Dryer

• US 7,882,647 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2005
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ikemizu, Mugihei
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu; Jiping
• Application Number:
  US11/791,073
• Publication Number:
  US 20080307667A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,936 Days
• Field of Search: 34/72, 34/73, 34/74, 34/75, 34/77, 34/78, 345/97, 346/07, 341/34, 341/40, 341/32, 345/24
• US Class Current: 34/524
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/32 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2103/34 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2105/38 Conditioning or finishing, e.g. control of perfume injection
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 35/008 for disinfecting the tub or the drum
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 58/203 Laundry conditioning arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 58/44 of conditioning or finishing, e.g. for smoothing or removing creases

Abstract

One type of dryer, namely a laundry dryer (1), comprises a water tank (20) and a drum (30). At the time of drying laundry, the interior of the drum (30) functions as a hermetically closed drying chamber (170). The air in the closed drying chamber (170) is sucked into a circulation duct (171) and heated by means of a heater (173) to a hot air before being blown into the closed drying chamber (170). The hot air having absorbed moisture from the laundry comes into contact with dehumidification water in a cooling chamber (174) within the circulation duct (171), thereby being dehumidified. The dehumidification water is sprayed by a mist generator (180). In the drying process, the mist generator (180) generates mist of metal ion water which has passed through an ion dissolving unit (100) and sprays the mist to the laundry.

Claims

1. A dryer comprising:

a drying chamber for accommodating an article-to-be-dried;

heating means for heating air inside the drying chamber to heat the drying chamber;

eluting means for eluting metal ions into water;

feeding means for feeding the drying chamber with fine water drops of the water;

detecting means for detecting that the article-to-be-dried has dried; and

a control unit that controls the eluting means and the feeding means to feed the fine water drops containing eluted metal ions to the drying chamber when the detecting means detects that the article-to-be-dried has dried, such that the fine water drops that have attached to the article-to-be-dried are evaporated with heat of the article-to-be-dried heated.

5. The dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

dehumidifying means for dehumidifying the air inside the drying chamber.

6. The dryer according to claim 5,

wherein the dehumidifying means achieves dehumidification by bringing the air inside the drying chamber into contact with dehumidification water, and the dehumidification water is sprayed by the feeding means.

7. The dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising one or both of:

an outside air introducer for introducing outside air into the drying chamber; and

an exhauster for exhausting the air inside the drying chamber.

8. The dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

wherein the control unit controls the generation of the fine water drops containing the metal ions and feeding of the fine water drops to the article-to-be-dried are performed in a latter half of a drying process and/or after completion of the drying process.

9. The dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

wherein the feeding means is arranged in a position where the feeding means sprays the fine water drops directly on the article-to-be-dried.

10. The dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

wherein the feeding means generates the fine water drops by exploiting energy of an ultrasonic or sonic wave.

11. The dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

wherein the detecting means detects that the article-to-be-dried has dried based at least on one of temperature and humidity of the heated air circulating inside the drying chamber.

2. A dryer comprising:

a drying chamber for accommodating an article-to-be-dried;

heating means for heating air inside the drying chamber to heat the drying chamber;

eluting means for eluting metal ions into water;

feeding means for feeding the drying chamber with fine water drops of the water; and

detecting means for detecting that the article-to-be-dried has dried; and

a control unit that controls the eluting means and the feeding means to feed the fine water drops containing eluted metal ions to the drying chamber when the detecting means detects that the article-to-be-dried has dried, thereby crystals of metal compounds having lattice defects are produced on a surface of the article-to-be-dried.

3. A dryer comprising:

a drying chamber for accommodating an article-to-be-dried;

driving means for rotating the drying chamber;

heating means for heating air inside the drying chamber to heat the drying chamber;

eluting means for eluting metal ions into water; and

feeding means for the drying chamber with fine water drops of the water; and

detecting means for detecting that the article-to-be-dried has dried; and

a control unit that controls the eluting means and the feeding means to feed the fine water drops containing eluted metal ions to the drying chamber when the detecting means detects that the article-to-be-dried has dried,

thereby crystals of metal compounds having lattice defects are produced on a surface of the article-to-be-dried.

4. A dryer comprising:

a drying chamber for accommodating an article-to-be-dried;

driving means for rotating the drying chamber;

heating means for heating air inside the drying chamber to heat the drying chamber;

eluting means for eluting silver ions into water; and

feeding means for feeding the drying chamber with fine water drops of the water; and

detecting means for detecting that the article-to-be-dried has dried; and

a control unit that controls the eluting means and the feeding means to feed the fine water drops containing eluted silver ions to the drying chamber when the detecting means detects that the article-to-be-dried has dried,

thereby crystals of silver compounds having lattice defects are produced on a surface of the article-to-be-dried.