Dryer Accessory and Dryer

This application is the National Phase of PCT International Application No. PCT/KR2022/008849, filed on Jun. 22, 2022, all of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference into the present application.

Generally, a laundry treating apparatus may include a washing machine, a dryer, a styler, and the like, and the washing machine may have a drying function.

The dryers are categorized into an exhaust-type dryer and a circulation-type dryer, which both heat air with a heater to produce hot air and dry laundry by exposing hot air to the laundry.

In the washing machine, an administration time may be determined simply based on a washing course and a weight of the laundry loaded into a drum, but in the dryer, not only a drying course and the weight of the laundry but also a degree of wetness of the laundry may affect the administration time.

Therefore, humidity of the laundry should be accurately measured, but because the drum rotates, it is difficult to install a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor inside the drum. Therefore, the humidity sensor or the temperature sensor may be installed in a cabinet or a duct to measure the humidity or a temperature. However, this external placement results in a temperature discrepancy between the sensor and the laundry within the drum and inaccurate measurement of the actual degree of wetness of the laundry.

In particular, when a volume of the laundry is great, the accuracy of measurement decreases, and when the volume is too small, the laundry does not reach the humidity sensor, which also results in the decrease in the accuracy.

The present disclosure is to provide an accessory that may sense humidity and temperature of laundry without separate battery replacement and charging.

Provided is a dryer accessory including a housing including a sensor hole, a sensor module that is located inside the sensor hole of the housing and measures at least one of temperature and humidity, an energy harvesting module that is located inside the housing and generates current based on a movement of the housing, a wireless communication module that transmits the at least one of the temperature and the humidity measured by the sensor module, and a controller that controls the sensor module and the wireless communication module using energy generated by the energy harvesting moduleunit.

The energy harvesting moduleunit may include a pipe extending in one direction, a magnet positioned inside the pipe, and a coil wound on an outer surface of the pipe, and when the magnet moves in the extension direction of the pipe as the housing moves, the current may be generated in the coil.

The magnet may have a cylindrical shape with a diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the pipe.

The energy harvesting moduleunit may include a pipe extending in one direction, a weight positioned inside the pipe, and a piezo disk positioned at an end of the pipe, and when the weight collides with the piezo disk, the current may be generated in the piezo disk.

The controller may include a main board located inside the housing, and the pipe may extend through the main board.

The pipe may extend vertically to the main board, wherein the pipe may include a plurality of pipes arranged along a circumference of the main board.

The controller may include a rectifier that converts AC power generated from the energy harvesting module into DC power, a capacitor that stores energy converted into the DC power, and an analog-to-digital converter that deactivates the sensor module and the wireless communication module until an amount of the energy converted into DC power becomes sufficient to operate the sensor module and the wireless communication module.

The dryer accessory may further include a cylindrical rubber plug positioned between the sensor module and the sensor hole, and a waterproof filter formed at a location of the rubber plug adjacent to the sensor hole, wherein the waterproof filter does not allow liquid to pass therethrough.

The sensor hole and the sensor module may respectively include a pair of sensor holes and a pair of sensor modules disposed at opposite sides of the housing.

The housing may contain an elastic material.

The housing may have a spherical shape.

A dryer for drying laundry includes a cabinet forming an outer appearance of the dryer, a drum rotatably disposed in the cabinet to accommodate the laundry therein, a driver that rotates the drum, a hot air supply that is in communication with the drum and supplies high-temperature air into the drum, a collector in communication with the hot air supply to collect water formed by condensation of moisture discharged from the drum, a wireless communication module that transmits and receives state information of the dryer, and a controller that controls the driver, the hot air supply, and the wireless communication module, the wireless communication module receives at least one of humidity information and temperature information provided by a dryer accessory inserted into the drum, and the controller controls the driver and the hot air supply using the at least one of the humidity information and the temperature information.

The controller may terminate operations of the driver and the hot air supply when the temperature information and the humidity information reach a reference value.

The dryer may further include at least one of a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor located inside the cabinet, and the controller may deactivate the at least one of the temperature sensor and the humidity sensor when there is the temperature information or the humidity information received from the dryer accessory.

According to the present disclosure, the temperature and the humidity of the laundry may be accurately measured via the dryer accessory.

In addition, according to the present disclosure, the dryer accessory may be used continuously without the separate battery replacement, so that the maintenance thereof may be easy and the damage to the product resulted from the poor waterproof function may be prevented.

Additional scope of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description below. However, because various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific embodiments such as preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are given only as examples.

Hereinafter, embodiments disclosed herein will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. In the present document, the same or similar reference numerals are assigned to the same or similar components even in different embodiments, and a description thereof is replaced with the first description. As used herein, singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Additionally, in describing the embodiments disclosed herein, when it is determined that detailed descriptions of related known technologies may obscure the gist of the embodiments disclosed herein, the detailed descriptions will be omitted. In addition, it should be noted that the attached drawings are only for easy understanding of the embodiments disclosed herein and should not be construed as limiting the technical idea disclosed herein.

A dryerof the present disclosure may be equipped as one of a washing machine that may dry laundry, a dryer that dries the laundry, and a styler that may prevent wrinkles and removing odors from the laundry.

A following description is based on the dryerbeing equipped as the dryer, but this is merely an embodiment and does not exclude the dryerbeing equipped as the washing machine or the styler.

shows an outer appearance of the dryerof the present disclosure.

The dryerof the present disclosure may include a cabinetforming the outer appearance thereof, a control panelcoupled to the cabinet to input an operation command or display a state, a doorpivotably coupled to a front portion of the cabinetto open and close a cabinet inlet through which the laundry is introduced, and a condensate accommodation containerwhere condensate is collected.

The control panelmay be coupled to an upper end of the cabinet, may include therein a controller P including a microcomputer that controls the dryer, and may include a displaythat displays the state of the dryer and an input unit that inputs a command to the controller.

The displaymay be formed as a display screen such as an LCD or an LED, and may also be formed as a touch panel that may receive the command. The displaymay accurately convey information on the dryer to a user by externally displaying an operating state and an abnormal state of the dryer. In addition, the displaymay further include a speaker so as to emit an alarm sound to the user.

The input unit may be formed as a rotary knobto allow selection of an arbitrary drying course or option of the dryer. In addition, the input unit may include a power input unitfor supplying power to the dryer, and a command input unitfor inputting a separate control command.

The power input unitand the command input unitmay be formed as physical buttons so that the command may be transmitted even when power is not supplied to the display.

In this regard, the command input unitmay include a defrosting command input unit that transmits a defrosting command to the controller of the control panelwhen the dryeris frozen.

The doormay be pivotably disposed at the front portion of the cabinet, and may be made of a transparent material such that the cabinet inlet defined in the cabinet may be seen through.

The doormay have a handleat one side, and may be coupled with a hingeat the other side to open and close the cabinet inlet of the cabinet.

discloses the front-load type dryer with the doordisposed at the front, but a top-load type dryer with the doordisposed at the top is not excluded.

shows an internal structure of the dryerof the present disclosure.

The dryerof the present disclosure may include a drumrotatably disposed inside the cabinetto accommodate the laundry therein, a driverthat rotates the drum, a hot air supplythat is in communication with the drum and supplies high-temperature air (hot air) into the drum, and a basein which the hot air supplyis supported or installed.

The drummay include a drum inletthat is in communication with the cabinet inlet of the cabinetand allows the laundry to be introduced and withdrawn therethrough, may be formed in a cylindrical shape that accommodates the laundry therein, and may include a lifterthat may raise and lower the laundry in a vertical direction to stir the laundry.

In one example, the dryerof the present disclosure may further include a gasketthat prevents the laundry from being withdrawn to a space between the cabinet inlet of the cabinetand the drum inletof the drum.

The hot air supplymay include a discharge ductthat is in communication with one side of the drumso that moisture in the laundry and air that has passed through the laundry are discharged from the drum, a heat pumpthat cools air that has passed through the discharge ductto remove moisture therefrom and reheat air, and a suction ductthat sucks air that has passed through the heat pump back into the drum.

The gasketmay include a duct connection holethat is in communication with the suction duct.

The heat pumpmay include an evaporatorthat cools air that has passed through the discharge duct, a compressorthat compresses and heats a refrigerant that has passed through the evaporator, a condenserthat heats air with the refrigerant that has passed through the compressorto generate high-temperature dry hot air, and an expansion valvethat expands the refrigerant that has passed through the condenserto reduce a temperature.

In one example, the basemay support the heat pumpwhile forming a bottom surface of the dryer.

The basemay have one end in communication with the discharge ductand the other end in communication with the suction duct, and may have the heat pumpinstalled therein and allow air to pass therethrough. Accordingly, water condensed in the evaporatormay be collected in the base, and a drainage pumpfor discharging the collected water may be installed in the base.

Specifically, a collectorwhere the condensate is collected may be disposed at a lower portion of the base, and the drainage pumpmay drain the condensate in the collector. In addition, the drainage pumpmay be equipped to transfer collected water to the condensate accommodation container, and the condensate accommodation containerand the drainage pumpmay be connected to each other via an accommodation pipe. Thus, when a certain level of condensate is collected in the base, condensate may be transferred to the condensate accommodation container, and collected condensate may be removed by extending the condensate accommodation container.

In one example, the drivermay rotate the drum. The drivermay include a driving motorthat provides power to rotate the drum, a driving rotation shaftthat rotates by extending through the driving motor, a pulleythat is coupled to one end of the driving rotation shaft, and a beltthat is formed as a closed curve connecting the pulleywith an outer circumferential surface of the drum.

In one example, the drivermay further include a blower fanthat is coupled to the other end of the driving rotation shaftand provides power to circulate air inside the hot air supplyand the drum.

The blower fanmay be installed in the hot air supplyor installed in a location of the basethat is in communication with the hot air supplyto circulate air in the drumand the hot air supply.