EP2492389B1 - Laundry dryer with removable lint filter device - Google Patents

Description

Field of the invention

The invention relates to a tumble dryer with a lockable by a door laundry drum and a lint filter device.

background

A tumble dryer removes water from the wet laundry in its laundry drum by circulating hot air through the laundry drum in an air circuit. Here are in the exhaust air flow of the air circulation from the laundry drum Wäscheflusen entrained. For retaining these Wäscheflusen is a lint filter device which is arranged in an exhaust duct from the laundry drum and which, for. may consist of a solid frame member with a Siebgewebebespannung. This lint filter device should be cleaned by the user after each drying operation to remove the retained lint from the screen fabric tension.

The document JP 03092196 discloses a clothes dryer with a lint filter device on the drum rear side.

The document US 2008/0256821 A1 discloses a cover for a lint filter device of a frame member with mesh fabric tension.

The document DE 295 17 898 U1 describes a filter bag as a lint filter device in the base space of a tumble dryer.

The document DE 33 04 441 A1 discloses a lint filter device for a clothes dryer having a fabric-biased frame member on a clothes dryer door.

The described lint filter devices have the disadvantage that they can be cleaned by the user only laboriously.

Presentation of the invention

It is against this background the task of providing a tumble dryer with a convenient for the user to be cleaned or disposed of lint filter device.

This object is achieved by the tumble dryer according to the independent claim.

According to the invention, the tumble dryer is thus equipped with a lint filter device in an air duct of an air circuit running through the laundry drum. The lint filter device contains at least one filter bag. The filter bag has a bag interior and a bag opening through which the process air is introduced into the bag interior. The process air leaves the bag interior through its walls, which have a filter membrane, so that entrained Wäscheflusen and other objects are at least largely retained and thus removed from the air circulation. According to the claim, the filter bag is arranged on the door of the tumble dryer, whereby it is easily accessible to the user.

Preferably, the filter bag serves as a lint storage or catch container for Wäscheflusen, e.g. in that the bag interior extends from below as seen from the bag opening. After completion of the drying process, laundry fluff collected in the filter bag can thus not fall out due to the action of gravity.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the filter bag is arranged as part of the lint filter device in a filter chamber on the door of the clothes dryer, said filter chamber preferably having an air inlet opening and an air outlet opening arranged thereunder. As a result, the flow direction of the process air can be better controlled.

Preferably, the lint filter device is configured such that the user at least parts of it, e.g. can pull the filter bag itself out of a lint filter holder on the door of the clothes dryer, e.g. up. This improves the accessibility of the lint filter device by the user and at the same time ensures easier mounting.

In a further preferred embodiment, the filter bag is attached with its bag opening at an air passage opening of a partition wall. This partition, together with a wall of the door, e.g. an outer wall, the filter chamber in the door, in which the bag interior of the filter bag is arranged during operation. This partition incl. The filter bag may preferably be arranged to be pulled out in the lint filter holder on the door of the tumble dryer. Preferably, the filter bag can be easily removed by the user from the partition and replaced. Thus, a more effortless cleaning or a more convenient replacement of the filter bag is made possible.

In another preferred embodiment, the filter bag includes a plurality of single bags arranged one inside the other. The bag interior of the innermost single bag is thus arranged in the bag interior of the next single bag, etc. The bag openings of the individual bags are connected to each other. The process air then flows through the bag opening of the filter bag into the bag interior of the innermost single bag and leaves it through its walls, which have a first filter membrane. In this case, a part of the entrained Wäscheflusen and other objects is retained. Arrived in the bag interior of the second single bag, the process air now flows through the walls of this second single bag, which include a second filter membrane. In the process air remaining Wäscheflusen be retained, which is the filter membrane of the first single bag could happen. The filter membranes of the individual bags preferably have decreasing mesh sizes, which leads to an improved filter effect.

Brief description of the drawings

• Fig. 1 eine perspektivische Gesamtansicht des Wäschetrockners,
• Fig. 2 eine perspektivische Ansicht der Tür des Wäschetrockners,
• Fig. 3 eine schematische Darstellung einiger Baugruppen des Wäschetrockners von der Seite,
• Fig. 4 eine perspektivische Schnittansicht durch die Tür des Wäschetrockners entlang der Ebene A aus den Figs. 1 und 2,
• Fig. 5 eine perspektivische Ansicht der Trennwand der Flusenfilter-Vorrichtung,
• Fig. 6 eine andere perspektivische Ansicht der Trennwand und des Filterbeutels der Flusenfilter-Vorrichtung.

Further embodiments, advantages and applications of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims and from the following description with reference to FIGS. It shows

• Fig. 1 an overall perspective view of the tumble dryer,
• Fig. 2 a perspective view of the door of the tumble dryer,
• Fig. 3 a schematic representation of some components of the clothes dryer from the side,
• Fig. 4 a sectional perspective view through the door of the clothes dryer along the plane A from the Figs. 1 and 2 .
• Fig. 5 a perspective view of the partition wall of the lint filter device,
• Fig. 6 another perspective view of the partition wall and the filter bag of the lint filter device.

Ways to carry out the invention

The in Fig. 1 and 3 In the known manner, a laundry drier 1 has a laundry drum 1 for receiving the laundry 92 to be dried. The laundry drum 1 can, after filling in the wet laundry 92, be passed through a door 2 (FIG. Fig. 1 and 2 ) are closed. Then the user of the device starts the drying program, eg by pressing a button on a control panel 91 of the tumble dryer. A controller 99 of the tumble dryer then takes control of the steps of the drying program described below. For drying the laundry 92, the laundry drum 1 is rotated by a drive (not shown) in one or in alternating directions and the washing 92 located in the laundry drum 1 is loosened up and mixed. During the rotation of the laundry drum 1 process air 12 is blown through a fan 96 in a preferably closed circuit through the laundry drum 1 and the laundry 92 located therein. The process air 12 can still be heated by a heater 95 before entering the laundry drum 1. The warm process air 12 sorbs moisture in its passage through the wet laundry 92, which is removed from the laundry 92 and discharged from the laundry drum 1. To remove this moisture from the process air 12 is for example a heat exchanger device consisting of a first stage 93 for cooling the process air 12 and a second stage 94 for reheating the process air 12. When cooling the process air 12 in the first stage 93 condenses water from the process air 12, which is thus not reintroduced into the air circuit and the laundry drum 1. After reheating the process air 12 in the second stage 94, the process air 12 passes back to the fan 96 and the air circuit is thus closed. The door 2 is kept closed during the entire drying process.

During the passage of the process air 12 through the laundry drum 1 with the laundry located therein 92, however, not only moisture is discharged or carried in the process air flow, but also so-called. Wäscheflusen 17 and possibly other foreign bodies. In the following, when we speak of "purgatives," such "foreign bodies" are explicitly included. These Wäscheflusen 17 must before the passage of the process air 12 through the above-mentioned assemblies 93 to 96 are removed from the process air 12 in order to avoid impairments of the efficiency or even damage or other impairment of the modules.

According to the invention, a lint filter device 4, which comprises a filter bag 5, which is arranged on the door 2 of the tumble dryer, i. the filter bag 5 is attached or held on or in the door 2. The filter bag 5 has at least one bag opening 6 and at least one bag interior 70, the wall of which contains a filter membrane 50. The filter bag 5 is flowed through by the process air 12 from the bag opening 6 in the direction of the bag interior 70. During the passage of the process air 12 through the filter membrane 50 of the filter bag 5 disturbing Wäscheflusen 17 are retained at least to a large extent and thus removed from the flow of process air 12. Various materials may be used as filter membrane 50, conceivable are e.g. Nonwoven materials, cotton fabrics, filter papers, mesh fabrics or other materials which are flexible, air permeable and suitable for convenient air filtration.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention according to Fig. 3 to 6 the filter bag 5 is attached to the door 2 of the tumble dryer so that it extends from its bag opening 6 ago with its bag interior 70 extends downwards. Such an arrangement has the advantage that the Wäscheflusen 17 are held by the action of gravity in the bag interior 70 and 96 can not fall out even after switching off the fan. In this case, the volume of the filter bag 5 may be so dimensioned that the filter bag 5 does not have to be cleaned after each drying operation, but - depending on the lint content of the laundry to be dried and the amount of laundry - eg only after a few drying operations or loads. Such an embodiment of the present invention saves the user the tedious cleaning the lint filter device 4 after each drying process, as is necessary in tumble dryers with conventional lint filter devices. Preferred volumes of the filter bag 5 are in a range of 2200 to 2500 cm ³ . Such filter bag 5 allow the inclusion of Wäscheflusen 17 of, for example, 5 to 10 loads (with normal lint content of the laundry to be dried).

Preferably, the depth of the bag interior 70 is at least 100% of the cross-section of the bag opening 6 from its lower edge, i. in particular, such a "deep bag" can not be equated with a screen fabric tension on a frame component that sags in the air stream.

Preferably, at least the filter bag 5 of the lint filter device 4 may be designed as a disposable item, so that it can be easily disposed of with household waste after complete filling of its bag interior 70 with laundry bags 17. Thus, no cleaning of the filter bag 5 is necessary at all, which saves the user of the clothes dryer time and effort and allows a hygienic operation.

For easy accessibility by the user, the filter bag 5 may preferably be arranged in a filter chamber 8 on the door 2 of the tumble dryer. In particular, this filter chamber 8 may have an inlet opening 9 and a separate outlet opening 10 for the process air 12 flowing through it and the filter bag 5. In this case, the inlet opening 9 is preferably located above the outlet opening 10, ie the filter space 8 is flowed through by the process air 12 from top to bottom. By means of such an arrangement, the flow direction of the process air 12 can be better controlled than if an open filter bag were used. Through a large inlet opening 9 to the laundry drum 1 and a deflection of the flow of the process air 12 upwards (before their entry into the bag opening 6, please refer Fig. 4 ), the filter bag 5 occupy a large part of the height of the door 2 and a lint filter holder 3 on the door 2, whereby large bag volumes are made possible.

In the embodiment shown, the filter chamber 8 is bounded on one side by a wall of the door, e.g. towards the front by an outer wall 11 of the door 2. To the other side of the filter chamber 8 is limited by a partition 13, which has a passage opening 14 for the flowing into the filter bag 5 process air 12. The filter bag 5 is then fastened with its bag opening 6 to this passage opening 14 of the partition wall 13, preferably in such a way that it is connected on the one hand as airtight as possible with the partition wall 13 and on the other hand easily, e.g. can be loosened and re-attached by the user without the use of tools. Various attachment methods are conceivable, e.g. a flange on the partition wall 13, to which the bag opening 6 of the filter bag 5 is pressed by means of an elastic band or another mechanism.

As in Fig. 4 . 5 and 6 1, a part of the lint filter device 4, for example the partition wall 13, with the filter bag 5 attached to it, can be configured such that it can be pulled out by the user in a lint filter holder 3 on the door 2 of the tumble dryer. Such embodiments have the advantage that the easy accessibility for the user a simple cleaning or a simple replacement of the filter bag 5 is possible. Furthermore, can be largely avoided by a pull-out attachment of the partition wall 13 in the lint filter holder 3 that Wäscheflusen 17 are passed on the filter bag 5. Such an embodiment is in Fig. 1 . 2 and 4 shown, the lint filter holder 3 is mounted as a cylinder-like bulge on the door 2 laundry drum side. The partition wall 13 has a grip element 27, at its passage opening 14 is the bag opening 6 of the Filter bag 5 attached (see FIGS. 5 and 6 ). For cleaning, this complete assembly can be conveniently pulled out of the lint filter holder 3 by the user.

In the previously described embodiments of the present invention, the wall of the bag interior 70 of the filter bag 5 contained a filter membrane 50. In a further embodiment of the present invention Fig. 4 . 5 and 6 In order to improve the filter effect of the filter bag 5, instead of a single-layered filter membrane 50, two or more filter membranes 50, 51 can be used to form the bag inner spaces 70, 71 of the filter bag 5. In this case, the bag openings of the individual filter membranes 50, 51 are connected to one another, so that, viewed from the outside, a filter bag 5 with a bag opening 6 results, which contains nested individual bags made of filter membranes 50, 51. In other words, the filter bag 5 then contains a plurality of individual bags with a common bag opening 6. The process air 12 flows in such a multi-layer filter bag 5 through the common bag opening 6 in the innermost bag interior 70, flows through the first filter membrane 50, enters the second bag interior 71, flows through the second filter membrane 51, etc. By such an arrangement, the filtering effect of the filter bag 5 can be improved, so that when a flow through the filter bag 5 less Wäscheflusen 17 remain in the process air 12.

In particular, it is advantageous to equip the filter membranes 50, 51 in the direction of the flow of the process air 12 with decreasing mesh sizes, ie the innermost filter membrane 50 has a larger mesh size than the second filter membrane 51, etc. Such an arrangement on the one hand achieves a good filter effect. small mesh sizes are possible in filter membrane 51 as discussed above, but not with rapid "clogging" of the inner filter membrane 50 to be expected by Wäscheflusen 17, since here larger mesh sizes can be used (prefiltering).

Furthermore, it is advantageous to design the bag interior 70, 71 in the direction of the flow of the process air 12 with increasing volumes, i. the innermost bag interior 70 has a smaller volume than the second bag interior 71, etc. By such an arrangement on the one hand in each bag interior enough space for receiving the Wäscheflusen 17 is provided, on the other hand, in combination with the above-mentioned decreasing mesh sizes of the filter membranes 50, 51 Due to the filter surfaces becoming larger towards the outside, excessive obstruction of the airflow of the process air 12 is avoided. As a result, energy can be saved because the blower 96 must overcome less flow resistance.

• "Oben", "unten", "vorne", hinten", "rechts" und "links" bezeichnen jeweils eine Richtung oder Orientierung. Dabei ist die Standfläche 97 des Wäschetrockners, auf welcher das Gerät z.B. auf dem Boden steht, an der Unterseite des Geräts ("unten") angeordnet, die Abdeckplatte 98 des Geräts auf der Oberseite ("oben") und die Tür 2 des Geräts auf der Vorderseite ("vorne"). Alle Begriffe, welche sich auf ein Koordinatensystem beziehen, wie z.B. "über", "unter", "darüber", "darunter", "oberhalb", "unterhalb", "links von", "rechts von", "dahinter", "davor" usw. sind in diesem Sinne auszulegen.
• Die Begriffe "Filterbeutel", "Beutel", "beutelförmig" usw. beziehen sich auf einen verformbaren, hohlen Gegenstand, wobei
  • * er eine Beutelöffnung 6 und einen Beutelinnenraum 70 aufweist, dessen Wandung eine luftdurchlässige Filtermembran 50 beinhaltet,
  • * er zur Aufnahme von anderen Gegenständen, z.B. Wäscheflusen 17, geeignet ist.
• Anspruchsgemäss umfasst die Flusenfilter-Vorrichtung 4 erfindungsgemäss einen Filterbeutel 5 in der Tür 2 des Wäschetrockners. Dabei kann die Flusenfilter-Vorrichtung 4 neben dem Filterbeutel 5 weitere, z.B. dem Filterbeutel 5 nachgelagerte Filtermembranen in Luftkanälen des Wäschetrockners aufweisen, z.B. einen Feinfilter 15 im gehäuseseitigen Rahmen der Tür 2 und/oder einen Feinfilter 16 im Sockel des Wäschetrockners (siehe Fig. 3).

Remarks:

• "Top", "bottom", "front", "back", "right" and "left" designate one direction or orientation, whereby the standing surface 97 of the tumble dryer, on which the device stands, for example, on the bottom, is at the bottom of the device ("below"), the top cover plate 98 of the device ("top"), and the front door 2 of the device ("front") All terms related to a coordinate system, such as ""above","below","above","below","above","below","to the left of", "to the right of", "behind", "before" etc. are to be interpreted in this sense.
• The terms "filter bag,""bag,""bag-shaped," etc., refer to a deformable, hollow article wherein
  • it has a bag opening 6 and a bag interior 70, the wall of which contains an air-permeable filter membrane 50,
  • * It is suitable for holding other objects, eg clothes lines 17.
• According to the invention, the lint filter device 4 according to the invention comprises a filter bag 5 in the door 2 of the tumble dryer. In this case, the lint filter device 4 next to the filter bag 5 further, for example, the filter bag 5 downstream filter membranes in air ducts of the tumble dryer have, for example, a fine filter 15 in the housing-side frame of the door 2 and / or a fine filter 16 in the base of the tumble dryer (see Fig. 3 ).

The various steps of the described drying program are controlled by a controller 99. This contains e.g. a microprocessor programmed to perform the steps described above automatically. When it is mentioned in the claims that the tumble dryer is "designed" to perform certain steps, it is to be understood that the control of the device is structured to perform the steps automatically.

While preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the present application, it should be clearly understood that the invention is not limited to these and may be practiced otherwise within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (14)

1. Laundry dryer with
   a washing drum (1),
   a door (2) by means of which the washing drum (1) can be closed,
   a fluff filter device (4) in an air channel of an air circuit extending through the washing drum for keeping back at least a part of the washing fluffs (17) transported in the process air (12), wherein the fluff filter device (4) contains at least a filter bag (5) with a bag opening (6) and a bag interior space (70),
   wherein the laundry dryer is formed in such a way that the process air (12) can be inserted into the interior of the bag (70) through the bag opening (6),
   characterized in that the filter bag (5) is arranged on the door (2) of the laundry dryer.
2. Laundry dryer according to claim 1, wherein the filter bag (5) extends from its bag opening (6) with its interior (70) towards the bottom.
3. Laundry dryer according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the filter bag (5) is arranged in a filter chamber (8) in the door (2).
4. Laundry dryer according to claim 3, wherein the filter chamber (8) has an inlet opening (9) and an outlet opening (10) separated therefrom, for the process air (12) flow through it, and
   wherein the inlet opening (9) is arranged above the outlet opening (10).
5. Laundry dryer according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the fluff filter device (4) is formed in such a way that it can be pulled by the user at least in parts out of a fluff filter support (3) on the door (2) of the laundry dryer.
6. Laundry dryer according to one of the preceding claims,
   wherein the fluff filter device (4) contains a separating wall (13) additionally to the filter bag (5).
   wherein the bag opening (6) of the filter bag (5) is attached to a passage opening (14) of the separating wall (13) and
   wherein during the operation of the laundry dryer the interior of the bag (70) of the filter bag (5) is arranged in a filter space (8) between the separating wall (13) and a wall (11) of the door (2).
7. Laundry dryer according to claims 5 and 6, wherein the separating wall (13) is supported on the door (2) of the laundry dryer such that it can be pulled out of the fluff filter support (3).
8. Laundry dryer according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the filter bag (5) can be attached by the user to the separating wall (13) of the fluff filter device (4) in a detachable way.
9. Laundry dryer according to one of the claims 6 to 8, wherein the inlet opening (9) of the filter chamber (8) is arranged at least partially below the passage opening (14) of the separating wall (13).
10. Laundry dryer according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the filter bag (5) has a bag opening (6) and a plurality of interiors of the bag (70, 71) arranged one inside the other, the walls of which comprise multiple filter membranes (50, 51).
11. Laundry dryer according to claim 10, wherein the individual interiors of the bag (70, 71) have increasing volumes as seen in direction of the process air flow (12).
12. Laundry dryer according to one of the claims 10 or 11, wherein the individual filter membranes (50, 51) have decreasing mesh widths as seen in direction of the process air flow (12).
13. Laundry dryer according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the volume of the filter bag (5) is dimensioned in such a way that the filter bag (5) can receive washing fluffs (17) of more than one charge of the laundry dryer, particularly of 5 to 10 charges.
14. Laundry dryer according to claim 13, wherein the filter bag (5) has a volume in a range between 2200 and 2500 cm³.

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