APPLIANCE FOR DRYING LAUNDRY AND METHOD FOR OPERATING SUCH AN APPLIANCE

Abstract

An appliance for drying laundry has an appliance housing, at least one open drying air duct situated inside the appliance housing, for sucking in ambient air during a drying process, and at least one heat pump, which is situated inside the appliance housing and is thermally coupled to the drying air duct. To reduce the energy consumption of such an appliance, the drying air duct has at least one air intake opening, which is situated inside the appliance housing and is situated in a section of the drying air duct upstream of a condenser of the heat pump in relation to an air mass flow through the drying air duct prevailing during the drying process.

Claims

1-6. (canceled)

7. An appliance for drying laundry, the appliance comprising: an appliance housing; at least one open drying air duct disposed inside said appliance housing for drawing in ambient air during a drying process; at least one heat pump disposed inside said appliance housing and thermally coupled to said at one open drying air duct, said at least one heat pump having a condenser; and said at one open drying air duct having at least one air intake opening, disposed inside said appliance housing and disposed at a section of said at least one open drying air duct which is upstream of said condenser of said heat pump as regards a given air mass flow through said at least one open air drying duct during the drying process.

8. The appliance according to claim 7, further comprising a base assembly disposed in said appliance housing and having a heat exchanger accommodating area; further comprising an air intake channel disposed in said appliance housing; wherein said at least one heat pump has at least one compressor; and wherein said at least air intake opening is connected communicatively via said air intake channel with an area of said base assembly, which is disposed separately from said heat exchanger accommodating area of said base assembly and in which said at least one compressor of said at least one heat pump is disposed.

9. The appliance according to claim 7, wherein said at least one heat pump has an evaporator, a coolant circuit with an expansion unit, an additional heat exchanger disposed downstream of said evaporator as regards the given air mass flow through said at least one open drying air duct and is directly upstream of said expansion unit of said coolant circuit or indirectly via said condenser as regards a coolant flow through said coolant circuit of said at least one heat pump.

10. The appliance according to claim 9, wherein said additional heat exchanger is embodied as a subcooler downstream of said condenser or as a desuperheater upstream of said condenser.

11. A method for operating an appliance for drying laundry, which comprises the steps of: feeding an air mass flow to a condenser of a heat pump of the appliance disposed inside an appliance housing of the appliance, which consists partly of ambient air, which is drawn in by means of an open drying air duct of the appliance which is thermally coupled to the heat pump, and partly of drawn-in air from inside the appliance housing.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein air emerging from a container of the open drying air duct, which accommodates a laundry drum of the appliance, is in addition heated by means of an additional heat exchanger of the heat pump, which is downstream of an evaporator of the heat pump as regards an air mass flow through the open drying air duct and is directly upstream of an expansion unit of the heat pump or indirectly via the condenser as regards a coolant flow through a coolant circuit of the heat pump.

Description

[0015] The invention is explained below by way of example with reference to the attached figures by means of a preferred embodiment. In the figures:

[0016] FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional representation of an exemplary embodiment for an appliance according to the invention; and

[0017] FIG. 2 shows a process circuit diagram of the appliance shown in FIG. 1.

[0018] In the figures, the same or functionally identical components are provided with the same reference characters. A repeated description of such components can be omitted in the following description of the figures.

[0019] FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional representation of an exemplary embodiment for an appliance 1 for drying laundry according to the invention. In particular, a horizontal section of a base assembly 2 of the appliance 1 is shown.

[0020] The appliance 1 has an appliance housing 3 accommodating the base assembly 2, an open drying air duct 4 arranged inside the appliance housing 3 for drawing in ambient air according to the arrow 5 during a drying process, and a heat pump 6 arranged inside the appliance housing 3 and thermally coupled to the drying air duct 4.

[0021] The heat pump 6 has a condenser 7, an evaporator 9 downstream of the condenser 7 as regards an air mass flow through the drying air duct 4 indicated by the arrow 23 and an additional heat exchanger 10, which is downstream of the evaporator 9 as regards the air mass flow through the drying air duct 4 and is directly upstream of an expansion unit 17 of the coolant circuit 11 and downstream of the condenser 7 as regards a coolant flow through a coolant circuit 11 of the heat pump 6. The heat pump 6 also has a compressor 12. The condenser 7, the evaporator 9 and the additional heat exchanger 10 are arranged in a manner which is not shown in a heat pump area 13 which is radially externally closed in relation to the air mass flow, and are therefore arranged separately from an area 14 of the base assembly 2 in which the compressor 12 and the expansion unit are arranged. The additional heat exchanger 10 can be embodied as a subcooler.

[0022] The drying air duct 4 has an air intake opening 15, which is arranged inside the appliance housing 3 and is arranged at a section of the drying air duct 4 which is upstream of the condenser 7 of the heat pump 6 as regards the given air mass flow through the drying air duct 4 during the drying process. The air intake opening 15 is connected communicatively via an air intake channel 16 with the area 14 of the base assembly 2, which is arranged separately from the heat exchanger accommodating area 13 of the base assembly 2. Inside the appliance housing 3, leakage air is drawn in according to the arrow 20 by means of the air intake channel 16.

[0023] FIG. 2 shows a process circuit diagram of the appliance 1 shown in FIG. 1. Also shown are the expansion unit 17 of the heat pump 6 and a container 18 which accommodates a laundry drum (not shown). Ambient air flows into the appliance 1 according to the arrow 5 and is fed through the appliance 1 or its drying air duct not shown in FIG. 2 according to the arrows 8, 21, 22, for which purpose a fan (not shown) is used. The air emerging from the additional heat exchanger 10 is removed from the appliance 1 according to the arrow 19. According to the arrow 20, drawn-in leakage air inside the appliance housing which is not shown is also fed to the drawn-in ambient air.

LIST OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS:

[0024] 1 Appliance

[0025] 2 Base assembly

[0026] 3 Appliance housing

[0027] 4 Drying air duct

[0028] 5 Arrow (incoming ambient air)

[0029] 6 Heat pump

[0030] 7 Condenser

[0031] 8 Arrow (air mass flow to 18)

[0032] 9 Evaporator

[0033] 10 Additional heat exchanger

[0034] 11 Coolant circuit

[0035] 12 Compressor

[0036] 13 Heat pump area of 2

[0037] 14 Area of 2

[0038] 15 Air intake opening of 4

[0039] 16 Air intake channel

[0040] 17 Expansion unit

[0041] 18 Container

[0042] 19 Arrow (outgoing drying air)

[0043] 20 Arrow (drawn-in leakage air)

[0044] 21 Arrow (air mass flow to 9)

[0045] 22 Arrow (air mass flow to 10)

[0046] 23 Arrow (air mass flow through 4)