Laundry Dryer with Separate Door-Mounted Container for Delicate Items
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Solution Overview
Problem
Clothes dryers often face challenges in achieving the optimal residual moisture content in laundry, leading to over-drying or under-drying, which can damage clothes and waste energy, and there is a need for a solution to efficiently dry delicate or special items without entangling them with regular loads.
Innovation Solution
A laundry treating appliance with a rotatable drum and a separate container mounted to the door, which can expand or contract to form a self-supporting structure, allowing for separate drying of delicate items while maintaining airflow and adjustable rotation speeds to accommodate different laundry types.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a separate drying apparatus is used for delicate items, then laundry items are protected from damage, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The separate drying apparatus is nested within the existing dryer structure, specifically utilizing the door space. The container is mounted to the door and disposed within the treating chamber when the door is closed, effectively using unused space without adding external complexity to the overall dryer footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The door serves multiple functions: it acts as the standard door for the treating chamber and simultaneously serves as a mounting structure for the separate drying container. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate structures, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the separate container is always present in the treating chamber, then delicate items can be dried separately, but the available drying space for regular loads is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The separate container is made movable between a retracted position (when not in use) and an extended position (when needed for delicate items). This dynamic configuration allows the container to be present only when necessary, maximizing the available drying space for regular loads while maintaining separate drying capability when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The drying function is segmented into two independent systems: the main treating chamber for regular loads and the separate container for delicate items. This segmentation allows each system to operate independently, and the separate container can be deployed or retracted based on the specific drying needs, optimizing space utilization.
3Ease of operation
If the separate container is mounted to the door, then it can be easily accessed and removed, but it occupies space within the treating chamber
Solution Approach 1:
The container is designed to be movable along the door, allowing it to be easily accessed, removed, or repositioned by the user. This dynamic positioning capability enhances ease of operation while the container only occupies space within the treating chamber when actively deployed for drying delicate items.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and method towards a laundry treating appliance for drying laundry comprising a rotatable drum at least partially defining a treating chamber and having a front and a rear and a motor rotating the drum that tumbles laundry within the treating chamber while also including a separate container for drying a second load of laundry simultaneously.