Hybrid RF/conventional clothes dryer
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsPablo E. D'Anna, David S. Wisherd, Michael Andrew Wohl, Edward Herman Decker, Gary Lynn Cox
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Abstract
The present application encompasses methods and apparatus for heating a load such as clothes immersed in a medium such as water during a heating period. A method embodiment of the present invention comprises heating the load and medium within an enclosure by subjecting said load and medium to heated air originated from a conventional energy source; and applying heat to said load and medium within the enclosure via an AC electrical field, embodied as a capacitor, originated from an RF power source.
Claims18
An apparatus for heating a load including an absorbed medium, comprising:
- a conventional energy source configured to heat air and to supply heated air into an enclosure that accommodates the load and the absorbed medium therein;
- a radio frequency (RF) energy source configured to apply heat to the load and the absorbed medium within the enclosure via an alternating current (AC) electrical field embodied as a capacitor;
- and
- an air blower configured to suction air out of the enclosure and to generate an output air flow, wherein the enclosure is located between the RF energy source and the air blower.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.