Lint Filter Design for Efficient Clothes Dryers
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Summary
Problems
In clothes treating apparatuses with drying functions, lint adheres to heat-exchangers, reducing heat exchange efficiency and increasing flow resistance, and is difficult to remove due to strong binding forces, especially when condensate water is reused.
Innovation solutions
A clothes treating apparatus with a lint filter on the upstream side of the heat-exchanger and a lint collecting part below it, featuring a sloped mesh design and spray tubes to separate and collect lint, reducing contact between lint and the heat-exchanger and facilitating easy lint removal.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If lint is allowed to adhere to the heat-exchanger surface during drying operation, then the heat exchange efficiency deteriorates and flow resistance increases, but removing lint becomes more difficult when condensate water is reused
Why choose this principle:
The patent applies preliminary action by providing a lint filter on the upstream side of the heat-exchanger to capture lint before it can adhere to the heat-exchanger surface. This preventive measure eliminates the need for difficult lint removal from the heat-exchanger while maintaining heat exchange efficiency. The lint filter is positioned to intercept lint-laden air flow before it reaches the heat-exchanger, thereby solving the contradiction between maintaining efficiency and enabling easy lint removal.
Principle concept:
If a lint filter is installed on the upstream side of the heat-exchanger to collect lint, then lint contact with heat-exchanger is reduced, but device complexity increases
Why choose this principle:
The lint filter is designed to perform multiple functions: it collects lint from the air flow, guides the air flow toward the heat-exchanger, and can be integrated with the heat-exchanger assembly. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components and simplifies the overall device structure despite adding lint collection capability.
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
A clothes treating apparatus with a lint filter on the upstream side of the heat-exchanger and a lint collecting part below it, featuring a sloped mesh design and spray tubes to separate and collect lint, reducing contact between lint and the heat-exchanger and facilitating easy lint removal.
Abstract
The invention provides a clothes treating apparatus having a drying function, the clothes treating apparatus comprising: a cabinet (110); a drum (120) provided within the cabinet; a heat-exchanger (182) heat-exchanged with air exhausted from the drum (120); a lint filter (210a, 201b) disposed on an upstream side of the heat-exchanger (182) with respect to flow of air exhausted from the drum (120) to collect lint in the air, wherein the lint filter (210a, 210b) includes a frame (212) having at least one opening, and a mesh part (215) provided in the opening and allowing passage of air and restraining passage of lint; a spray tube (250a, 250b) for spraying water to the lint filter (210a, 210b) or to the heat exchanger (182) such that lint collected in the lint filter (210a, 210b) is separated from the lint filter or lint collected in the heat exchanger (182) is separated from the heat exchanger (182); and a lint collecting part (310) provided below the lint filter (210a, 210b) or below the heat-exchanger (182) to collect the separated lint, wherein the lint filter (210a, 210b) is disposed to be sloped with respect to a vertical direction of the cabinet (110), wherein water is sprayable to a rear surface of the lint filter (210a, 210b), or sprayable to an upstream side end region of the heat exchanger (182) along a flow direction of air exhausted from the drum (120), and wherein the lint collecting part (310) comprises a bottom part (312), and a side wall part (315) extending upward from the edges of the bottom part (312), wherein the bottom part (312) is arranged for the water and the separated lint to drop thereon such that the bottom part (312) allows passage of the water and restrains passage of the lint to collect the lint thereon.