Laundry treating apparatus with heat pump and control method thereof
OwnerHyunwoo NOH, Yongju Lee +1inventors
InventorsHyunwoo NOH, Yongju Lee, Hyuksoo Lee
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Abstract
A laundry treating apparatus having a heat pump may include a drum, and a heat pump that cools air received from the drum and then heats the cooled air. A heater may heat air transmitted from the heat pump to the drum. A sensing device may sense a state of a heating medium, such as temperature or pressure, and a controller may control the heater based on the sensed state of the heating medium. Speed drying may be performed, energy efficiency may be increased, and durability of the heat pump may be enhanced.
Claims18
A laundry treating apparatus, comprising:
- a drum;
- a heat pump circulating a heating medium, the heat pump including a compressor configured to compress the heating medium, a condenser configured to heat air to be supplied to the drum, an expander configured to expand the heating medium, and an evaporator configured to cool air received from the drum;
- a heater configured to heat air transmitted from the heat pump to the drum;
- a sensing device configured to sense at least one characteristic of the heating medium;
- and
- a controller configured to control the heater based on the sensed characteristic of the heating medium.
A method for controlling a laundry treating apparatus having a heat pump and a heater, the method comprising:
- applying power to the heat pump and the heater to heat air, and supplying the heated air to a drum;
- sensing at least one predetermined characteristic of a heating medium circulating in the heat pump;
- and
- controlling power to the heater based on the sensed predetermined characteristic of the heating medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.