Fabric treating appliance with pelletizer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing laundry treating appliances face difficulties in effectively trapping and filtering lint, which can clog filters and is challenging to remove from waste water, especially in municipal treatment plants due to its fine size and string-like shape.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that incorporates a lint pelletizer within the appliance, utilizing a lint trap, hopper, and ram to form lint into a pellet, with a heater to fuse the outermost fibers, allowing for efficient collection and disposal of lint as a compressed pellet.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lint is filtered from waste liquid using conventional filters, then lint can be separated from water, but the filters quickly clog and become difficult to clean due to the fine size and string-like shape of lint
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts lint from the waste liquid stream using a filter, then removes the captured lint from the filter surface using a wiper mechanism. This separates the lint collection function from the filter maintenance function, allowing continuous operation without frequent manual cleaning.
Solution Approach 2:
The wiper mechanism automatically cleans the filter surface by removing accumulated lint, enabling the system to maintain its own performance without external intervention. The filter serves itself by having lint removed automatically during or after the washing cycle.
2Ease of operation
If lint is compressed into pellets, then disposal becomes easier and filter clogging is prevented, but additional mechanical components and energy consumption are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the lint compression function with the existing filter and wiper mechanism. The pelletizer integrates with the filter assembly, using the same space and operational cycle to both filter lint and compress it into pellets for disposal.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state of lint from loose fibers to compressed pellets by applying mechanical pressure through the pelletizer. This parameter change (from low-density to high-density form) enables easier disposal while the system reuses existing structural components.
3Strength
If lint is heated to fuse outermost fibers, then pellet structural integrity is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies heating only to the outermost fibers of the lint pellet rather than heating the entire mass. This partial action is sufficient to create a binding layer that holds the pellet together, achieving structural integrity with minimal energy input.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating process causes the outermost lint fibers to undergo a phase transition from solid to a softened state, then back to solid upon cooling. This phase change creates a binding effect that fuses the outer layer and secures the pellet's structural integrity.
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
The solution enables effective trapping and pelletization of lint, preventing filter clogging and facilitating easy disposal, ensuring the lint pellets are large enough not to clog plumbing but small enough for municipal treatment, while maintaining structural integrity.
Implementation Method 1
a heater to fuse the outermost fibers
Data Source
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AI summary
A laundry treating appliance (10, 110) having a lint pelletizer (12, 112) whereby clothing fibers retained within a fluid can be extracted from the fluid and formed into a pellet (P). The laundry treating appliance (10, 110) can be a clothes washer or a clothes dryer. The clothes washer or clothes dryer can be a vertical or horizontal axis, either of which can be top-loading or front loading.