Machine for dry-cleaning articles

Abstract

The machine (1) for dry-cleaning and drying articles such as clothes, household linen, towels, curtains and the like comprises a rotary drum (2) which contains the articles, a hydrocarbon—solvent feed and recovery circuit (16), a powder filter (22) and a cartridge filter (122) for filtering the hydrocarbon—solvent.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001]The present invention relates to a machine for dry-cleaning articles such as clothes, household linen, towels, curtains and the like.[0002]In particular, the present invention relates to a machine for dry-cleaning and drying articles using hydrocarbon-based or silicone-based solvents.BACKGROUND ART[0003]The above-mentioned hydrocarbon- or silicone-based solvents were introduced in recent years to make up for the high polluting effect of the hydrofluorocarbon-based solvents previously used. The latter type of solvents, although having an extremely high cleaning capacity, proved to be extremely polluting and therefore not very eco-friendly.[0004]The use of hydrofluorocarbon-based solvents, because of the particularly aggressive action both on stains and on colours, meant that for their purification and consequent reuse complex and even dangerous distillation operations were needed, necessitating the integration of complicated and sophisticated devices in the dry-...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]The aim of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantage with a machine for dry-cleaning articles such as clothes, household linen, towels, curtains and the like, which allows the effective and economical execution of dry-cleaning and drying cycles for said articles, whether they are pale or dark, the machine being simple and economical to make and easy and practical to use.

Problems solved by technology

The latter type of solvents, although having an extremely high cleaning capacity, proved to be extremely polluting and therefore not very eco-friendly.

The use of hydrofluorocarbon-based solvents, because of the particularly aggressive action both on stains and on colours, meant that for their purification and consequent reuse complex and even dangerous distillation operations were needed, necessitating the integration of complicated and sophisticated devices in the dry-cleaning machines.

Depending on the number of dry-cleaning cycles and other known variables, filters of this type require regular substitution of the powders, since after they have absorbed large quantities of the above-mentioned impurities, the powders lose their filtering capacity.

However, there are limits on the effectiveness of filtering with powders, above all with pale and white clothes.

Therefore, if after dry-cleaning dark articles one then dry-cleans a load of white or pale articles, the solvent used often contains traces of the colour of the dark articles previously dry-cleaned and, therefore, said traces of colour damage the pale articles subsequently treated, staining them.

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