EP2495363A1 - Washer dryer with lint filter cleaning - Google Patents

Abstract

A suction nozzle (11) is provided to clean the lint filter (6) of a tumble dryer. The lint filter (6) can be rotated relative to the suction nozzle (11) so that the suction nozzle sweeps over the entire lint filter (6). The air from the suction nozzle (11) is fed to a suction device (22), which separates the suctioned lint and feeds it to a lint container (24). In this way, the lint filter (6) can be cleaned efficiently.

Description

Field of the invention

The invention relates to a tumble dryer with a lint filter and cleaning agents for cleaning the lint filter.

background

In a tumble dryer should be provided to prevent contamination of the device at least one lint filter. In known devices, such a lint filter is e.g. arranged in the door of the device.

For most known devices, the lint filter must be cleaned or replaced periodically by hand. Out EP 2 226 421 a device is known in which cleaning agents are provided for automated cleaning of the lint filter. This is a scraper that slides over the lint filter.

Presentation of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to design the cleaning agent for the lint filter so that a good cleaning effect can be achieved.

This object is achieved by the tumble dryer according to claim 1. Accordingly, the cleaning means comprise a suction nozzle for automatically sucking the lint filter. By using this suction nozzle, the cleaning effect is improved over a simple stripping.

Preferably, the lint filter is circular and a rotary drive is provided around the lint filter relative to the suction nozzle to rotate about the circle center axis of the lint filter. Thus, with a nozzle small area in a simple way the whole filter can be cleaned.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the lint filter is disposed on the door of the tumble dryer where it serves, in particular, as the first filter for the process air exiting the drum, i. for the process air stream, which discharges the water from the wet laundry. For reasons of space, the already mentioned circular design of the lint filter with rotary drive is particularly advantageous in this case.

Advantageously, a suction device connected to the suction nozzle is provided for generating the negative pressure in the suction nozzle. The suction device generates a secondary air flow for cleaning the filter. It has a separation device for separating lint from the air sucked in by the suction nozzle and a lint container for receiving the lint deposited in this way.

Brief description of the drawings

• Fig. 1 einen Wäschetrockner mit teilweise transparent dargestelltem Gehäuse,
• Fig. 2 einen vertikalen Schnitt durch den Türbereich des Wäschetrockners,
• Fig. 3 einen horizontalen Schnitt durch den Türbereich des Wäschetrockners,
• Fig. 4 den oberen Teil und die Trommel des Wäschetrockners mit ausgezogenem Flusenbehälter,
• Fig. 5 eine erste Ansicht einer Absaugvorrichtung,
• Fig. 6 eine zweite Ansicht einer Absaugvorrichtung,
• Fig. 7 einen horizontalen Schnitt durch die Absaugvorrichtung,
• Fig. 8 einen vertikalen Schnitt durch die Absaugvorrichtung mit dem Stössel in einer ersten Stellung,
• Fig. 9 den Schnitt nach Fig. 8 mit dem Stössel in einer zweiten Stellung,
• Fig. 10 den Schnitt nach Fig. 8 mit dem Stössel in einer dritten Stellung,
• Fig. 11 den Schnitt nach Fig. 8 mit dem Stössel in einer vierten Stellung,
• Fig. 12 eine Ausführung mit aufrollbarem Flusenfilter und
• Fig. 13 eine Ausführung mit zwei Flusenfiltern.

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

• Fig. 1 a clothes dryer with partially transparent represented housing,
• Fig. 2 a vertical section through the door area of the tumble dryer,
• Fig. 3 a horizontal section through the door area of the tumble dryer,
• Fig. 4 the upper part and the drum of the tumble dryer with the fluff container pulled out,
• Fig. 5 a first view of a suction device,
• Fig. 6 a second view of a suction device,
• Fig. 7 a horizontal section through the suction device,
• Fig. 8 a vertical section through the suction device with the plunger in a first position,
• Fig. 9 the cut after Fig. 8 with the plunger in a second position,
• Fig. 10 the cut after Fig. 8 with the plunger in a third position,
• Fig. 11 the cut after Fig. 8 with the plunger in a fourth position,
• Fig. 12 a version with roll-up lint filter and
• Fig. 13 a version with two lint filters.

Ways to carry out the invention

In the Fig. 1, 2 and 3 illustrated embodiment of the tumble dryer has a drum 1 for receiving the laundry to be dried and a door 2, via which the interior of the drum 1 is accessible. Further, the apparatus has means (not shown) for generating a process air flow L in the drum 1. The process air flow enters, for example through the rear wall of the drum 1 in this and flows through the drum substantially in the axial direction. Then it enters a cavity 3 in the door 2 exits this cavity 3 through openings 4 in the frame 5 of the door. From there, the air passes into a dehumidifying and heating device in the base of the device and is then returned by a blower back into the drum 1 (not shown).

How best FIGS. 2 and 3 can be seen, a lint filter 6 is arranged in the door 2. This is a fine-meshed network with a hole size of eg 0.05 - 0.15 mm, in particular 0.13 mm, the This serves to retain lint in the process air. The shape of the lint filter is as in Fig. 1 indicated, circular. It is held in an annular frame 7, which in turn sits in a pivot bearing 8 of the door frame 5. Thus, the lint filter 6 is rotatable about a circle center axis 9 perpendicular to it. It is a rotary drive provided (not shown), with which the lint filter can be rotated about the circle center axis 9.

As mentioned above, a suction nozzle 11 is disposed on the lint filter 6 (only in FIGS. 2 and 3 shown) to suck lint from the lint filter. This has a hollow body 12 which has an elongated mouth opening 14, the arrangement in Fig. 1 indicated by dashed lines. It preferably extends from the circle central axis 9 to the periphery of the lint filter 6, so that it covers the entire lint filter in the course of the rotation of the lint filter 6 about the circle center axis 9, although the area of the mouth opening 14 is smaller than that of the lint filter 6. It should be mentioned at this point, that alternatively or additionally, the lint filter 6 rest and the suction nozzle 11 can rotate.

Preferably, the suction nozzle 11 is attached to the door 2 and pivotable together with this, so that it releases the loading opening of the drum 1 when opening the door 2.

In order to achieve a good cleaning effect even with relatively low suction air flow, the distance between the mouth opening 14 and lint filter 6 should not be too large. A distance of at most 4 mm is preferred. However, the mouth opening 14 does not need to touch the lint filter 6, so that the wear remains small.

The suction nozzle 11 is located on the inlet side 16 of the lint filter 6, that is, on the side, from which the charged with lint process air from the drum 1 passes through the lint filter 6, since accumulate lint on this side.

In addition to the suction nozzle 11, a blowing nozzle 18 can be arranged on the inlet side 16 opposite outlet side 17 of the lint filter 6, with the air against the lint filter 6 can be blown. The blowing nozzle 18 is located opposite the suction nozzle 11, so that as far as possible all air from the blowing nozzle 18 enters the suction nozzle 11. The mouth opening 19 of the tuyere 18 has substantially the same shape and size as those of the suction nozzle 11. The tuyere 18 supports the cleaning effect. It turns out that thanks to the blowing nozzle, a lower flow velocity is required during filter cleaning, and that the noise development is reduced.

The blowing nozzle 18 is connected via a connecting line with a fan (not shown), via which dust-free fresh air can be supplied as possible. Instead of fresh air, however, the blowing nozzle 18 can also be supplied with cleaned device air - for example, the air from the abovementioned secondary air flow is preferably cleaned so efficiently that it can be guided back to the blowing nozzle 18.

At the suction nozzle 11, a suction line 21 is arranged, which connects the suction nozzle 11 with a suction device 22, whose structure is now with reference to Fig. 4 - 11 will be described in more detail.

How out Fig. 4 can be seen, the suction device 22 is arranged laterally above the drum 1. Your task is to generate the negative pressure to suck air through the suction nozzle 11. In addition, it has a separation device to separate lint from the air flow from the suction nozzle 11 and to supply it to a lint container 24.

The lint container 24 is preferably designed as a drawer and may be at least for emptying partially or completely removed forwards from the device.

The suction device 22 has a housing 25 in which a plunger 26 is arranged (see. Fig. 6 ff). The plunger 26 performs various tasks, such as can be stripped with him a arranged in the suction device 22 Abscheidefilter 28. It also forms part of a compression device for compressing the separated lint and for their transport into the lint container 24. In addition, it forms closure means with which at least one air opening in the suction device can be closed or opened in the suction device for controlling the air, depending on the position of the plunger 26 , These functions are described in more detail below.

To drive the plunger 26, a plunger drive 30 is provided. How best Fig. 7 As can be seen, the ram drive 30 drives a pinion 31, which engages in a rack 32 of the ram 26, so that the ram 26 can be reciprocated in a longitudinal direction.

The plunger 26 has a head 33 which, upon movement of the plunger 26 of the in Fig. 8 shown first position is moved into a piston chamber 34. The head 33 has substantially the same cross section as the piston chamber 34.

The lint container 24 is connected via a filling opening 53 with the piston chamber 34. This filling opening can be closed with a sliding or rotatable closing plate 54, which is driven by a shutter drive 55.

During the cleaning of the lint filter 6, the lint filter 6 is rotated and sucked air through the suction nozzle 11. During this process, the plunger 26 is in the in Fig. 8 shown first position. The head 33 is not retracted into the piston chamber 34. The filling opening 53 is with the closure plate 54 closed. Air from the suction nozzle 11 passes through the conduit 21 in the suction device 22, as with arrows in Fig. 8 indicated. The air enters through these first openings 39 on the outer wall of the piston chamber 34 in this, and then passes through the separation filter 28, which is also arranged on the outer wall of the Kobenraums 34. In a cylindrical embodiment of the Kobelraums 34, the separation filter 28 may also be configured in the form of a cylinder or cylinder segment.

From the separating filter 28, the air passes into a channel 40 and from there through second openings 41 in an auxiliary chamber 42. In the auxiliary chamber 42 is located in the in Fig. 8 This foot has the shape of a hollow cylinder open to the rear, the outer diameter of which corresponds to the inner diameter of the auxiliary chamber 42. The passage of the air through the second openings 41 into the auxiliary chamber 42 is possible because the plunger 26 is arranged in the first position so that third openings 45 in the foot 44 come to rest over the second openings 41.

The air in the auxiliary chamber 42 emerges axially from this and enters a fan chamber 47, in which a radial fan 48 is arranged, which is driven by a fan drive 49. From the fan chamber 47, the air exits radially into an exhaust duct 50 from where it is discharged to the environment. The exhaust duct 50 can be closed by a flap 51, which, however, in the position according to Fig. 8 is open.

When the suction of the lint filter 6 is completed, the centrifugal fan 48 can be turned off. Now the plunger 26 is forward in the in Fig. 9 shown second position. Since the separating filter 28 is arranged flush with the outer wall of the piston chamber 34, the head 33 is thereby guided along the separating filter 40, strips off the lint adhering to the separating filter 28 and pushes all lint against the lint container 24 so that they are compressed between the head 33 and the closure plate 54 to a smaller volume. Thus, the head 33 together with the closure plate 54 forms a compression device for compressing the separated lint, so that more lint can be stored in the lint container 24.

Now, the closure plate 54 is moved away from the filling opening 53 and releases it. Then, the head 33 is retracted into the lint container 24 and pushes the compressed lint into the lint 24.

Then the plunger 26 in the in Fig. 10 shown third position, in which the head 33 is flush with the inner wall of the lint container 24 in the filling opening 53. Now the closure plate 54 is closed. In this case, lint adhering to the plunger 26 or the head 33 is stripped off with the closure plate 54.

Now the plunger 26 in the in Fig. 11 shown fourth position. In this position, the foot 44 of the plunger 26 closes the second openings 41 of the auxiliary chamber 42, but releases third openings 56 of the auxiliary chamber 42, via which the auxiliary chamber 42 is connected to the environment. The head 33 of the plunger 26 simultaneously releases the separation filter 28, but not the first openings 39. The flap 51 is folded down so that it closes the exhaust air channel 50. The closure plate 54 is again moved away from the filling opening 53 and releases it.

Now the radial fan 48 is put into operation again. This sucks ambient air through the third openings 56 now. From the radial fan 48 this air passes through a now released by the flap 51 passage 59 in the channel 40. From the channel 40, the air passes through the separating filter 28 and flows through the piston chamber 34 and the filling opening 53 in the lint 24th

The air flow in this process phase is in Fig. 11 illustrated with arrows. Comparing these with the flow of air in Fig. 8 , it can be seen that before stripping the lint ( Fig. 8 ) the air is guided in a first direction through the separation filter 28, while after stripping the lint ( Fig. 11 ) the air is passed through the separation filter 28 in a second direction opposite to the first direction. This makes it possible to remove even the last remaining on Abscheidefilter 28 lint residues and it is ensured that a constant filter effect is achieved during each cleaning process of the lint filter.

As can be seen from the above, 26 different closure means are arranged on the plunger, which are formed by the head 33 and the foot 44, and for controlling the air depending on the position of the plunger 26 more, or at least one air opening (in the present example the first, second and third openings 40, 41 and 56) open or close.

If the lint container 24 is full, it is urged towards the front by the pressure of the lint, so that it begins to open in the event of overfilling. To detect this opening movement, a sensor may be provided on the lint container 24 (not shown) so as to indicate to the user that the machine will not start because the lint container is open and that the lint container must be emptied.

The operations in the device are controlled by a device controller which is programmed to automatically activate the various drives at appropriate times, e.g. due to a program selected by the user. Preferably, the filter cleaning process is started automatically after each completed laundry drying process.

The cleaning of the lint filter 6 with the suction nozzle 11 is preferably only at the end of a Drying program triggered so that the extracted lint are as dry as possible, so that they stick less. In addition, dry fluff tend less to the formation of unwanted odors in the lint 24.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show only one possible embodiment of the lint filter 6. A variant is in Fig. 12 shown where the lint filter 6 is designed as a band with a length much larger than its width. The end regions of the lint filter tape are rolled up, for example, in the region of the frame 5 of the door, in FIG Fig. 12 on two rollers 60. To clean the lint filter 6, it is unrolled at one end and unrolled at the other end, for which purpose suitable drives are provided on the rollers 60. In this case, preferably the same location for a larger number (eg 200) drying cycles used repeatedly until even after the suction, the pollution remains so large that further use is no longer useful. Then the lint filter 6 is driven once by a whole filter height, so that a new section of the filter 6 enters the process air stream L. In this way, with only one filter module, you can potentially go through thousands of drying cycles, eliminating the need to replace it over the life of the unit.

Another variant of the lint filter, which can be combined with the above variants, is disclosed in US Pat Fig. 13 shown. Here, two or more lint filters 6, 6 'are arranged one behind the other in the process air stream L. For example, these filters can be arranged in the frame 5 of the door. Each of these filters is assigned a suction nozzle 11 for automatic suction. Preferably, a common rotary drive is provided for the two filters in the frame 5, in the in FIGS. 2 and 3 shown type to rotate the filter about the axis 9.

By using two filters, of which the rear in the process air flow L, ie the second through-flow filter advantageously a smaller mesh size own, the cleaning effect can be improved. The two filters can also be of different types, for example, the first filter can be designed as a mesh filter, while the second filter is formed for example by an open-cell foam.

In summary, therefore, a solution for cleaning the lint filter of a tumble dryer with a suction nozzle is proposed. The lint filter can be rotated relative to the suction nozzle, so that the suction nozzle covers the entire lint filter. The air from the suction nozzle is fed to a suction device, which separates the sucked lint and feeds it to a fluff container. In this way, the lint filter can be cleaned efficiently.

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

Claims (17)

Dryer with a lint filter (6) and cleaning agents for the lint filter (6), characterized in that the cleaning means comprise a suction nozzle (11) for automatically sucking the lint filter (6). The tumble dryer according to claim 1, wherein the lint filter (6) is circular and wherein a rotary drive is provided to rotate the lint filter (6) relative to the suction nozzle (11) about a circular central axis (9), and in particular wherein the lint filter (6) is rotatable and the suction nozzle (11) is stationary. The tumble dryer according to claim 2, wherein an orifice (14) of the suction nozzle (11) extends from the circle center axis (9) to a periphery of the lint filter (6). Laundry drier according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the lint filter (6) is arranged on a door (2) of the tumble dryer. A tumble dryer according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus is configured to guide fluff-laden process air from an inlet side (16) through the lint filter (6), the suction nozzle (11) being located at the inlet side (16) of the lint filter (6 is arranged, and in particular wherein on one of the inlet side opposite outlet side (17) of the lint filter (6) a blowing nozzle (18) is arranged, which is the suction nozzle (11) and with the air against the lint filter (6) is blown , Clothes dryer according to one of the preceding claims, comprising a suction device (22) which is connected to the suction nozzle (11) for generating a negative pressure in the suction nozzle (11), wherein the suction device (22) comprises a separating device for depositing of lint and a fluff container (24) for receiving the separated lint. The tumble dryer of claim 6, wherein the separator comprises compression means (26, 33, 54) for compressing the deposited lint. The tumble dryer of claim 7, wherein the compression device (26, 33, 54) includes a plunger (26) and a separation filter (28), wherein air coming from the suction nozzle (11) is passed through the separation filter (28), and wherein the plunger (26) for stripping lint to the separation filter (28) the precipitation filter (28) is guided along. Tumble dryer according to claim 8, wherein the plunger (26) against a closure plate (54), in particular a displaceable or rotatable closure plate (54), is feasible to the Abscheidefilter (28) stripped lint between the plunger (26) and the closure plate ( 54), and wherein the closure plate (54) is openable after compression of the lint to expel the compressed lint into the lint container (24). Dryer according to claim 9, wherein the separating device is designed such that after the ejection of the compressed lint into the lint container (24) the plunger (26) can be arranged flush with a closure opening (53) which can be closed by the closure plate (54), so that during the Closing of the closure plate (54) on the plunger (26) adhering fluff by the closure of the closure plate (54) are strippable. Dryer according to one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the suction device (22) is designed to guide the air coming from the suction nozzle (11) in a first direction by the separating filter before stripping the lint and after the stripping of the lint air in a second, the first direction to lead opposite direction through the separation filter (28). Dryer according to one of claims 8 to 11, wherein closing means (33, 44) are arranged on the plunger (26) which close or close at least one air opening (40, 41, 56) for controlling the air as a function of a position of the plunger (26) leave open. Dryer according to one of claims 6 to 12, wherein the lint container (24) is designed such that it starts to open in case of overfilling with lint, wherein the lint container (24) arranged a sensor for detecting an opening of the lint container (24) is. Laundry drier according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a mouth opening (14) of the suction nozzle (11) is arranged at most 4 mm away from the lint filter (6). Laundry drier according to one of the preceding claims, wherein it is designed to trigger a cleaning of the lint filter (6) with the suction nozzle (11) towards the end of a drying program. Laundry drier according to one of the preceding claims, comprising a plurality of lint filters (6, 6 ') arranged one behind the other in a process air flow (L), to each of which a suction nozzle (11) is assigned. Laundry drier according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the lint filter (6) is designed as a band with rolled-up end regions.

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