Thermal storage mechanism for a laundry appliance that utilizes recovery heat and renewable energy sources
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorChristopher Aidan Hartnett
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laundry appliance includes a blower that directs process air through an airflow path. A rotating drum holds articles to be processed. A heat pump system has a condenser and an evaporator. The evaporator dehumidifies the process air that is delivered from the drum and the condenser heats the process air that is delivered from the evaporator. A thermal storage mechanism retains heat at least from the condenser that is directed away from the process air to define captured heat, and the captured heat of the thermal storage mechanism is utilized during a subsequent laundry cycle. A secondary heater is powered by an external source that delivers thermal energy to the thermal storage mechanism.
Claims20
A laundry appliance comprising:
- a blower that directs process air through an airflow path;
- a rotating drum that holds articles to be processed;
- a heat pump system having a condenser and an evaporator, wherein the evaporator dehumidifies the process air delivered from the drum and wherein the condenser heats the process air delivered from the evaporator;
- a thermal storage mechanism that retains captured heat at least from the condenser that is not directed into the process air, and wherein the captured heat of the thermal storage mechanism is utilized during a subsequent laundry cycle;
- and
- a secondary heater powered by an external source that delivers thermal energy to the thermal storage mechanism.
A laundry appliance comprising:
- a blower that directs process air through an airflow path;
- a rotating drum that holds articles to be processed;
- a heating assembly that delivers heat to the process air that is delivered to the rotating drum;
- a phase change material that retains captured heat at least from the heating assembly that is not directed into the process air, and wherein the captured heat of the phase change material is utilized during a subsequent laundry cycle;
- and
- a secondary heater powered by an external source that delivers thermal energy to the phase change material.
A method for operating a laundry appliance, the method comprising steps of:
- activating a blower for delivering process air to a processing space;
- activating a primary heating element;
- capturing excess thermal energy from the primary heating element within a phase change material;
- further charging the phase change material through accumulating captured heat from an external source within the phase change material;
- storing the captured heat within the phase change material for a period of time;
- activating a subsequent drying cycle;
- and
- delivering the captured heat from the phase change material into the process air for operating the subsequent drying cycle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.