WO2010012709A1 - Dishwasher machine comprising a sorption drying device in a sub-module - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a dishwasher machine (GS) comprising at least one washing compartment (SB) and at least one drying device (TE) for drying items that have been washed, said drying device comprising at least one sorption compartment (BEH) for receiving a reversibly dehydrogenable sorption material, especially zeolite (ZEO), and at least one air-guiding connection channel connected to the washing compartment (SB), for generating an exchange of air between the washing compartment (SB) and the sorption compartment (BEH). According to the invention, a reversibly dehydrogenable sorption material is provided in the sorption compartment (BEH), for the absorption of a quantity of humidity transported by the air exchange. The sorption compartment (BEH) is arranged in a bottom sub-module (BG) beneath the bottom of the washing compartment (SB).

Description

 Dishwasher with sorption dryer in subassembly

The present invention relates to a dishwasher, in particular domestic dishwasher, with at least one washing container and at least one drying device for drying of cleaned items, wherein the drying device at least one sorption container for receiving reversibly dehydratable sorption material, in particular zeolite, and having at least one air-conducting air duct between the Drying device and the washing container for generating an air exchange between the washing and the sorption container.

For example, DE 103 53 774 A1, DE 103 53 775 A1 or DE 10 2005 004 096 A1 disclose dishwashers with a so-called sorption column for drying dishes. Moist air from the washing compartment of the dishwasher is passed through the sorption column by means of a blower in the partial program step "drying" of the respective dishwashing program of the dishwasher and moisture is removed from the air passed through it by means of its reversibly dehydratable dry material by condensation for regeneration, ie desorption The sorption column is heated to its reversibly dehydratable dry material to very high temperatures in. Water stored in this material emerges as hot water vapor and is passed through an air flow generated by the blower in the washing container Crockery and the air in the rinsing container are heated, and such a sorption column has proved to be very advantageous for energy-saving and quiet drying of the dishes Prevention of local overheating of the dry material in the desorption process is e.g. in DE 10 2005 004 096 A1, a heater in the flow direction of the air is arranged in front of the air inlet of the sorption column. Despite this "air heating" during desorption, it remains difficult in practice to always sufficiently and properly dry the reversibly dehydratable dry material.

The invention has for its object to provide a dishwasher, in particular household dishwasher, with the further improved sorption and / or desorption result for the reversibly dehydratable dry material of the sorption of their Sorptionstrocknungsvorrichtung is achievable.

This object is achieved in a dishwasher of the type mentioned above in that the sorption container is housed in a floor assembly below the bottom of the washing.

This makes it possible to compactly accommodate a sufficient amount of sorbent material in the dishwasher for a satisfactory sorption and / or desorption result. It is also avoided by this arrangement of the sorbent container in the bottom assembly below the bottom of the washing, that in the region of the side walls of the washing compartment space is lost. Thus, the inner and outer dimensions of the dishwasher can remain largely unchanged. This is particularly advantageous for a household dishwasher for which e.g. in a kitchen an installation niche is given with certain internal dimensions.

According to an advantageous development of the invention, reversibly dehydratable sorption material for absorption of a moisture quantity transported by the air exchange is provided in the sorption container such that the amount of moisture absorbed by the sorption material is less than the amount of liquid applied to the ware, in particular the amount of liquid applied in a final rinse step , is. Characterized in that the sorbent material in the sorbent container is adjusted in terms of its weight amount such that it absorbs only a liquid portion of the total amount that is smaller than the total amount of liquid applied to the items to be washed, with low sorption material use an efficient humidity binding is possible. This allows a compact design for the sorption.

At the same time it is thus ensured that the energy required for complete regeneration of the sorption material can be reduced by heating by means of a heater, since only one sufficient, adequate or metered amount of sorption material is heated for proper drying of the ware.

According to a first expedient development of the invention, the reversibly dehydratable sorption material in the sorption container is expediently with such Weight provided that the amount of moisture absorbed by the reversibly dehydratable sorbent substantially corresponds to the amount of wetting with which the items to be washed is wetted after the end of the rinse step. In particular, the amount of wetting is the amount of liquid adhering to the items to be washed, the baskets for holding the items to be washed, and / or the inner walls of the washing container after a final rinse step in which the washware already cleaned has been treated with relaxation means and not due to gravity drains to the bottom of the washing. This adaptation of the amount by weight of the sorption material ensures that its moisture absorption capacity is sufficient to bind or absorb this wetting amount by means of the air exchange largely completely in the sorption material.

Preferably, the sorption material is accommodated in the sorption container with such an amount by weight that the amount of absorbed moisture corresponds to between 4% and 25%, in particular 5% to 15%, of the amount of liquid applied to the items to be washed.

Advantageously, a weight amount of between 0.2 kg and 5 kg, in particular between 0.3 kg and 3 kg, preferably between 0.5 kg and 2.5 kg, of reversibly dehydratable sorption material is present in the sorption.

According to an expedient embodiment, the drying device can be connected via at least one air duct with at least one outlet and with at least one inlet of the washing container. This allows air circulation in the closed circuit.

In particular, it may be expedient that the air duct is arranged substantially outside of the washing, so that the usable space is maintained in the washing, that is. not reduced.

In particular, it may be provided that the outlet-side pipe section of the air duct is connected to at least one inlet of the washing container in the ground-near area. This is useful if the sorption is housed in the bottom assembly of the dishwasher. In this way, the Auströmungsweg for the dried air from the sorption container can be kept short until it flows into the washing compartment of the dishwasher, so that unwanted heat losses are largely avoided.

In particular, it can be provided that the inlet-side pipe section of the air duct is connected to at least one outlet of the washing container above its bottom, in particular in its region close to the ceiling. This largely avoids splashing water from a spraying device in the washing container, e.g. during the cleaning or rinsing process or intermediate rinsing process, can penetrate into the inlet opening of the inlet-side pipe section of the air duct. This would otherwise lead to an unwanted partial or complete saturation of the sorbent material, in particular the impairment or even damage of the sorbent material with respect to its original sorption and / or desorption, and make this partially or completely unusable for a drying of humid air from the washing.

Furthermore, it may be advantageous if the inlet-side pipe section of the air duct opens into the sorption container of the drying device in the near-bottom region, that its inflow direction, in particular by about 90 °, is deflected in the, preferably vertical, flow direction of the sorption. This allows, on the one hand, to bring the moist air out of the washing container via at least one inlet-side pipe section of the air-guiding channel, which is arranged on a side wall and / or rear wall of the washing container. On the other hand, the outlet-side pipe section of the air duct between the outlet opening of the sorption container and the inlet opening of the washing container can be largely rectilinear and relatively short. This is particularly advantageous when the outlet-side pipe section of the air duct is connected to at least one inlet of the washing compartment in its near-ground area. Thus, the outlet-side pipe section of the air duct, for example, open into an opening in the bottom of the washing compartment. As a result, heat losses, especially in the desorption of the sorbent material are largely avoided because the heated in the desorption air leaving the sorbent, largely without loss of path, ie, directly, in the Rinse tank can flow. As a result, the efficiency of the sorption drying device is improved, in particular during desorption.

According to a further expedient development, at least one fan for generating the air flow can be provided in front of the drying device in the flow direction of the air flow. This allows a particularly effective forced flow of the sorbent material.

According to a further expedient development, at least one associated heating element can be provided for desorption in the flow direction between the blower and the drying device. As a result, a regeneration of the sorbent material is made possible so that it is largely regenerated again for the next dishwashing process for drying the ware.

In particular, it may be expedient if, viewed in the flow direction before the sorption unit with the reversibly dehydratable sorption material, at least one heating element, in particular an electric heating element, is provided in the sorption container as part of the sorption container for its desorption. This provides an air heater, i. hot air can flow through the sorption material largely uniformly. In this way, so-called "hot spots", i.e. local overheating points in the filling volume of the sorption material are largely avoided.

According to an expedient development, the drying device has at least one sorption unit with reversibly dehydratable dry material or drying material, in particular a fixed zeolite bed or a Zeolithschüttung on. A zeolite bed is in particular formed by loose zeolite granules, preferably in the form of beads. The dry material or sorption material is preferably accommodated in a container or housing of the sorption unit with substantially the same layer thickness. The container of the sorption unit is preferably bounded or covered by at least one sieve at its air inlet opening and / or air outlet opening. In a practical way, a compact storage of the sorbent material at the same time sufficient air permeability is thus possible, so that the sorbent material both moisture from air flowing through Absorb sufficiently by condensation as well as release or desorb stored moisture by heating to air flowing through.

Other developments of the invention are given in the dependent claims.

The invention and its developments are explained in more detail below with reference to a single figure:

The single FIGURE schematically shows a dishwasher GS with a washing container SB and a sorption drying system TS. This is preferably external, ie provided outside the washing container SB of the dishwasher GS. It comprises as main components an air duct VK, at least one blower or a fan GB and a drying device TE. In the washing container SB, for example, one or more grid baskets GK are accommodated for receiving and rinsing dishes. The drying device TE is connected via the air duct VK to at least one outlet EL and to at least one inlet AL of the washing container SB. In this case, the air duct VK is arranged largely outside of the washing compartment SB. Specifically, the inlet-side pipe portion RA1 of the air-guiding passage VK is connected to the outlet EL of the washing tank SB in its ceiling-near area and upper area, respectively, remote from the bottom of the washing tank. The outlet side pipe section RA2 of the air duct VK leads to the inlet AL of the washing tank SB in its near-ground region. In this way, air can be passed from the interior of the washing container SB via the air duct VK to the drying device TE, for example during a drying step of a dishwashing program and dried by this, back into the washing container SB, ie circulate through the sorption drying system TS. Through the air inlet in the upper region of the washing container SB is largely avoided that water from the sump (omitted for clarity in the figure) in the bottom of the washing or from its Wassersprühsystem WS in the air duct and in the sorption BEH the drying device TE can get what else would make the sorption material unduly humid and unusable there. In the exemplary embodiment, the drying device TE is advantageously accommodated in a base assembly or substructure unit BG below the bottom of the washing container SB. It is designed as a so-called sorption column. This comprises in the common housing or container BEH at least one heating element HZ and downstream in the flow direction Sorptionseinheit SE, which is equipped with a reversibly dehydratable sorbent material such as zeolite ZEO. The sorption unit contains in particular a sorption material fixed bed, preferably zeolite fixed bed, as a molecular sieve or a loose bed of sorption material, preferably zeolite bed. A Sorptionsmaterialschüttung, in particular Zeolithschüttung, in particular by loose granules or other particles, preferably zeolite, preferably formed in a bead form. The dry material or sorption material is preferably accommodated as a single-layer or multi-layer with substantially the same layer thickness in the container or housing BEH of the drying device TE in the space between two sieves or perforated grids spaced apart from one another with a gap in the height direction to form the sorption unit SE. The two screens are arranged in the predetermined height distance from each other in parallel and congruent to each other in horizontal planes. Each sieve is essentially planar or flat. Both screens are surrounded or wrapped around their outer circumference at their outer edges of the outer shell of the housing BEH around the outside. The sorption unit SE is thus arranged in the housing BEH in a substantially horizontal positional plane. In this way, the sorption unit is preferably delimited or covered by at least one sieve or screen at its air inlet opening and / or air outlet opening, so that sorption material particles, in particular zeolite particles, are prevented from falling out of the container BEH of the sorption unit SE and at the same time allowing air to pass through the interior of the sorption material from the air inlet opening to the air outlet opening can flow largely low flow resistance. The sorption unit preferably has a largely plane-like inlet-side inflow surface and substantially plane-surface outlet-side outflow surface. In a practical way, such a sorption unit enables a compact storage of the sorption material with at the same time sufficient air permeability, so that the sorption material for a sorption process can sufficiently absorb moisture from air flowing through condensation as well as for a desorption process Regeneration of the sorbent material can release or desorb stored moisture by heating to air flowing through.

The housing BEH of the drying device TE is shaped and positioned below the bottom of the washing container GS in such a way that it can be flowed through by a substantially vertical air flow. That is, it allows a passage direction through its integrated sorption SE from bottom to top. For air supply, the downstream end portion of the inlet-side pipe section RA1 of the air duct VK opens into the housing BEH in the region of the housing base or housing bottom. In the exemplary embodiment, the downstream-side end section of the inlet-side pipe section RA1 extends toward the bottom of the housing BEH substantially in a horizontal positional plane. It is essentially mounted near the base BEH on the housing. It is coupled to the housing BEH close to the ground such that an air flow guided in it from an originally approximately horizontal flow direction LS in an approximately vertically extending flow direction VS through the housing BEH, here about 90 °, is deflected. More generally, an airflow LS arriving in the inlet-side pipe section RA1 is deflected from its original inflow direction in the area near the ground or in the region of the chamber bottom of the housing BEH in its flow direction VS. The flow direction VS through the housing BEH here is in particular a flow direction, the housing substantially rectilinearly from the closed housing base to a cover-side outlet opening or to an outlet in the ceiling of the housing BEH - here substantially in the vertical direction - passes, to the upstream side end portion of the outlet side pipe section RA2 of the air duct GS is connected. In such a flow direction, the approximately horizontally supported layer with the sorption material in the sorption unit SE is penetrated or penetrated essentially perpendicularly by a passing air flow.

For desorption of the reversibly dehydratable sorption material, in particular zeolite ZEO, of the sorption unit SE, at least one heating element HZ is provided in the vicinity BEFORE the entry surface of the sorption unit SE in the housing BEH, in order to provide air heating for the sorption material SE. That's it Heater element HZ positioned in a position plane in front of the entrance surface, which has a predetermined gap distance from this to avoid local overheating of the sorbent material at its input surface and extends substantially parallel thereto. The heating element HZ is preferably formed by a heating rod or a heating coil. In particular, the respective heating element HZ extends over substantially the entire inside width of the inlet cross-sectional area of the sorption unit SE with the reversibly dehydratable dry material. This makes it possible to heat the air flow in the region of the longitudinal walls extending in the depth direction, ie in particular at the side edges, of the sorption unit SE as well as in the central area of the cross-sectional width of the sorption unit SE. As a result, local moist locations in the dry material, in particular in the region of the side walls of the sorption unit SE during desorption, are largely avoided, ie uniform drying of the sorption material can be ensured. If the width of the sorption unit SE essentially corresponds to the inner width of the housing BEH of the drying device TE, the heating element HZ preferably extends over the entire inner width of the housing BEH in front of the inlet cross-sectional area of the sorption unit. In order to heat the inlet cross-sectional area of the sorption SE for desorption of the sorption material as full as possible and thus largely homogeneous, so that local heating gaps are largely avoided in Sorptionsmaterialvolumen, the heating element HZ in the depth direction of the sorption, especially the housing BEH considered preferably serpentine or meandering laid , The meandering turns of the heating element preferably extend in the depth direction over the full inner width of the entry surface of the sorption unit SE between the two side walls of the housing BEH. In particular, the turns of the heating element HZ lie approximately in the same positional plane.

For generating a forced air flow through the air duct VK viewed in the flow direction in the inlet-side pipe section RA1 before the sorption SE of the sorbent container BEH the blower GB is provided.

In summary, therefore, starting from the rinsing tank GS, the air duct VK leads to the drying device TE and from there back into the rinsing tank SB. Before the drying device TE is in the air duct VK arranged the blower GB, with which air is sucked from the washing container SB and blown back through the drying device TE in the washing. In the sorption container BEH of the drying device TE, on the one hand, the aspirated air is dried by the reversibly dehydratable sorbent material contained therein absorbs moisture, and on the other hand, the sorbent is dried at certain intervals with the help of at least one heating element again, ie dehydrated, again to absorb moisture from the air to be made receptive.

In the sorbent container BEH reversibly dehydratable sorbent material, in particular zeolite ZEO, provided for absorbing a volume of moisture transported by the air exchange advantageously with such a weight amount that absorbed by the sorbent moisture amount less than the amount applied to the dishes amount of liquid, especially in one Rinse step applied amount of liquid is. Due to the fact that the sorption material in the sorbent container BEH is adapted with respect to its weight amount such that it absorbs only a liquid subset of the total amount which is smaller than the total amount of liquid applied to the ware, an efficient air moisture binding is made possible with a low sorption material usage. This allows a compact design for the sorption. At the same time it is thus ensured that the energy required for complete regeneration of the sorption material can be reduced by heating by means of a heater, since only one sufficient, adequate or metered amount of sorption material is heated for proper drying of the ware.

In particular, the reversibly dehydratable sorption material may expediently be provided with such an amount by weight in the sorption container that the amount of moisture absorbed by the reversibly dehydratable sorption material substantially corresponds to the wetting amount with which the ware is wetted after the end of the final rinse step. In particular, the amount of wetting is the amount of liquid adhered to the items to be washed, the baskets for holding the ware, and / or the inner walls of the washing container after completion of a rinse step in which the already cleaned items were treated with relaxation means and not due to gravity Bottom of the washing takes place. This adaptation of the amount by weight of the sorption material ensures that its moisture absorption capacity is sufficient to bind or absorb this wetting amount by means of the air exchange largely completely in the sorption material.

Preferably, the sorption material is accommodated in the sorption container with such an amount by weight that the amount of absorbed moisture corresponds to between 4% and 25%, in particular 5% to 15%, of the amount of liquid applied to the items to be washed.

Advantageously, a weight amount of between 0.2 kg and 5 kg, in particular between 0.3 kg and 3 kg, preferably between 0.5 kg and 2.5 kg, of reversibly dehydratable sorption material is present in the sorption.

Claims

claims 1. Dishwasher (GS), in particular domestic dishwasher, with at least one washing container (SB) and at least one drying device (TE) for drying of cleaned items, wherein the drying device (TE) at least one sorption container (BEH) for receiving reversibly dehydratable sorption material, in particular zeolite (ZEO), and having at least one air-conducting air duct (VK) between the drying device (TE) and the washing compartment (SB) for generating an air exchange between the rinse tank (SB) and the sorption tank (BEH), characterized in that the sorption container (BEH) in a bottom assembly (BG) below the bottom of the washing container (SB) is housed. 2. Dishwasher (GS) according to claim 1, characterized in that in the sorption container (BEH) reversibly dehydratable sorbent material for absorbing a transported by the air exchange amount of moisture is provided with such a weight amount that absorbed by the sorbent moisture amount less than that on the Scavenging applied amount of liquid, in particular the amount of liquid applied in a rinse step, is. 3. Dishwasher (GS) according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that in the sorption (BEH), the reversibly dehydratable Sorption material is provided with such an amount by weight that the amount of moisture absorbed by the reversibly dehydratable sorbent substantially corresponds to the wetting amount at which the items to be washed is wetted after the end of the final rinse step. 4. Dishwasher (GS) according to one of claims 2 or 3, characterized in that the absorbed amount of moisture between 4% and 25%, in particular 5% to 15%, which corresponds to the amount of liquid applied to the dishes. 5. Dishwasher (GS) according to one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that in the container (BEH) a weight amount between 0.2 kg and 5 kg, in particular between 0.3 kg and 3 kg, preferably between 0.5 kg and 2.5 kg of reversibly dehydratable sorbent material. 6. Dishwasher according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the drying device (TE) via at least one air duct (VK) with at least one outlet (EL) and at least one inlet (AL) of the washing compartment (SB) is connected. 7. Dishwasher according to claim 6, characterized in that the air duct (VK) is arranged substantially outside the washing container (SB). 8. Dishwasher according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the outlet-side pipe section (RA2) of the air duct (VK) is connected to at least one inlet (RA1) of the washing compartment (SB) in its ground-level area. 9. Dishwasher according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inlet-side pipe section (RA1) of the air duct (VK) is connected to at least one outlet (EL) of the washing compartment (SB) above its bottom, in particular in its area close to the ceiling. 10. Dishwasher according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inlet-side pipe section (RA1) of the air duct (VK) in the sorption (BEH) of the Drying device (TE) opens in the near-ground region, that its inflow direction, in particular by about 90 °, is deflected in the flow direction of the sorption (BEH) 11. Dishwasher according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the flow direction of the air flow (LS) viewed in front of the drying device (TE) at least one blower (GB) for generating the air flow (LS) is provided. 12. Dishwasher according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that viewed in the flow direction between the blower (GB) and the drying device (TE) at least one associated heating element (HZ) is provided for desorption. 13. Dishwasher according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the sorption (BEH) viewed in the flow direction before the sorption (SE) with the reversibly dehydratable sorbent material (ZEO) at least one heating element (HZ) for its desorption as part of the sorption ( BEH) is provided.