Patent ID: 8567090

Claim:
A method of treating hot, humid waste air from heated laundry machines, comprising: providing a heat exchanger ( 12 ) that runs obliquely in a longitudinal direction ( 15 ), the heat exchanger comprising an inlet end ( 11 ), an outlet end ( 16 ), and heat exchanger plates ( 13 ), wherein the outlet end ( 16 ) is located at a lower level than the inlet end ( 11 ), and wherein the heat exchanger plates ( 13 ) are inclined and have lower longitudinal edges ( 21 ) that run obliquely downward; directing still hot, humid waste air through the heat exchanger ( 12 ) and along outer walls of the heat exchanger plates ( 13 ); allowing condensate to form in the heat exchanger ( 12 ) as the waste air cools, wherein the condensate separates the waste air, at least in part, from accompanying substances contained in the waste air, whereby the accompanying substances deposit on the outer walls of the heat exchanger plates ( 13 ); allowing the condensate, which forms on the outer walls of the heat exchanger plates ( 13 ), to flow off of the heat exchanger plates ( 13 ), thereby rinsing off the accompanying substances from the outer walls of the heat exchanger plates ( 13 ); and collecting the condensate, which rinses off the accompanying substances from the outer walls of the heat exchanger plates ( 13 ), at the outlet end ( 16 ) of the heat exchanger ( 12 ).