Patent Application
20180112348
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a clothes dryer, more particularly a clothes dryer provided with a filter unit and a filter cover having a coupling structure corresponding to each other.
A clothes dryer is an appliance to dry wetted-laundry after washed by using hot and dry air.
In general, a clothes dryer may be classified into a gas type and an electricity type depending on power sources, and may be classified into exhaust type dryers and condensing type dryers depending on the method of processing moisture collected from laundry.
The exhaust type dryer is configured to discharge humid air discharged from a drum to the outside through an air discharge duct which is extended long.
In the condensing dryer, humid air discharged from the drum is condensed to remove the moisture therefrom using a heat exchanger, and the dried air is conducted back into the drum again so as to be re-circulated. Since the flow of air is formed in a shape of a closed loop, it is difficult to use gas as a heat source and thus electricity is mainly used as a heat source. Therefore, maintenance cost is relatively expensive, but an air discharge duct is not needed since air is circulated between laundry placed inside the drum and the heat exchanger so the installation of the clothes dryer is easy.
The condensing type dryer is needed to have a filter since a foreign substance, such as lint, is generated during drying clothes. Therefore, the condensing type dryer may include at least one filter unit. The filter unit may be provided to be cleaned by being separated.
Users may use a clothes dryer without reassembling a filter unit after separating the filter unit. At this time, there may be inconvenience because a function to confirm whether the filter unit is reassembled is not equipped.
Therefore, it is an aspect of the present disclosure to provide a clothes dryer capable of confirming whether a filter unit is mounted.
It is another aspect of the present disclosure to provide a clothes dryer provided with a filter unit and a filter cover having a coupling structure corresponding to each other so that the filter cover is not assembled when the filter unit is not assembled.
Additional aspects of the present disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a clothes dryer includes a body, a drum installed inside the body, a drying unit configured to dry air passed through the drum, a filter unit disposed between the drum and the drying unit and installed to be detachable from the body, a filter cover provided with one side thereof being installed on the body and fixed by the other side thereof being coupled to the filter unit.
The filter cover may include a first coupling member and the filter unit may include a second coupling member to correspond to the first coupling member so that the first coupling member may be connected to the second coupling member and the filter cover may be fixed to the filter unit.
The first coupling member may be disposed the rear surface of the filter cover, and the second coupling member may be disposed the front surface of the filter unit so that the filter cover may be coupled to the front surface of the filter unit to be fixed.
The filter cover may include a rotation member rotatably coupled to the body, wherein the rotation member may be coupled to one side of the body.
The first coupling member and the rotation member may be vertically spaced apart from each other so that the filter cover may be rotated by the connection the first coupling member and the second coupling member.
The body may include a front panel provided with a door to open/close the drum, wherein the filter cover together with the front panel may form an external appearance of the front surface of the body.
The filter cover and the filter unit may be disposed on one side of a lower portion of the door.
The filter unit may include at least one fixation member to be fixedly installed on the body, and the filter cover may include at least one check member corresponding to the at least one fixation member to detect whether the filter unit is fixed to the body.
The at least one fixation member may be disposed on the front surface of the filter unit, and the at least one check member may be disposed on the rear surface of the filter cover so that the filter cover may be coupled to the front surface of the filter unit.
The drying unit may include at least one heat exchanger exchanging heat with air circulated, wherein the filter unit may be disposed on one side of the at least one heat exchanger.
The filter unit may include a sealing member to prevent the heat loss of the at least one heat exchanger.
The clothes dryer may include a circulation fan disposed on a moving path of air to allow air to be circulated by connecting the drum to the drying unit, wherein the filter unit may be disposed between the drum and the drying unit.
The clothes dryer may include a primary filter unit disposed between the filter unit and the drum to filter air passed through the drum.
The primary filter unit may be disposed on one side of the drum, wherein the filter unit may be disposed on the front surface of the drying unit.
In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a clothes dryer includes a body, a drum installed inside the body, a drying unit configured to dry air passed through the drum, a first filter unit disposed on one side of the drum to allow air passed through the drum to penetrate, a second filter unit disposed between the drying unit and the first filter unit to allow air passed through the first filter to penetrate, and a filter cover configured to open/close at least one portion of the body and provided with a coupling structure corresponding to the second filter.
The body may include a filter opening so that the second filter may be installed inside the body, wherein the filter cover may be installed to open/close the filter opening.
The filter cover may include a rotation member rotatably coupled to one side of the filter opening, wherein the filter cover may open/close the filter opening by being rotated depending on whether the second filter is coupled to the body.
The filter cover and the second filter may include a first coupling member and the second coupling member respectively, both of which correspond to each other, wherein the filter cover may close the filter opening when the first coupling member and the second coupling member are connected.
In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a clothes dryer includes a body provided with a front panel, a drum installed inside the body, a filter unit configured to filter air passed through the drum, a filter cover disposed on a lower portion of the front panel to form an external appearance of the clothes dryer, wherein the filter unit and the filter cover may include a coupling structure corresponding to each other.
The filter cover and the second filter may include a first coupling member and the second coupling member respectively, both of which correspond to each other, wherein the filter cover may be coupled to the front surface of the filter unit by connecting the first coupling member to the second coupling member.
The filter cover may include a rotation member rotatably coupled to the body, wherein the rotation member and the first coupling member may be vertically space apart from each other to allow the filter cover to be rotated with respect to the body when the filter unit is separated from the body.
These and/or other aspects of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The flow of air is illustrated by a solid line, and the flow of a refrigerant is illustrated by a dotted line. As for the flow of the refrigerant, the refrigerant may be circulated in the refrigerant cycle in general. The refrigerant cycle may include a compressor 3, a condenser 40, an expansion valve 5, an evaporator 30. The refrigerant may be circulated in a series of processes including compression-condensation-expansion-evaporation. The condenser 40 and the evaporator 30 may be provided in a shape of a heat exchanger to exchange heat with air.
The compressor 3 discharges refrigerant gas in a compressed state of high temperature and high pressure, the refrigerant gas discharged is flowed into the condenser 40. The condenser 40 may condense the compressed refrigerant gas into a liquid refrigerant, to release heat to the surroundings by the condensation process.
The expansion valve 5 expands the liquid refrigerant in the high-temperature and high-pressure state condensed by the condenser 40 into a liquid refrigerant in low pressure state. The evaporator 30 evaporates the refrigerant expanded by the expansion valve 5 and returns the refrigerant in the low-temperature and low-pressure state to the compressor 3. The evaporator 30 may remove ambient heat through the evaporation process of changing a refrigerant gas to a refrigerant liquid.
In
High temperature and high humid air which is discharged from a drum 20 may penetrate the evaporator 30. The air deprived heat by passing through the evaporator 30 may become lower temperature and less the amount of water vapor which is contained in. That is, high temperature and high humid air that is discharged from the drum 20 may be changed to air that is low temperature and dried as passing through the evaporator 30.
Condensed water may be generated in the process of discharging of the water while High temperature and high humid air that is discharged from the drum 20 is cooled by the evaporator 30. Condensed water falls into a lower portion of the evaporator 30 and is collected by a condensed water collector 60, refer to
Low temperature and dry air by passing through the evaporator 30 may penetrate the condenser 40. A temperature of air in the low temperature and dried state is increased by passing through the condenser 40. That is, low temperature and dry air, which is discharged from the evaporator 30 is changed to air in high temperature and dried state by passing through the condenser 40.
The high temperature and dry air may dry laundry by being supplied into the drum 20 again. Air removing moisture from laundry may include a large amount of water vapor and may be circulated in a serious of processes.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
At the front of the body 10, a door 14 configured to open/close the drum 20 may be provided. At the front panel 13, an inlet 16 may be formed to insert laundry into the drum 20. The door 14 may be installed at the front of the inlet 16, and may be rotatably hinge-coupled to one side of the inlet 16
At an upper portion of the front panel 13, the water collection tank 50 may be provided. As mentioned above, the water collection tank 50 may store condensed water discharged from the condensed water collector 60. The condensed water collector 60 may include a drain hole 62 and 64 connected to a drain pipe (not shown). By a drain pump 65, condensed water in the condensed water collector 60 may be discharged to the drain hole 62 and 64 and to be moved to the water collection tank 50. The condensed water collector 60 may include a water level detecting sensor 66 to detect a water level of condensed water.
At a front surface of the water collection tank 50, a handle unit 52 may be disposed for users to grip. In addition, at the front surface of the water collection tank 50, a display window 51 may be disposed. The display window 51 may be formed to be transparency so that users may detect the amount of condensed water stored inside the water collection tank 50. Users may confirm the display window 51 and pull the water collection tank 50 to discharge condensed water stored in the water collection tank 50.
At the front panel 13, a rotary switch 17 and a display unit 15 may be disposed to control the clothes dryer 1. Users may grip and rotate the rotary switch 17 to select a mode of the clothes dryer 1. The display unit 15 may display an operation status of the clothes dryer 1, and a manipulation status of users.
The drum 20 may be rotatably installed inside the body 10 to accommodate laundry. At the inside of the drum 20, a plurality of lifters 21 may be disposed in a circumferential direction of the drum 20. The lifter 21 may be disposed to effectively dry laundry by ascending and descending laundry.
The drum 20 may be rotated by a belt 33 coupled to the outside of the drum 20. The driving motor 31 may be disposed on one side of the drum 20, and may include a pulley 32 configured to rotate by receiving a torque from the driving motor 31. The belt 33 may connect the pulley 32 to the drum 20 to transmit a power of the driving motor to the drum 20.
The drum 20 may include an inlet 22 and an outlet 23 so that air is circulated. The inlet 22 may be disposed on a rear portion of the drum 20 and the out let 23 may be disposed on a front portion of the drum 20. Air introduced from the rear side through the inlet 22 may be discharged toward the front side through the outlet 23 after drying laundry.
The clothes dryer 1 may include a drying unit 2 configured to dry air passed through the drum 20. The drying unit 2 may be disposed inside the body 10, and may be illustrated to be installed on lower portion of the drum 20 in
The clothes dryer 1 may include a circulation fan 43 installed on a moving path of air to allow air to be circulated by connecting the drum 20 to the drying unit 2. The circulation fan 43 may be installed inside the body 10 and a lower portion of the rear surface of the drum 20. Air moved by the circulation fan 43 may be moved along a duct 24 and 25 as not to be discharged to the outside. The circulation fan 43 may be rotated by the driving motor (not shown) configured to drive the drum 20.
An intake duct 24 may be provided in a path in which air introduced to the drum 20 is passed through and a discharge duct 25 may be provided in a path in which air discharged from the drum 20 is passed through. The intake duct 24 may be disposed on the rear of the drum 20 and may be in communication with the inside of the drum 20 through the inlet 22 formed on the drum 20. The discharge duct 25 may be disposed on the front of the drum 20, and may guide the discharge of high temperature and high humid air that is passed through the inside of the drum 20.
As for the flow of air circulating inside the clothes dryer 1, air is discharged from the inside of the drum 20 through the outlet 23. The discharged air is introduced to the drying unit 2 along the discharge duct 25. Air changed into dried air after having passed through the drying unit 2 may be guided to the intake duct 24 along a guide duct 45. Therefore, air may be introduced to the inside of the drum 20 through the inlet 22 by moving along the intake duct 24. Air may dry laundry by circulating in a series of processes.
Foreign substance, such as lint, may be contained in air while air passes through laundry. Since air is not discharged and circulated inside the clothes dryer 1, the removal of the foreign substance may be needed. Therefore, the clothes dryer 1 may include filters 70 and 100 for filtering air.
The filters 70 and 100 may include a first filter 70 filtering air passed through the drum 20, and a second filter 100 filtering air passed through the first filter 70. The first filter 70 may be disposed on one side portion of the drum 20, and the second filter 100 may be disposed between the drying unit 2, and the first filter 70. That is, air may be circulated in a way that air is discharged from the drum 20 and passed through the first filter 70, the second filter 100, and the drying unit 2 in order.
Hereinafter, the second filter 100 is referred to as a filter unit, and will be described in detail. The first filter 70 may be disposed in the front of the filter unit 100, and may be a primary filter unit
As illustrated in
The filter unit 100 may be disposed between the drum 20 and the drying unit 2 to filter air, and may be detachable from the body 10 to remove foreign substance filtered. Therefore, the filter unit 100 may be installed on or separated from the body 10 through the filter opening 160. At a front surface of the filter opening 160, the filter cover 200 may be disposed, and at a rear portion of the filter opening 160, the drying unit 2 may be disposed. That is, the filter cover 200 is disposed on the front surface of the filter unit 100, and the drying unit 2 may be disposed on the rear surface of the filter unit 100.
The filter cover 200 may be rotatably coupled to the body 10 to open the filter opening 160. The filter cover 200 may include a rotation member 230 rotatably coupled to one side of the filter opening 160. In
As illustrated in
However, users may operate the clothes dryer 1 without coupling the filter unit 100 to the body 10. Therefore, foreign substance in the air may be not filtered well, and the drying unit 2 disposed on the rear portion of the filter opening 160 is exposed and thereby the heat loss and the leakage of condensed water may occur. In addition, humid air flowed out from the drum 20 may be discharged to the outside, thereby affecting products in the surroundings.
In order to prevent this, the filter unit 100 and the filter cover 200 may include a coupling structure to correspond to each other. When the filter unit 100 is not mounted to the body 10, the filter cover 200 is not fixed to the body 10 also, and thus users may notice that the filter unit 100 is not mounted to the body 10. That is, the filter cover 200 may be provided with one side thereof being installed on the body 10 and the other side thereof being coupled to the filter unit 100.
The filter cover 200 may include a first coupling member 210, and the filter unit 100 may include a second coupling member 112 corresponding to the first coupling member 210. The first coupling member 210 may be disposed on a rear surface of the filter cover 200, and the second coupling member 112 may be disposed on a front surface of the filter unit 100. The first coupling member 210 and the second coupling member 112 may be connected, and the filter cover 200 may be fixed to the filter unit 100. The first coupling member 210 and the second coupling member 112 may be provided in various shapes to be pair to be fixed to each other.
As mentioned above, the filter cover 200 may include a rotation member 230 coupled to the body 10. The rotation member 230 may be disposed on a lower portion of the filter cover 20 and may be externally provided on a rear surface of the filter cover 200.
The rotation member 230 may include a coupling unit 232 coupled to one side of the body 10. A coupling protrusion 233 may be provided on both sides of the coupling unit 232. The coupling protrusion 233 may protrude toward both sides of the coupling unit 232 so that the filter cover 200 may be fixed to the left and the right of the body 10. Therefore, the lower portion of the filter cover 200 may be rotatably fixed to the body 10 and the upper portion of the filter cover 200 may open/close the filter opening 160 by being rotated.
The first coupling member 210 and the rotation member 230 may be vertically spaced apart from each other. Therefore, when the filter unit 100 is separated from the body 10, the filter cover 200, which an upper portion thereof is not fixed, may be rotated with respect to the body 10. That is, according to whether the filter unit 100 is coupled to the body 100, the filter cover 200 may open/close the filter opening 160 by being rotated. Users may visually detect that the filter opening 160 is exposed since the filter cover 200 is rotated and may notice that the filter unit 100 is not mounted.
In another words, when the filter unit 100 is mounted, the lower portion of the filter cover 200 is rotatably fixed to the body 10 and the first coupling member 210 disposed on the upper portion of the filter cover 200 is connected to the second coupling member 112. Therefore, the filter cover 200 may form an external appearance of the body 10 to be fixed while closing the filter opening 160. When the filter unit 100 is separated from the body 10, the upper portion of the filter cover 200 may not fixed, and the filter cover 200 may open the filter opening 160 by the rotation of the rotation member 230 disposed on the lower portion of the filter cover 200.
In addition, in order to prevent users from accidentally removing the filter unit 100, the filter unit 100 may be installed to be fixed to the body 10. The filter unit 100 may include a fixation member 114 disposed on the front surface thereof to help users to manipulate. Users may fix the filter unit 100 to the body by gripping and rotating the fixation member 114.
The filter cover 200 may include a check member 220 corresponding to the fixation member 114 to detect whether the filter unit 100 is fixed. The fixation member 114 of
Furthermore, the filter unit 100 may include a plurality of fixation members and the filter cover 200 may include a plurality of check members which correspond to the plurality of fixation members, as shown in
The fixation member 114 may be disposed the front surface of the filter unit 100, and the check member 220 may be disposed the rear surface of the filter cover 200. The installation unit 115, in which the fixation member 114 is installed, may be provided in a concave manner on the front surface of the filter unit 100. The check member 220 may protrude to be extended to the installation unit 115. Therefore, when the fixation member 114 is not in a locked state by being rotated, the check member 220 may interrupt the fixation member 114 so that the filter cover 200 may not fixed to the filter unit 100.
Hereinafter, components of a filter unit 100 of
The filter unit 100 may include the second coupling member 112, the fixation member 114, and the front cover 110 provided with the handle 116. A casing 120 and 140, in which air passes through, may be provided at the rear of the front cover 110. The casing 120 and 140 may include a first casing 120 provided on the front and a second casing 140 provided on the rear.
The first casing 120 may include a first connection unit 122 and the second casing 140 may include a second connection unit 142. Therefore, the first connection unit 122 may be connected to the second connection unit 142 to be coupled to each other. A handle 124 may be provided on the front surface of the first casing 120. The first casing 120 may be provided in a shape of a frame 146. An opening 144 disposed between the frames 146, mesh may be installed.
At the casing 120 and 140, a sealing member 130 may be provided to prevent the heat loss of the heat exchanger (evaporator 30 and condenser 40) and the leakage of condensed water. At the rear of the second casing 140, a rear filter 150 may be disposed. The first casing 120 may include a protrusion 148 protruding toward the rear filter 150 and the rear filter 150 may include a hole 152 corresponding to the protrusion 148 to be coupled to each other.
As is apparent from the above description, according to the proposed clothes dryer provided with a filter unit and a filter cover having a coupling structure corresponding to each other, users may notice that the filter unit is not assembled when the filter unit is not assembled. When the filter cover is not coupled to the filter unit, the filter cover may allow users to notice that the filter unit is not assembled by being rotated with respect to the body, since one side of the filter cover is rotatably coupled to the body,
Although a few embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2014-0027442 | Mar 2014 | KR | national |
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/638,293, filed on Mar. 4, 2015, which claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2014-0027442, filed on Mar. 7, 2014 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14638293 | Mar 2015 | US |
| Child | 15850511 | US |
