Patent Publication Number: US-9416484-B2

Title: Household appliance

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention refers to a household appliance and in particular to a household appliance for washing and/or drying clothes. 
     It is a largely known fact that garments made of delicate textile materials, such as cashmere, are not adapted to undergo regular drying treatments in a tumble dryer, owing to the mechanical stresses, mainly in the form of impacts, which the textile fibres would be subject to there. 
     For these delicate textiles to be properly taken care of, they therefore need to be dried by means of more gentle treatments, such as line-drying or flat drying, which on the other hand are rather time-consuming processes. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a household appliance capable of drying clothes in a gentle manner, thereby eliminating all drawbacks cited above in connection with the prior art. 
     Within this general object, it is a main purpose of the present invention to provide a novel drying concept and solution for household appliances, which is relatively simple in construction, trouble-free in operation, dependable, flexible in use, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture, operate, service and maintain. 
     According to the present invention, these aims are reached in a household appliance incorporating the characteristics as recited and defined in the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Features and advantages of the present invention will anyway be more readily understood from the description that is given below by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective front view of a household appliance according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a side cross-sectional view of the household appliance shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a side cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of the household appliance according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a side cross-sectional view of a further embodiment of the household appliance according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective front view of a household appliance according to the present invention showing the control means integrated on the worktop. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The household appliance, in particular for washing and/or drying clothes, according to the present invention, as generally indicated with the reference numeral  1  in the Figures, comprises an outer casing  2  with a worktop  3  and a front panel  4  carrying operational input and setting controls  5 , a drum rotatably supported inside the outer casing  2  and adapted to be loaded with the items to be washed and/or dried, an opening for loading and unloading the items into and from the drum, and a door  6  for closing said opening. 
     The worktop  3  defines a plurality of apertures  7 , each one of which is fluidly connected with conveying means adapted to direct a flow of air through said apertures  7  for drying garments that are laid upon the worktop to this purpose. 
     In fact, the worktop  3  defines a drying surface  8 , on which the garment to be dried is laid. This drying surface  8  comprises a plurality of apertures or perforations  7 , through which air is caused to flow so as to hit the garment, thereby drying it. 
     In a preferred embodiments the conveying means, which are provided to direct the flow of air intended for drying the garment towards and through said apertures, are situated inside the outer casing  2  below the drying surface  8  defined by the worktop  3 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     These conveying means comprise at least an air passage  9  adapted to convey the air up to the worktop  3  underneath the drying surface  8 , so that the air is then able to flow through the apertures  7  from the bottom upwards, as well as air circulating means  10  adapted to force a flow of air into and through the air passage  9 . 
     In an advantageous manner, heating means  11  are provided to heat up the air that flows into the air passage  9 , so that it is appropriately heated-up air that eventually hits the garment to be dried. 
     In the embodiment being discussed, the air passage  9  extends horizontally along the drying surface  8 , so as to be able to supply air to each single aperture  7  at the same time. An end portion  12  of the air passage  9  is blind, i.e. sealed, whereas the other end portion  13  thereof is open and fluidly communicating with the air circulating means  10  to receive the flow of drying air thereinto. 
     Advantageously, the air passage  9  is formed in the worktop  3  integrally. 
     The air circulating means  10  may for instance be comprised of at least a blower arranged inside the outer casing  2  of the appliance and adapted to take in air form either the interior or the exterior of the household appliance to convey it into the air passage  9 . 
     In particular, the blower is housed in a proper accommodation provided to this purpose inside the outer casing of the appliance. 
     The conveying means further comprise a communication duct  14  provided in the worktop and/or the outer casing to connect the air circulating means  10  with the air passage  9 . 
     The heating means  11  may for instance be comprised of one or more electric heating elements arranged downstream from the air circulating means  10  and upstream of the air passage  9 . In the particular embodiment being described, the heating means  11  are housed inside the communication duct  14 , upstream of the open end portion  13  of the air passage  9 . 
     In an alternative embodiment of the present invention the conveying means are provided outside the casing. 
     In particular, for example, the air circulating means  10  and the communication duct  14  are associated to the upper backward portion of the casing in proximity to and below the worktop projecting from the casing, as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     In a further embodiment the air circulating means  10  and the communication duct  14  are arranged above the worktop in fluidly connection with the air passage  9 , as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
     The above-described drying arrangement may be provided on a washing machine, a tumble dryer or a so-called washer-dryer, wherein it will be readily appreciated that a perforated worktop as described above may even be applied to top-loading appliances. 
     It will however be also readily appreciated that a drying arrangement of the above described kind may be provided in the form of a self-standing, i.e. autonomous household appliance specially intended for drying delicate garments, which is designed to integrally comprise a perforated drying surface and air conveying means as described above. 
     The household appliance comprises control means to enable the air circulating means  10  and the heating means  11  to be switched on as required, as well as the different drying modes of the appliance to be properly selected. In this connection, it should in fact be noticed that different drying temperatures and different drying times may be required to most properly handle the various garments to be dried, depending, among other things, on the textile fibres which each single garment is made of. 
     Such control means are arranged on the front panel  4  of the washing and/or drying machine or on a specific console provided on the self-standing appliance. 
     In another embodiment the control means are directly integrated on the worktop of the washing and/or drying machine or on the worktop of the self-standing appliance, as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     It can therefore be conclusively stated that, with the arrangement according to the present invention, delicate textiles can be gently and effectively dried in a most convenient manner, without this implying any large energy usage, thereby doing away with the typical drawbacks shared by prior-art machines used to dry clothes. 
     In this connection, it should further be noticed that the household appliance according to the present invention may advantageously be used to also quickly and effectively warm up and dry bathroom towels or bathrobes before and after using them, respectively, as well as to dry kitchen towels. 
     Advantageously the household appliance according to the present invention can be used to warm the room where the appliance is located, in particular, for example, the bathroom. In fact, when no garment is present upon the worktop, hot and dry air is adapted to be discharged to the atmosphere through the apertures  7  by means of the blower and the electric heating elements. For this purpose, control means are provided to operate the air circulating means  10  and the heating means  11  according to a specifically intended warm-up mode in order to heat up the air of the room where the appliance is located.