge opening and the motor. Thus, discharged cooling air may transmit heat to the drum over other components, whereby the effect of heating of the drum and reserving heat of the drum may be maximized. 
     Further, cooling air discharged to the interior of the cabinet may be discharged to the outside through an air vent formed in a rear surface of the cabinet. 
     According to circumstances, a guide member may be installed in the discharge opening to set a direction of discharged cooling air to a desired direction. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates an example of the guide member. Referring to  FIG. 6 , a guide member  180  includes a discharge guide portion  182  bent to have an angle corresponding to a direction in which cooling air is discharged, and a stop portion  186  to be fastened to the discharge opening is formed near a lower end portion of a body portion  184 . The stop portion  186  includes a recess allowing an outer circumferential portion of the opening to be inserted therein, and for stable fastening, a plurality of bead portions  186   a  are formed below the stop portion  186 . 
     The bead portions  186   a  press portions around the discharge opening to prevent the stop portion  186  from being easily released. 
     Also, hooks  188  are formed in a lower end of the body portion  184 . The hooks  188  are inserted into hook coupling portions  154  illustrated in  FIG. 4  to firmly fasten the guide member together with the stop portion  186 .  FIG. 7  illustrates a state in which the guide member  180  is fastened to the base cover  150 . In  FIG. 7 , the discharge guide portion is disposed at an angle of approximately 45 degrees with respect to the bottom surface of the cabinet, and thus, discharged cooling air is discharged in the direction indicated by the arrows. 
     Since the cooling air is discharged toward the drum, thermal energy of the cooling air may be transmitted to the drum. 
     In some examples, a discharge angle of the discharge guide portion may be randomly set. Namely, a guide member  190  illustrated in  FIG. 8  may have a discharge guide portion  192  disposed in a direction substantially perpendicular to the body portion  194 . The guide member  190  illustrated in  FIG. 8  also includes a stop portion  196 , bead portions  196   a , and hook portions  198 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 9 , cooling air is discharged substantially parallel along a surface of the base cover. Because hot air rises due to a density difference, cooling air discharged in parallel rises, and thus, the air may evenly come into contact with a lower portion of the drum. Thus, the drum may be evenly heated. 
     The foregoing examples and advantages are merely exemplary and are not to be considered as limiting the present disclosure. The present disclosure can be readily applied to other types of apparatuses. This description is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The features, structures, methods, and other characteristics of the examples described herein may be combined in various ways to obtain additional and/or alternative implementations. 
     As the present features may be embodied in several forms without departing from the characteristics thereof, the above-described examples are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be considered broadly within its scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalents of such metes and bounds, are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.