The present invention relates to a washer or washer-dryer comprising a baffle which filters the rinsing water.
Effective use of water resources, which are destroyed due to climate change, global warming and unconscious water consumption, gradually gains more importance. In washing machines and washer-dryers which combine washing and drying functions, it is a requirement in terms of energy efficiency that the cleaning of contaminated textile products is performed with the least amount of water and in the shortest time possible.
In the rinsing step, water is sent to the textile products cleaned with detergent in the washing step to remove the detergent. It is known that the detergent remaining on the textile at the end of the rinsing step is harmful for human health. Therefore, a high amount of water is consumed in the rinsing step and multiple rinsing cycles are carried out in order to reduce detergent residues and remove the detergent remaining on the textile surface at the levels set forth by the standards. Moreover, spin-drying is performed for rinsing purposes at high speeds to remove the detergent water on the textile, which causes an increase in energy consumption.
In the state of the art Korean Patent Document No.
In the state of the art Patent Application No.
The aim of the present invention is the realization of a washer or washer-dryer wherein the rinsing water which gets dirty with residues such as detergent, fibers, textile dyes, etc. remaining on the laundry after the first rinsing step is cleaned to be reused.
The washer or washer-dryer of the present invention comprises a baffle which filters the detergent, dye and textile fibers in the rinsing water during the rinsing step.
The washer or washer-dryer of the present invention comprises a baffle having at least one nonwoven fabric filter coated with cationic material and/or a cationic polymer filter. The clean water delivered onto the laundry in the first rinsing step is passed through the baffle comprising the filter before the second rinsing step to be cleaned and thus the filtered water can be reused in the rinsing steps.
The selected cationic polymer material and/or polymer mixtures are in liquid form according to their molecular weight and the proportion of monomers in the copolymer, and are in a form suitable to be applied/coated to the nonwoven fabric filter or in a hard and rigid form, and can be also used in solid form which is filled into the cylindrical filter body. The filter is detachably placed in a housing in the baffle. In an embodiment of the present invention, the filter can be directly attached into the baffle receptacle.
The nonwoven filter coated with cationic polymer material or the cationic polymer ball filter filters the detergent residues, textile dyes, dirt and fibers remaining in the water after the rinsing step so as to enable the water to be cleaned and reused in the rinsing steps.
The nonwoven filter in an embodiment of the present invention is produced from biodegradable and recycled materials.
By means of the present invention, a washer or washer-dryer is realized, which performs the washing process with less water and lower number of rinsing steps. Moreover, the amount of dirt in the waste water generated at the end of the washing cycle is reduced.
The model embodiments relating to a washer or washer-dryer comprising the baffle realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention are illustrated in the attached figures, where:
The elements illustrated in the figures are numbered as follows:
The washer or washer-dryer (1) comprises a body (2); a drum (4) which is disposed in the body (2) and wherein the laundry is loaded; a tub (3) wherein the drum (4) is disposed; and a baffle (5) which is provided in the drum (4), which has at least one nozzle (7) providing the delivery of water into the drum (4) and which tumbles the laundry.
The washer or washer-dryer (1) of the present invention comprises the baffle (5) having at least one filter (6) with cationic polymer material filtering residues in the water such as detergent, dye, etc., at least one housing (9) suitable for the placement of the filter (6), and a lid (8) which covers the housing (9). Waste materials such as detergent, textile dye, etc. mixing with the water during the rinsing step are anionic due to their chemical characteristics. By means of the filter (6) having cationic polymer material which is placed into the baffle (5) with the use of the housing (9), the anionic loads in the water are retained by the filter (6) and thus the rinsing water is cleaned and used more than once in the washing cycle. Moreover, by means of the lid (8), the filter (6) can be reached without detaching the baffle (5) from the drum (4), and the filter (6) can be changed.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the cationic polymer material of the filter (6) is at least one polymer selected from among acrylate-based copolymer, acrylic acid homopolymer, polyacrylamide, acrylic acid-acrylamide copolymer and n-vinyl pyrrolidone - acrylic acid copolymer mixture.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the washer or washer-dryer (1) comprises the filter (6) comprising a filter body (10) having an upper plate (12), a first opening (13) provided on the upper plate (12), a second opening (14) on the filter body (10) aligning with the first opening (13), a pin (11) disposed between the first opening (13) and the second opening (14), and a spring (16) surrounding the pin (11) to enable the pin (11) to be moved in the filter body (10); and the baffle (5) having the lid (8) which covers the second opening (14), which detachably connects the filter (6) to the housing (9) and which comprises a discharge opening (15) thereon. In said embodiment of the present invention, the filter body (10) is placed into the housing (9). The filter body (10) contains cationic polymer material therein. The filter body (10) is preferably cylindrical and has the upper plate (12). The second opening (14) aligning with the upper plate (12) is provided on the filter body (10). The upper surface of the pin (11) is placed between the first opening (13) and the second opening (14) so as to be flush with the first opening (13). The pin (11) and the spring (16) move with the pressure of the water reaching the upper plate (12) during the rinsing step and the filtered water is delivered into the drum (4) through the discharge hole (15) provided on the lid (8).
In an embodiment of the present invention, the filter (6) comprises the pin (11) having the a first ring (17) placed into the first opening (13) and a second ring (18) placed into the discharge hole (15). Thus, the pin (11) is tightly mounted into the filter body (10) and does not move in case there is no water pressure in the rinsing step.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the filter (6) comprises two sealing members (19) one placed between the upper plate (12) and the first ring (17) and the other placed between the discharge hole (15) and the second ring (18). By means of the sealing member (19), the water is prevented from leaking into the filter body (10) except the rinsing step, and thus the economic life of the filter (6) is extended.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the baffle (5) comprises screw threads (20) on the lid (8) and the filter body (10) which detachably connect the lid (8) and the filter body (10) to each other. By means of the screw threads (20) provided on the lid (8) and the filter body (10), the filter (6) can be detachably attached to the baffle (5) by being rotated and the filter (6) can be replaced when the economic life thereof expires.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the baffle (5) comprises the filter body (10) which is a nonwoven fabric coated with cationic polymer material, and a shutter (21) which is placed between the filter (6) and the baffle (5) and which allows the passage of the rinsing water to the filter body (10). In this embodiment, the filter (6) can filter textile fiber wastes in addition to textile dye and detergent wastes thanks to the nonwoven fabric structure thereof.
In the embodiment of the present invention wherein the filter body (10) is nonwoven fabric coated with cationic polymer material, the washer or washer-dryer (1) comprises a pipe (23) placed at one side of the baffle (5), and the lid (8) having a channel (22) which enables the lid (8) to be opened/closed by pivoting around the pipe so as to provide access to the filter (6). The filter body (10) which is nonwoven fabric coated with cationic polymer material has a wide surface and placed into a housing (9) which is wide like a receptacle in the baffle (5). By means of the structure allowing the lid (8) to be opened from the baffle (5) by pivoting, the entire housing (9) can be accessed, and the filter (6) can be easily detached from the baffle (5), when required, and a new filter (6) can be attached into the baffle (5).
In an embodiment of the present invention, the washer or washer-dryer (1) comprises a control unit (25) which enables the rinsing water containing detergent, dust, textile fiber and textile dye residues to be passed through the baffle (5) to be filtered during the second and subsequent rinsing steps. Thus, the clean water used in the washing cycle is not passed through the baffle (5) and the economic life of the filter (6) is not unnecessarily decreased.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the washer or washer-dryer (1) comprises a sensor (24) which measures the amount of residues in the rinsing water and the control unit (25) which warns the user when the economic life of the filter (6) expires according to the data received from the sensor (24).
By means of the present invention, a washer or washer-dryer (1) is realized, comprising the baffle (5) having the filter (6) which filters the residues in the water such as detergent, dye, fiber, etc.
This list of references cited by the applicant is for the reader's convenience only. It does not form part of the European patent document. Even though great care has been taken in compiling the references, errors or omissions cannot be excluded and the EPO disclaims all liability in this regard.