Clothes Care Apparatus

This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/KR2025/095098 designating the United States, filed on Mar. 26, 2025, in the Korean Intellectual Property Receiving Office and claiming priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0049657, filed on Apr. 12, 2024, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of each of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

The present disclosure relates to a clothes care apparatus having an improved heating structure.

A clothes care apparatus is an apparatus that performs clothes care, such as drying wet clothes, removing dust attached to clothes or odors from clothes, and reducing wrinkles in clothes.

A clothes care apparatus may include a condenser to generate heat in a care room in which clothes are accommodated or supply hot air to the care room in order to dry clothes, and a steam generating device to perform refreshing functions such as removing wrinkles, deodorizing, and removing static electricity from clothes and the like.

The clothes wrinkle removal function of a clothes care apparatus is provided to remove wrinkles from clothes in a process of injecting steam on the clothes to dry any remaining moisture in the clothes, but this wrinkle removal function is capable of removing some wrinkles from clothes, but may not remove wrinkles at the level of ironing clothes.

Embodiments of the disclosure provide a clothes care apparatus having improved efficiency in removing wrinkles from clothes through a steam injector.

The steam injector of the clothes care apparatus can efficiently remove wrinkles from clothes by injecting steam onto the clothes while moving in a location adjacent to the clothes accommodated in a care room.

A clothes care apparatus according to an example embodiment may include: a care room configured to accommodate clothes, and a steam injector configured to inject steam onto the clothes accommodated in the care room, wherein the steam injector includes an injection plate including an injection port through which steam is configured to be injected, a driver configured to move the injection plate so that the injection plate is moved in a first direction of directing to the clothes accommodated in the care room and a second direction opposite to the first direction, and a distance sensor disposed on the injection plate and configured to detect a distance between the clothes accommodated in the care room and the injection port.

Various embodiments and terms used in this disclosure are not intended to limit the technical features described in this disclosure to specific embodiments, and should be understood to include various modifications, equivalents, or substitutes of the various example embodiments.

In connection with the description of the drawings, like reference numbers may be used for like or related components.

The singular form of a noun corresponding to an item may include one item or a plurality of items, unless the relevant context clearly dictates otherwise.

In this disclosure, each of phrases such as “A or B,” “at least one of A and B,” “at least one of A or B,” “A, B or C,” “at least one of A, B and C,” and “at least one of A, B, or C” may include any one of the items listed together in the corresponding one of the phrases, or all possible combinations thereof.

The term “and/or” includes any combination of a plurality of related components or any one of a plurality of related components.

Terms such as “first,” “second,” “primary,” and “secondary” may simply be used to distinguish a given component from other corresponding components, and do not limit the corresponding components in any other aspect (e.g., importance or order).

When any (e.g., a first) component is referred to as being “coupled” or “connected” to another (e.g., a second) component with or without the terms “functionally” or “communicatively,” this may refer, for example, to any component being connected to the other component directly (e.g., by a wire), wirelessly, or through a third component.

The terms “comprises,” “has,” and the like are intended to indicate that there are features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in this disclosure, and do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

When any component is referred to as being “connected,” “coupled,” “supported” or “in contact” with another component, this includes a case in which the components are indirectly connected, coupled, supported, or in contact with each other through a third component as well as directly connected, coupled, supported, or in contact with each other.

When any component is referred to as being located “on” or “over” another component, this includes not only a case in which any component is in contact with another component but also a case in which another component is present between the two components.

The terms “front-rear direction,” “left-right direction,” “vertical direction,” “front,” “rear,” “upper,” “lower,” and the like used in the following description are defined with respect to the drawings, and the shape and position of each component are not limited by these terms.

is a perspective view of a clothes care apparatus according to various embodiments.is a perspective view illustrating a door opened in the clothes care apparatus according to various embodiments.is a side cross-sectional view of the clothes care apparatus according to various embodiments.

As illustrated in(which may be referred to as), a clothes care apparatusmay include a main bodyforming an exterior and a doorrotatably coupled to the main body.

The main bodymay be provided in a rectangular parallelepiped shape with an open front. The doormay be provided to open and close the open front of the main bodyby being rotatably coupled to the main body.

The main bodymay include a care roomprovided inside the main bodyto accommodate and treat clothes. The doormay open and close the care roomby opening and closing the open front of the main body.

A front surfaceof the doormay include a displayconfigured to display a state of the clothes care apparatusto a user and allows the user to input information into the clothes care apparatus. The displaymay be provided as a touch panel capable of displaying. The displaymay be configured to display information such as a current state of the clothes care apparatusand a state of clothes to the user and provide an interface for the user to input information.

An inner surfaceof the doorforming a front surface of the care roommay include a camerato obtain an image of clothes A accommodated in the care room.

As an example, the cameramay be disposed to face the outside of the care roomwhen the dooris opened and may be disposed to face the care roomwhen the dooris closed.

The cameramay capture images of the clothes A that is accommodated toward the care roomfrom the outside of the care room. The cameramay capture images of the clothes A in a state of being accommodated in the care room.

The main bodymay include a machine roompartitioned from the care roomand located below the care room.

The machine roommay be formed below a lower surfaceof the care room.

As an example, the clothes care apparatusmay include a steam generatorto generate steam. The steam generatormay be disposed inside the machine room.

As an example, the clothes care apparatusmay include a machine room ductdisposed inside the machine roomto blow air to the care room.

As an example, the clothes care apparatusmay include a machine room fanconnected to the machine room ductand configured to blow air through the machine room ductinto the care room.

As an example, the care roommay include a machine room inletand a machine room outletthat are connected to the machine room duct.

As an example, air inside the care roommay flow into the machine room ductthrough the machine room inletand flow back into the care roomthrough the machine room outlet.

As an example, the inletand the outletmay be disposed on the lower surfaceof the care room. As an example, the inletmay be disposed on a rear surfaceor a side surfaceof the care room. As an example, the outletmay be disposed on the rear surfaceor the side surfaceof the care room.

As an example, a compressor or condenser may be disposed inside the machine room duct, and thus the machine room ductmay be configured to dehumidify or heat air flowing into the care room.

As an example, the clothes care apparatusmay include a water discharge tankand a water supply tankthat are provided to be detachable from the main body.

As an example, the water discharge tankand the water supply tankmay be disposed at a lower portion of the main body. As an example, the water discharge tankand the water supply tankmay be disposed in the machine room.

As an example, the water discharge tankmay be configured to facilitate treatment of condensate generated in a process in which the clothes care apparatusoperates.

As an example, the water supply tankmay store water necessary to generate steam in the steam generator.

The water in the water supply tankmay be supplied to the steam generatorto be used for forming steam. The water supply tankmay be detachably installed in the main bodyto facilitate water replenishment.

As an example, the water discharge tankand the water supply tankmay be provided in front of the machine room. The machine roommay be provided at the lower portion of the main body. The machine roommay be provided below the care room.

As an example, the steam generatorconfigured to receive water from the water supply tankto form steam may be disposed in the machine room.

The steam generatormay receive water to generate steam by being connected to the water supply tank.

Steam generated in the steam generatormay be moved to a steam injectorthrough a supply memberto be injected into the care room.

The clothes care apparatusmay include a clothes supportprovided inside the care roomto support the clothes A. The clothes supportmay be installed on an upper surfaceof the care room. The clothes supportmay be detachably installed in the care room. The user may support the clothes A on the clothes supportseparated from the care room, and then couple the clothes supporton which the clothes A are supported to the upper surfaceof the care room.

The clothes supportmay be formed in the shape of a hanger so that the clothes A may be hung thereon.

The clothes supportmay be configured to allow air to be introduced into the inside thereof. Dust or foreign substances on clothes may be removed by the air supplied to the inside of the clothes support.

An air holemay be formed in the clothes supportto allow air to be introduced into the inside of the clothes support. The air holemay be formed at an upper end of the clothes support, and air may be supplied to clothes through the air hole.

As an example, the clothes care apparatusmay include a blowerto flow air inside the care room. According to an embodiment, the blowermay be disposed above the care room.