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EP-4737634-A2 - LAUNDRY TREATING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

EP4737634A2EP 4737634 A2EP4737634 A2EP 4737634A2EP-4737634-A2

Abstract

Disclosed is a laundry treating apparatus including a cabinet, a drum rotatably provided to accommodate laundry, a base disposed below the drum so as to provide a space configured such that air in the drum is circulated therein or moisture in the air is condensed therein, a motor configured to provide power to rotate the drum, a heat exchange unit placed on the base and provided to condense the moisture in the air or to heat the air, a steam generator configured to generate steam supplied to the drum. The motor is disposed behind the drum so as to be spaced apart from the base, and the base includes a circulation flow path part configured to circulate the air in the drum, and a steam generator installation part configured to provide a space configured such that the steam generator is mounted therein.

Inventors

  • YOON, JUHAN
  • HEO, NAMYEONG
  • JIN, DONGHYUN
  • LEE, Manseok
  • BAE, JINWOO

Assignees

  • LG Electronics Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220126

Claims (15)

  1. A laundry treating apparatus comprising: a cabinet (100) having an opening defined at a front portion thereof; a drum (200) rotatably disposed in the cabinet (100), the drum (200) having an inlet (211) defined at a front portion thereof and configured to introduce laundry to the drum (200); a base (800) that is disposed below the drum (200), the base (800) defining a space configured to guide air circulating to the drum (200) or to collect moisture condensed from the air; a motor (500) configured to rotate the drum (200), the motor (500) being disposed rearward relative to the drum (200) and spaced apart from the base (800); a steam generator (170, 180) configured to generate steam to be supplied to the drum (200); and a heat exchange unit (900) comprising: a first heat exchanger (910) disposed at the base (800) and configured to condense the moisture in the air, a second heat exchanger (920) disposed at the base (800) and configured to heat the air, and a compressor (930) configured to supply a refrigerant to the first heat exchanger (910) or the second heat exchanger (920) to thereby enable heat exchange between the air and the refrigerant, the base (800) comprises: a circulation flow path (820) that accommodates the first heat exchanger (910) and the second heat exchanger (920) and is configured to guide the air toward the drum (200), and a steam generator installation space (812) that is spaced apart from the circulation flow path (820) and accommodates the steam generator (170, 180), and characterized in that the steam generator installation space (812) is located on one side of a front portion of the base (800).
  2. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a water collection part (860) that is spaced apart from the steam generator installation space (812) and defines a water collection space that is in fluid communication with the circulation flow path (820) and configured to collect water condensed in the circulation flow path (820), wherein the steam generator installation space (812) and the water collection part (860) are arranged along a forward-rearward direction such that the steam generator installation space (812) overlaps with the water collection part (860) along the forward-rearward direction.
  3. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the steam generator installation space (812) is defined forward relative to the water collection part (860).
  4. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the water collection part (860) and the first heat exchanger (910) are arranged along a left-right direction such that the water collection part (860) overlaps with the first heat exchanger (910) along the left-right direction.
  5. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the steam generator installation space (812) is defined forward relative to the first heat exchanger.
  6. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the base (800) further defines a compressor installation space (811) that is spaced apart from the circulation flow path (820) and accommodates the compressor (930), and wherein the steam generator installation space (812) and compressor installation space (811) are arranged along the forward-rearward direction such that the steam generator installation space (812) overlaps with the compressor installation space (811) along the forward-rearward direction.
  7. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the steam generator installation space (812) is defined forward relative to the compressor (930) installation space.
  8. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the water collection space is arranged between the steam generator installation space (812) and the compressor installation space (811) in the forward-rearward direction.
  9. The laundry treating apparatus according to any one of claims 1, wherein the circulation flow path (820) comprises: an inflow duct (821) disposed at a first side of the circulation flow path (820) and configured to receive air discharged from the drum (200); a discharge duct (823) disposed at a second side of the circulation flow path (820) and configured to discharge the air into the drum (200); and a transfer duct (822) that connects the inflow duct (821) to the discharge duct (823), wherein the steam generator installation space (812) and the inflow duct (821) are arranged along a left-right direction such that the steam generator installation space (812) overlaps with the inflow duct (821) along the left- right direction.
  10. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a front plate (410) that is located between the cabinet (100) and the front portion of the drum (200) and supports the front portion of the drum (200), the front plate (410) being configured to guide the air discharged from the drum (200) to the inflow duct (821) and defining an inlet communication hole (412) in fluid communication with the opening of the cabinet (100), wherein the steam generator installation space (812) is defined at a surface of the base (800) facing the front plate (410).
  11. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the steam generator is disposed between the base (800) and the front plate (410).
  12. The laundry treating apparatus according to any one of claims 9, further comprising a circulation flow path fan (950) rotatably disposed in the discharge duct (823) and configured to generate air flow from the transfer duct (822) toward the drum (200), wherein a distance (L3) between the first heat exchanger (910) and the second heat exchanger (920) is greater than a distance (L4) between the second heat exchanger (920) and the circulation flow path (950) fan in a forward-rearward direction.
  13. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the distance (L3) between the first heat exchanger (910) and the second heat exchanger (920) is greater than or equal to a length (L1, L2) of the first heat exchanger (910) or a length of the second heat exchanger (920) in the forward-rearward direction.
  14. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the first heat exchanger (910) and the second heat exchanger (920) are disposed in the transfer duct (822), and wherein the circulation flow path (950) fan is disposed in the discharge duct (823).
  15. The laundry treating apparatus according to claim 12, wherein a diameter (H3) of the circulation flow path (950) fan is greater than or equal to a height (H2) of the second heat exchanger (920).

Description

BACKGROUND Field The present disclosure relates to a laundry treating apparatus, and more particularly, to a laundry treating apparatus including a driving unit directly connected to a drum configured to accommodate laundry so as to rotate the drum. Discussion of the Related Art In general, laundry treating apparatuses are apparatuses configured to remove dust and foreign substances from laundry by applying physical force thereto, and include washers, dryers, clothes refreshers (i.e., clothes stylers), etc. The washers are configured to perform a washing cycle in which foreign substances may be separated and removed from laundry by supplying water and detergent. The dryers are classified into an exhaust-type dryer and a circulation-type dryer, and both dryers are configured in common to perform a drying cycle in which moisture is removed from laundry by producing hot air having a high temperature through a heater and exposing the laundry to the hot air. Recently, a dryer may be configured to intensively perform the drying cycle by omitting components configured to supply water to laundry or to drain water and omitting a tub provided in a cabinet to receive water. Thereby, the inner structure of the dryer may be simplified, and drying efficiency may be improved by directly supplying hot air to the drum configured to accommodate the laundry. Such a dryer may include a drum configured to accommodate laundry, a hot air supplier configured to supply hot air to the drum, and a driving unit configured to rotate the drum. The dryer may dry the laundry accommodated in the drum by supplying hot air to the inside of the drum, and may uniformly expose the surface of the laundry to hot air by rotating the drum. Consequently, drying of the laundry may be completed through uniform contact of the overall surface of the laundry with hot air. In order to rotate the drum, the driving unit needs to be fixed to the inside of the cabinet. Further, when the driving unit is provided to rotate a rotating shaft coupled to the drum, the driving unit needs to be provided parallel to the rotating shaft. However, the dryer does not include a tub fixed to the inside of the cabinet, and thus has a difficulty in fixing the driving unit to the tub in the same manner as the washer. In order to solve this drawback, dryers configured such that a driving unit is fixed to the rear surface of a cabinet have appeared (refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. JP S55-081914A, Japanese Patent Publication No. JP S55-115455A, Japanese Patent Publication No. JP S57-063724A, and Japanese Patent Publication No. JP S57-124674A). FIG. 1 shows the structure of a conventional dryer configured such that a driving unit is fixed to the rear surface of a cabinet. The above dryer may include a cabinet 1 configured to form the external appearance of the dryer, a drum 2 rotatably provided within the cabinet 1 so as to accommodate laundry, and a driving unit 3 provided so as to rotate the drum 2. The driving unit 2 may be disposed on the rear surface of the drum 2 so as to rotate the drum 2, and may be fixedly coupled to a rear panel 11 forming the rear surface of the cabinet 1. Therefore, the driving unit 3 may be fixed to the cabinet 1, and may thus rotate the drum 2. The driving units 3 of the above-described conventional dryers may include in common a stator 31 fixed to the rear panel 11, a rotor 32 rotated by the stator 31, and a rotating shaft 33 coupled to the rotor 32 so as to rotate the drum 2, and may further include a reducer 37 provided to increase torque while reducing the RPM of the rotating shaft 33 so as to rotate the drum 2. Further, the conventional dryers may further include in common a fixing unit 4 configured to fix the driving unit 3 to the rear panel 11. The fixing unit 4 may include at least one of a first fixing member 41 configured to fix the stator 31 to the rear panel 111, and a second fixing member 42 configured to fix the rotating shaft 33 to the rear panel 11. Therefore, in the conventional dryers, the driving unit 3 is disposed parallel to the rotating shaft 33 coupled to the drum 2, and may thus stably rotate the drum 2. However, the rear panel 11 of the cabinet 1 is provided as a thin steel plate, and is thus easily deformed or vibrated even by a considerably small external force. Further, the rear panel 11 receives not only the load of the driving unit 3 but also the load of the drum 2 through the rotating shaft 33, and maintaining the shape of the rear panel 11 may thus be difficult. Further, when laundry is eccentrically disposed in the drum 2 or repeatedly falls in the drum 2 during the rotating process of the drum 2, external force is repeatedly transmitted to the rear panel 11, and thus, the rear panel 11 may be vibrated. When the rear panel 11 is even temporarily bent or deformed due to vibration or external force transmitted thereto, the rotating shaft 33 configured to connect the driving unit 3 to the drum 2 may be distorted