Induction Heating for Efficient and Safe Laundry Systems
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Summary
Problems
Conventional laundry treatment apparatuses using electric heaters or heat pumps for heating have inefficiencies and safety concerns, such as scale accumulation, poor air-heating efficiency, and high manufacturing costs, while existing induction heating technologies lack concrete implementations for improving efficiency and safety.
Innovation solutions
A laundry treatment apparatus with an induction module comprising a coil and permanent magnets to heat the drum directly, reducing the spacing between the coil and drum for improved heating efficiency and safety, and a module controller to adjust heat output based on the position of a lifter to prevent overheating.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If an electric heater is immersed in wash water to heat the water, then washing performance is improved through higher temperature, but foreign substances such as scale accumulate on the heater leading to deterioration in performance
Why choose this principle:
The patent introduces an induction heater as an intermediary device that heats the drum indirectly through electromagnetic induction rather than direct immersion. The induction heater generates eddy currents in the drum, which self-heats through resistive heating, thereby eliminating direct contact between the heating element and wash water, preventing scale accumulation while maintaining effective heating capability
Principle concept:
If a heat pump system is used to heat air for drying, then energy efficiency is improved, but the structure becomes complicated with high manufacturing costs
Why choose this principle:
The patent extracts and eliminates the complex heat pump system components (evaporator, condenser, expansion valve, compressor) by replacing them with a simplified induction heating system. The induction heater directly generates electromagnetic fields to heat the drum, which in turn heats the air for drying, achieving effective air heating without the complicated heat pump structure while maintaining energy efficiency
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
A laundry treatment apparatus with an induction module comprising a coil and permanent magnets to heat the drum directly, reducing the spacing between the coil and drum for improved heating efficiency and safety, and a module controller to adjust heat output based on the position of a lifter to prevent overheating.
Abstract
The present invention relates to a clothes treatment apparatus and, more particularly, to a clothes treatment apparatus for directly heating a drum accommodating clothes. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, provided is a clothes treatment apparatus comprising: a tub; a drum, made of a metal, which accommodates clothes and is rotatably provided inside the tub; and an induction module, provided in the tub so as to have a spacing from a circumferential surface of the drum, for generating an electromagnetic field to heat the circumferential surface of the drum, wherein the induction module comprises: a coil which is formed by winding a wire such that electric current is applied thereto to generate a magnetic field; and a base housing mounted on an outer circumferential surface of the tub, wherein the base housing is provided with a coil slot for defining the shape of the coil in such a manner that the wire is mounted therein so as to have a predetermined distance between wire and wire.