Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Sanyo Electric Techno Clean Co., Ltd.

Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Sanyo Electric Techno Create Co., Ltd.

Masafumi Nishino

Mitsuru Naganawa

Yoshitaka Tsunomoto

Tomohiko Ikeda

Nobuhiro Asada

Masaya Tadano

Takahiro Nakamura

Tetsuya Masuda

Masaru Noro

Tetsunari Hamada

Yoshinori Nakamura

Takahiro Hanai

Hikoya Ishii

Kazushige Murakami

Keiji Kitamura

Tomoki Takahashi

Kiyonori Tamura

Kouichi Hatsuda

Shinichi Sakaguchi

Minoru Yonemoto

Toyoki Minamimoto

A wind direction plate of an air purifier includes a core member provided between an upper wall and a lower wall and extending in a substantially horizontal direction, and an infrared light highly scattering member provided on a side of the core member facing an infrared unit, the infrared light highly scattering member having a higher degree of scattered reflection of infrared light received by the infrared unit and/or infrared light transmitted from the infrared unit than a degree of scattered reflection on the core member.

Air purifier

A measuring partmeasures the potential of a collecting electrodehaving collected positive and negative ions respectively generated by ion generating partsof ion generatorsandand ion generating partsof ion generatorsand. In the judgment of the presence or absence of ions, the ion generatorsandand the ion generatorsandare alternately turned ON/OFF. In ion judgment 1, ON/OFF is performed 6 times with a period of 10 seconds. In ion judgment 2, ON/OFF is performed 10 times with a period of 1 second. Then, when the difference (the amount of change) between the maximum value and the minimum value of the output voltage of the measuring partis greater than a given threshold value, the presence of ions is concluded respectively.

Ion generating apparatus and judgment method for presence or absence of ions

It is expected to provide an ion generating apparatus and an ion presence determination method that can prevent the lower accuracy of the ion presence determination caused by the humidity effect. The ion generators are switched ON at the different timing, the electrical potential of the collecting electrode is measured to determine that the ion is present (or not present) when the voltage difference is larger (or smaller) than the threshold. A humidity detecting unit is arranged in a duct. The set threshold for the determination is based on the humidity of the humidity detecting unit, and the ion presence determination is not performed when the humidity is equal to or more than a predetermined humidity. When the determination representing no ion is obtained predetermined times, the warning is output for the users with a LED of a display, a buzzer of a controller or the like.

Ion generating apparatus and ion presence determining method

A space-saving mounting structure of an air blower having a vibration-insulating function is achieved to reduce a size of an ion generating apparatus. A holding case that holds an air blower and a mount having an air blowing duct are provided in a body case. A cushioning member is provided on an outer surface of a fan casing of the air blower. The air blower is held between the holding case mounted to the body case and the mount as a part of the body case. Two mounting members are formed on the fan casing. One mounting member is held between a pair of regulating members and formed on the holding case. The other mounting member is held between regulating members and formed on the holding case and the mount, respectively.

Air blowing device and ion generating apparatus

A laundry apparatus according to the present invention ensures an improved laundry drying efficiency. In the laundry apparatus, an air guide () is provided on an upper edge portion of an outer tub opening () as being opposed to an air inlet (). Drying air flowing downward from the air inlet () to be supplied to the outer tub opening () impinges on an inclined wall () of the air guide (). The drying air impinging on the inclined wall () is deflected into a drum () through a drum opening () (as indicated by a broken-line arrow). Thus, the drying air is prevented from further flowing downward in the outer tub opening () into a gap () defined between the outer tub () and the drum (), but supplied to laundry in the drum ().

Laundry apparatus

The present invention provides a dry-cleaning machine capable of performing a water-repellent finishing process when necessary, while ensuring a high level of safety. When the water-repellent finishing process has been performed after the drying process (Step S), the solvent contained in the water repellent penetrates into the laundry articles. Taking this into account, the upper limit for the temperature difference ?T between the inlet and outlet of the drum detected is set lower (e.g. 10&#xb0; C.) than that the upper limit (e.g. 20&#xb0; C.) applied to the case where no water-repellent finishing process is performed. This temperature setting reduces the amount of heat supplied to the laundry articles and accordingly decreases the evaporating speed of the solvent. Thus, the concentration of the gasified solvent in the air-circulating passage is maintained under the safety level. In this case, the time period for the drying operation is set longer to compensate for the deterioration in the drying efficiency.

Dry-cleaning machine

There are disclosed a heat pump device and a drying machine using the device in which abnormal water supplying into a water-cooling heat exchanger for use in water-cooling of a heat pump can be easily detected without disposing any water amount gauge particularly. The heat pump device comprises: a water-cooling heat exchangerfor taking heat of a refrigerant which enters a capillary tubea water amount adjusting valvefor adjusting the amount of cooling water to be supplied to the water-cooling heat exchangera temperature sensororfor detecting temperature of the cooling water in the water-cooling heat exchangeror temperature of the refrigerant passed through the water-cooling heat exchanger; and a control unitfor controlling the water amount adjusting valveand the control unit judges abnormal water supplying into the water-cooling heat exchangerin accordance with the controlling state of the water amount adjusting valveand a change of the temperature detected by the temperature sensor under the controlling state.

Heat pump device and drying machine

An object is to provide a drying machine which can accomplish delicate drying and reduce burdens on a matter to be dried during drying while securing a predetermined evaporation temperature in an evaporator. In summary, a dry cleaner equipped with a heat pump device comprises a water-cooling heat exchanger which removes heat from a refrigerant entering a capillary tube; and a control device which variably controls a discharged heat amount in the water-cooling heat exchanger and capacity of the compressor, wherein the control device has at least two kinds of drying modes including a usual drying mode and a delicate drying mode, and in the delicate drying mode, a temperature of air discharged into a storage chamber is set lower than in the usual drying mode to control the capacity of the compressor and to increase the discharged heat amount in the water-cooling heat exchanger.

Drying machine

A bathtubis supported by a movable unitthat vertically moves by the driving power of a motor and by rollersrunning on a guide slope. When not used, the bathtubis stored under a tankin a close to upright position, so that the bathing aid occupies only a small space when not used. To use the bathing aid, the movable unitis lowered and, accordingly, the rollersroll down the guide slope. With this motion, the bathtubchanges its orientation from a position where the open top of the bathtubis directed obliquely forward to a position where the open top is directed almost upward. The bathtubis automatically driven by the electrical driving power of the motor; the caregiver has only to make some key operations. Thus, the workload on the caregiver is significantly reduced.

Bathing aid

A bathing aid is designed to reduce the workload on the caregiver in bathing the physically challenged, elderly or similar persons requiring nursing care. The bathing aid is provided with an upward-opening cover for covering the open top of the bathtub except for an opening for allowing the bather to stick their head through. The cover is supported by arms urged upward by gas springs. The upward-opening cover allows the caregiver to stand whichever side of the bathtub and opens or closes the cover without difficulty. Furthermore, the cover's upward-opening structure is advantageous for reducing the installation space because it does not require the additional side space that would be necessary if the cover is constructed to open sideward.

In the dry clearing machine, a common refrigerator is used for both the solvent cooler and the drying cooler, and the coolant compressed and liquefied in the refrigerator is supplied either one of the heat exchanger of the solvent cooler or that of the drying cooler, depending on the state of a switch. In the heat exchanger selected by the switch, the coolant is supplied and the solvent or the air is cooled when the coolant evaporates. That is, only the cooler selected by the switch works, but the other cooler not selected by the switch does not work. While the laundry is washed, normally, it is not necessary to supply air to the outer tub through the air path, and the drying cooler need not be operated. Thus, in the process of washing, the solvent is adequately cooled because an enough amount of coolant is supplied to the solvent cooler, and the temperature rise of the solvent is prevented.

Dry cleaning machine

The invention relates to a spin extractor for extracting liquid from wet laundry by rotating a drum with the laundry contained therein at high speed about a horizontal axis. In an inventive spin extractor, while an operation controller controls the speed of the drum so that the laundry is slightly pressed on the inner peripheral wall of the drum by centrifugal force and rotates with the drum, a position detector detects the position of an eccentric load due to the laundry as a first position. Then, the speed of the drum is raised to a second speed for weak extraction, which is lower than a predetermined maximum speed for extraction, and the position detector detects the position of the eccentric load as a second position. A quality determiner checks the displacement of the second position from the first position to determine the uniformity in extraction quality of the articles, where the extraction quality of an article represents how easily liquid is extracted therefrom. When the uniformity in the extraction quality is low, the weights of the articles decrease unevenly through the weak extraction, which causes a change in the position of the eccentric load. So, when, the displacement of the position is greater than a preset value, the operation controller sets an extraction speed lower than the maximum speed, and rotates the drum at the extraction speed during the extraction, whereby abnormal vibration is avoided.

Spin extractor

In a spin extractor, an eccentric load judging unit judges the magnitude of the eccentric load based on the amplitude of fluctuations in the motor current while a drum is rotated at a speed at which the centrifugal force on fabric articles contained in the drum is a little larger than the gravity. If the magnitude of the eccentric load detected is larger than predetermined, a balance correcting operation is conducted by a speed control unit. That is, a speed reducing position designating unit sends a pulse signal to the speed control unit at the moment when the eccentric load of the drum comes just before the highest position, in response to which the speed of the drum is reduced momentarily. When the speed is reduced, the centrifugal force is smaller than the gravity, so that the fabric articles crammed and piled fall off the inner peripheral wall of the drum. Thus the fabric articles can be scattered almost evenly.

In a spin extractor according to the present invention, a basket drum for containing fabric articles is provided with a balance weight in a portion of its inner peripheral wall, giving the drum its own eccentric load. The magnitude and position of the resultant eccentric load constituted by both the drum's own eccentric load and the fabric articles unevenly distributed therein is detected based on the fluctuations in the motor current. If the magnitude of the eccentric load is out of a predetermined range or if the position of the eccentric load is not in the proximity to the position opposite at an angle of 180.degree. to the balance weight, the drum is rotated at such a speed that the centrifugal force acting on the fabric articles in the drum is smaller than the gravity force. Thus, the fabric articles are loosened, scattered and redistributed, and the magnitude and position of the eccentric load satisfy the required condition. The above-mentioned range is predetermined based on the magnitude of the eccentric load that causes no abnormal vibration in the extracting operation, taking account of both the weight of the balance weight and the decrease in the weight of the fabric articles through the extracting operation. After the magnitude and position of the eccentric load are settled to satisfy the required condition, the drum is rotated at full speed to extract liquid from the fabric articles.

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Moriguchi, Japan

Masafumi Nishino