Patent Publication Number: US-8522451-B2

Title: Method for spraying treating chemistry in a dispensing dryer

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/077,506 filed on Jul. 2, 2008, entitled A METHOD FOR SPRAYING TREATING CHEMISTRY IN A DISPENSING DRYER hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A clothes dryer may be provided with a dispensing system by which it may dispense a treating chemistry onto a load of laundry during a drying cycle of operation. This type of dryer may be referred to as a dispensing dryer. The treating chemistry may be any chemistry applied to the laundry such as water, bleach, perfume, softener, stain guard, anti-wrinkling or the like. Spraying by various means may be used to deliver the treating chemistry from a dispensing system to the drying chamber. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A method of spraying a treating chemistry into a dispensing dryer in a manner to avoid pooling and dripping of the treating chemistry. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of a dispensing dryer according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional, schematic side view of a dispensing dryer according to the embodiment of the invention of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  a cross-sectional, schematic rear view of a dispensing dryer according to the embodiment of the invention of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of a dispensing dryer  10  according to the invention. The dispensing dryer  10  described herein shares many features of a traditional automatic clothes dryer, and will not be described in detail except as necessary for a complete understanding of the invention. Although the dispensing dryer  10  may be illustrated as a front-loading dryer, the dispensing dryer may also be a top-loading dryer, as well as a combination washing machine and dryer; a tumbling or stationary refreshing/revitalizing machine; an extractor; a non-aqueous washing apparatus; and a revitalizing machine. 
     The dispensing dryer  10  may be illustrated comprising a cabinet  12  in which is provided a controller  14  that may receive input from a user through a user interface  16  for selecting a cycle of operation and controlling the operation of the dispensing dryer  10  to implement the selected cycle of operation. The cabinet  12  may be defined by a front wall  18 , a rear wall  20 , and a pair of side walls  22  supporting a top wall  24 . A door  26  may be hingedly mounted to the front wall  18  and may be selectively moveable between opened and closed positions to close an opening in the front wall  18 , which provides access to the interior of the cabinet. 
     A rotatable drum  28  may be disposed within the interior of the cabinet  12  between opposing stationary rear and front bulkheads  30  and  32 , which collectively define a drying chamber  34 , for drying laundry, having an open face that is selectively closed by the door  26 . Examples of laundry include, but are not limited to, a hat, a scarf, a glove, a sweater, a blouse, a shirt, a pair of shorts, a dress, a sock, a pair of pants, a shoe, an undergarment, and a jacket. Furthermore, textile fabrics in other products, such as draperies, sheets, towels, pillows, and stuffed fabric articles (e.g., toys), may be dried in the dispensing dryer  10 . 
     The drum  28  may be in the form of a rotatable cylinder having rear and front edges that may be received within sealed channels of the rear and front bulkheads  30  and  32 . The front bulkhead  32  may have an opening that aligns with the open face of the front wall  18 . The drum  28  may have a circumference larger than that of the door  26  such that part of the front bulkhead  32  covers a portion of the front face of the drum  28 . Thus, when the door  26  may be in a closed position, it closes the face of the cabinet  12  and not the entire face of the drum  28 . However, the drum  28  may be considered to be closed when the door  26  is in the closed position. 
     The drum  28  may further include at least one baffle  36 . In most dryers, there are multiple baffles. The baffles  36  can be located along the inner surface of the drum  28  defining an interior circumference of the drum  28 . The baffles  36  can be oriented generally parallel to a rotational axis of the drum  28 . The baffles  36  facilitate the tumbling action of the fabric load within the drum  28  as the drum  28  rotates about the rotational axis. Typically, there are three baffles  36  located on the drum  28  and equally spaced about the circumference of the drum. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the dispensing dryer  10  may also have a drum stop, which may also be referred to as a drum alignment mechanism that stops the drum at a predetermined rotational position. A variety of drum stops may be used. One exemplary drum stop comprises a position sensor in the form of optical sensor  38  and a corresponding indicia, such as a black mark  40  or plurality of black marks. The optical sensor  38  may be located on either of the rear or front bulkhead  30 ,  32  and the black mark  40 , or plurality of black marks, may be located on the outer circumference of the drum  28 . The optical sensor  38  is operably coupled to the controller  14 , such that the optical sensor outputs to the controller  14  information that may directly or indirectly indicate the rotational position of the drum. 
     The number of black marks  40  and sensors  38  may be adjusted as desired to obtain the desired control. For example, one black mark  40  may be used to define a single position of the drum relative to the sensor  38 . Multiple black marks  40  may be used to provide greater resolution to the location of the drum relative to the sensor. For example, a black mark be located at each baffle to indicate the position of the baffle. In such cases, it may be useful to know when a baffle is approaching the sensor  38  and has passed the sensor  38 . Thus, the black mark  38  may span the radial width of the baffle or a black mark may radially precede and follow the baffle. Optionally, more sensors  38 , may be spaced about the drum  28  to sense the current position of the black mark  40 . In most cases, it will be more cost effective to use more black marks  40  than sensors  38 . 
     As is typical in a clothes dryer, the drum  28  may be rotated by a motor  44  and a coupled belt  46 . The controller  14 , which may be operably coupled to the motor  44 , may use the information from the sensor  38  in combination with controlling the motor  44  to control the rotation of the drum  28  until the drum  28  is in a desired position. It may be readily understood that the location of the sensor  38  and mark  40  may be in numerous other locations. Other exemplary position sensors include magnetic switches, motor position sensors, or magnetic sensors. 
     The dispensing dryer  10  may have a dispensing system  48  for dispensing treating chemistries, including water, into the drying chamber  34 . The dispensing system  48  may include a reservoir  54  capable of holding treating chemistry and a dispenser  50  that fluidly couples the reservoir  54  through a dispensing line  58 . The treating chemistry may be delivered to the dispenser  50  from the reservoir  54  and the dispenser  50  may dispense the chemistry into the drying chamber  34 . A chemistry meter  52  may electronically couple, wired or wirelessly, to the controller  14  to control the amount of treating chemistry dispensed. 
     The type of dispenser  50  is not germane to the invention. Any suitable dispenser will work. The dispenser  50  may be a rigid nozzle or may be a flexible nozzle constructed of a material such as silicone or polyethylene. It may be readily understood that the type of dispenser and the number of dispensers may be changed. For example, there may be any number of nozzles positioned to direct the chemistry into the drying chamber  34 . In addition to nozzles, other types of dispensers may be used, such as misters, nebulizers, steamers, or any other outlet that produces a spray. The dispenser  50  may dispense the chemistry as a continuous stream, a mist, an intermittent stream, or various other spray patterns. 
     The dispenser  50  may be mounted above the door  26  at the front of the drum  28  on the front bulkhead  32 . This is just one contemplated location for the dispenser  50 , and other locations may be feasible. Alternatively, the dispenser  50  may be mounted at the back of the drum  28  on the rear bulkhead  30 . It may be readily understood that the position of the dispenser  50  may be changed as long as the dispenser  50  may be able to direct the treating chemistry at the inner surface of the drum  28  so that laundry may contact and absorb the chemistry, or so that the dispenser  50  may dispense the chemistry directly onto the laundry in the drying chamber  34 . 
     The dispenser  50  emits treating chemistry in a known pattern for the particular type of dispenser. The known pattern may be referred to as spray zone  60 . The spray zone  60  is defined as the three dimensional pattern in which the treating chemistry is sprayed out of the dispenser  50  nozzle. The spray zone  60  does not include any particle drift that occurs in a time period subsequent to the initial spray of the treating chemistry. Particle drift is a function of fine droplets of treating chemistry suspended in air and being carried by air currents or being pulled downward by gravity, resulting in droplets that appear as a haze outside the spray zone  60 . 
     The previously described dispensing dryer  10  provides the structure necessary for the implementation of the method of the invention. Several embodiments of the method will now be described in terms of the operation of dispensing dryer  10 . The embodiments of the method function to retard or prevent the collecting or pooling of treating chemistry on structure within the drying chamber to avoid having the collected or pooled treating chemistry from forming droplets that may drip on the laundry. The dripping of the treating chemistry is undesirable as it leads to uneven distribution of the treating chemistry, but having localized high density spots. Depending on the treating chemistry and laundry, the droplets may cause uneven drying or staining. 
     The general approach of the method to avoid the dripping is to configure the dispensing dryer  10  not to spray treating chemistry directly on the door  26  (see  FIG. 2 ) and/or baffles  36  (see  FIG. 3 ). This can be accomplished by controlling the spray zone for the dispenser  50 , which is more effective for the door, which does not move, than for the baffles, which may move into and out of the spray zone depending on the relative location of the baffles  36  and dispenser  50 , along with the size and shape of the spray zone. The spraying of the treating chemistry through the dispenser may be controlled in such a way to avoid directly spraying the baffles  36 . 
     It should be noted that in some cases the direct spraying of the baffles may not be a concern. When the baffles are located in the lower part of the chamber and are being covered or passed over by the tumbling laundry, the nature of the tumbling action of the laundry further tends to retard or prevent the pooling of the treating chemistry. As the laundry tumbles in the drying chamber, it may effectively wipe the surfaces of the entire drying chamber  34 , helping to prevent pooling of the treating chemistry. Thus, a greater concern exists for direct spraying of the baffles  36  when they are not subject to the tumbling laundry. 
     The embodiments of the method described below may take place during any portion of a cycle of operation of the dispensing dryer that requires the dispensing of treating chemistry. For example, it may be a drying cycle that includes a treating cycle or it may be a stand alone treating cycle, with or without drying. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , according to a first embodiment of the method, treating chemistry may be dispensed into the drying chamber  34  while the drum  28  is stopped. In order to avoid spraying treating chemistry on either of the at least one baffle  36  or the door  26 , the drum  28  may be stopped at one, or a choice of several, predetermined positions. The predetermined position is chosen so as to locate the baffles  36  outside of the spray zone  60 . The positioning of the drum  28  may be accomplished through various methods of detecting a position and accordingly stopping the rotation of the drum  28 . Once the drum  28  has stopped rotating and is located in the predetermined position, spraying of the treating chemistry may commence in order to treat the laundry. The spraying step may be one continuous dispensing of the treating chemistry, or may be multiple discrete sprayings of the treating chemistry. 
     The spraying of the treating chemistry may while the drum is stopped may be done one or multiple times. For example, the drum may be stopped, followed by a spraying. After the spraying, the drum may be rotated to a new position, then stopped, and followed by another spraying. The repeating of the rotating, stopping, spraying, rotating may be done any number of times. The rotating between the stops may be a partial rotation of the drum, a full rotation of the drum, or more than a full rotation, including multiple rotations. It may be done at any speed, and may include varying the speed. 
     Alternatively, in a second embodiment of the method, the drum  28  may continue rotating during the spraying of the treating chemistry. In order to avoid spraying the rotating baffles  36 , the spraying step may comprise one or multiple discrete sprayings of the treating chemistry that are sequenced with the rotation of the drum to avoid directly spraying the baffles. This requires that the position of the drum  28  be monitored by the sensor  38  and communicated to the controller  14  regarding the location of the baffles  36 . The spraying will be conducted when the baffles  36  are in a predetermined position, which is any position outside of the spray zone  60 . The spray step in the second embodiment may be a pulsating spray and may be relative to the rate of rotation of the drum  28 . The sequencing or timing of the spray to the drum may be effected by using the rotational control previously described 
     While avoiding directly spraying any portion of the baffle  36  will retard or eliminate the pooling of the treating chemistry, avoiding directly spraying the edge of the baffle  36  closest to the dispenser  50  will, with most dryer configurations, provide the greatest benefit because the edge closest to the dispenser  50  presents a smaller surface area over which the chemistry may spread and the volume of per unit area of the chemistry is greater the closer to the dispenser  50 . 
     In a third embodiment of the method, the method involves controlling the position and size of the spray zone  60  to avoid directly spraying on the door  26  as best seen in  FIG. 2 . This method may also be applied to the baffles  36 . That is the position and size of the spray zone may be controlled to prevent the baffles from intersecting the spray zone. 
     The application of the third embodiment as applied to the baffles is more effective when it is combined with either of the first or second embodiments of the method. That is, controlling the position and size of the spray zone may be combined with controlling the rotation of the drum, including the stopping of the drum, during the spraying to ensure that the baffles are not in the spray zone. In this way, all of the embodiments may be mixed and matched as desired 
     While the invention has been specifically described in connection with certain specific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that this is by way of illustration and not of limitation. Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope of the forgoing disclosure and drawings without departing from the spirit of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.