Laundry treating appliance and method of operation
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsRoy E. Masters, Arun Rajendran
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of operating a laundry treating appliance having a drum, and an air conduit fluidly coupled to the drum, with a heat source associated with the air conduit, includes moving air through an air conduit to the drum; heating the moving air by operating the heat source; and introducing atomized liquid into the air conduit upstream of the heat source.
Claims20
A method of operating a laundry treating appliance having a drum, an air conduit fluidly coupled to the drum, and a heat exchanger having an evaporator and a condenser associated with the air conduit, and a first nozzle directed at the evaporator for cleaning the evaporator, and a second nozzle comprising an atomizer directed at the condenser for creating steam, the method comprising:
- moving air through the air conduit to the drum;
- heating the moving air by operating the condenser;
- and
- introducing atomized liquid into the air conduit by the atomizer upstream of the condenser and downstream of the evaporator by spraying the atomized liquid toward the condenser such that the atomized liquid is suspended in the air conduit and the condenser creates steam from the atomized liquid suspended in the air conduit;
- and
- blowing the steam and air through the air conduit into the drum to provide the steam into the drum.
A laundry treating appliance comprising:
- a drum defining a treating chamber;
- an air conduit fluidly coupled to the treating chamber;
- a blower for forcing air through the air conduit;
- a heat exchanger comprising an evaporator and a condenser associated with the air conduit;
- a first liquid nozzle directed at the evaporator for cleaning the evaporator;
- a second liquid nozzle separately operable from the first liquid nozzle and directed at the condenser for creating steam;
- and
- the second liquid nozzle further comprising an atomizer fluidly coupled to the air conduit upstream of the condenser and configured to spray atomized liquid toward the condenser and into the air conduit;
- wherein heat from the condenser heats the atomized liquid to create the steam before the air and the atomized liquid reaches the drum;
- and
- wherein the blower forces the air and the atomized liquid through the air conduit into the drum for providing steam into the drum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.