Chest ironer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing chest ironers face issues with non-uniform heat distribution, insufficient steam pressure, condensate retention, and inconsistent pressure application, leading to suboptimal ironing quality and efficiency, particularly with thick or heavy linen items.
Innovation Solution
A chest ironer design featuring a solid chest and flexible chest connected by a bridge chest, with a multi-cavity rigid ironing chest and an adjustable pressurization system, including independent steam and condensate management, and a balancing mechanism to address the issues of heat distribution and pressure consistency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If a solid chest made from thick steel plates is used, then heat storage performance is improved, but weight increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The chest body is divided into multiple independent cavities (first cavity, second cavity, third cavity, fourth cavity) separated by partition plates. Each cavity can be independently heated and controlled, allowing the chest to achieve good heat storage performance through the thick steel plate structure while reducing the overall weight compared to a single large solid chest by using multiple smaller segmented cavities.
2Temperature
If steam is continuously supplied to heat the solid chest, then heat distribution is improved, but condensate accumulation occurs and heating efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Condensate discharge devices are installed at the bottom of each cavity to extract and remove accumulated condensate. This prevents condensate from interfering with the heating process, allowing continuous steam supply to maintain uniform heat distribution without reducing heating efficiency due to condensate accumulation.
Solution Approach 2:
Each cavity is equipped with independent steam supply devices and condensate discharge devices, allowing localized control of heating and drainage. This ensures that steam is efficiently utilized in each specific region, maintaining uniform heat distribution while preventing condensate accumulation that would reduce overall heating efficiency.
3Weight of stationary object
If a flexible chest made from thin steel plates is used, then weight is reduced and preheating speed is improved, but heat storage performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible chest is divided into multiple small cavities using partition plates. This segmentation allows the thin steel plate structure to maintain good heat storage performance within each small cavity while keeping the overall chest lightweight. The multiple small cavities reduce heat loss compared to a single large cavity in a traditional flexible chest.
4Device complexity
If the roller is driven by a speed reducer on one side, then pressure application is simplified, but pressure uniformity across the linen surface decreases
Solution Approach 1:
A counterweight mechanism is introduced to balance the weight difference between the two ends of the roller. By adding appropriate counterweights, the system compensates for the uneven pressure distribution caused by single-sided driving, achieving uniform pressure application across the linen surface while maintaining the simplicity of the single-speed reducer configuration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enhances heat storage and distribution, ensures consistent pressure application, and improves ironing efficiency and quality by maintaining uniform temperature and pressure across the chest, effectively addressing the limitations of existing technologies.
Implementation Method 1
heat in the solid chest is lost at a much lower speed, which means that the heat storage performance of the solid chest is better
Implementation Method 2
steam enters the cavity in the chest from the two sides of the upper end of an opening of the arc-shaped chest and flows through communicated steam chambers formed by an arc-shaped cover plate to transmit heat to the inner chest plate
Implementation Method 3
two stainless steel plates with different thicknesses are welded together and are then coiled to form a semicircular chest, water is injected into the semicircular chest for pressurization, the thin plate deforms and bulges to form a steam chamber
Implementation Method 4
a big roller in which springs and felt are wrapped is placed in the solid chest, linen is drawn into the ironing chest along with the roller and is heated, dehumidified, pressurized and rubbed in the ironing chest
Implementation Method 5
a big roller in which springs and felt are wrapped is placed in the solid chest
Implementation Method 6
linen is drawn into the ironing chest along with the roller and is heated, dehumidified, pressurized and rubbed in the ironing chest
Implementation Method 7
when steam is used as the heat-conducting medium to heat the solid chest, the steam enters the cavity in the chest from the two sides of the upper end of an opening of the arc-shaped chest and flows through communicated steam chambers formed by an arc-shaped cover plate to transmit heat to the inner chest plate, and the rest of steam and condensate flow out from the bottom of the ironing chest
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a chest ironer, and belongs to the technical field of ironing machines. The chest ironer comprises an ironing chest set including arc-shaped ironing chests with upward arc-shaped openings. The ironing chest set includes at least one solid chest and at least one flexible chest, and bridge chests with downward arc-shaped openings are disposed between the ironing chests. The first ironing chest of the ironing chest set is a solid chest, the second ironing chest of the ironing chest set is a flexible chest, and the bridge chest between the first ironing chest and the second ironing chest is a first bridge chest. A horizontal steam chamber partition plate is fixedly arranged at the longitudinal middle position of an outer arc-shaped face plate of an inner chest plate of the solid chest in the horizontal direction, and at least one longitudinal steam chamber partition plate is arranged on the outer arc-shaped face plate of the inner chest plate in the longitudinal direction, so that the ironing chest is partitioned into at least four steam chambers. Each steam chamber is provided with an independent branched steam pipe communicated with a main steam pipe used for centralized supply of steam. The chest ironer is further provided with an adjustable pressurization system. The invention greatly improves the ironing effect under a limited steam pressure.