Laundry treating appliance with heating assembly
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorsARUN KUMAR ANELADASU, AMOL GODE, KARL DAVID MCALLISTER
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laundry treating appliance includes a treating chamber and a drying circuit fluidly coupled to the treating chamber and supplying process air. A heating assembly for the laundry treating appliance is in thermal interaction with the supplied process air. The heating assembly includes a housing defining an air inlet and an air outlet, an air flow path extending through the housing from the air inlet to the air outlet, and a heat exchange plate disposed within the housing. A first heating element is positioned within the housing and spaced from a first side of the heat exchange plate. A set of fins can also extend from at least the first side of the heat exchange plate.
Claims20
A laundry treating appliance, comprising:
- a chassis defining an interior;
- a treating chamber located within the interior;
- a drying circuit within the interior and comprising an air recirculation conduit fluidly coupled to the treating chamber, and a blower supplying process air to the air recirculation conduit;
- and
- a heating assembly in thermal interaction with the process air supplied to the treating chamber, the heating assembly comprising:
- a housing extending along an axial direction and defining an air inlet and an air outlet, with the air outlet configured to fluidly couple to an air recirculation conduit in the laundry treating appliance;
- an air flow path extending through the housing from the air inlet to the air outlet;
- a heat exchange plate disposed within the housing and having a first side radially opposite a second side, with each of the first and second sides thermally coupled to the air flow path;
- a first heating element positioned within the housing and spaced from the first side of the heat exchange plate;
- and
- a set of fins extending from at least the first side of the heat exchange plate, with a fin in the set of fins comprising a distal end radially spaced between the first heating element and the first side of the heat exchange plate.
A heating assembly for heating process air in a laundry treating appliance, comprising:
- a housing extending along an axial direction and defining an air inlet and an air outlet, with the air outlet configured to fluidly couple to an air recirculation conduit in the laundry treating appliance;
- an air flow path extending through the housing from the air inlet to the air outlet;
- a heat exchange plate disposed within the housing and having a first side radially spaced from a second side, with each of the first and second sides thermally coupled to the air flow path;
- a first heating element positioned within the housing and spaced from the first side of the heat exchange plate;
- and
- a set of fins extending from at least the first side of the heat exchange plate, with each fin in the set of fins comprising a distal end radially spaced from the heating element.
A heating assembly for heating process air in a laundry treating appliance, comprising:
- a housing extending along an axial direction and defining an interior surface, an air inlet, and an air outlet, with the interior surface defining a cross-sectional area, and with the air outlet configured to fluidly couple to an air recirculation conduit in the laundry treating appliance;
- an air flow path extending through the housing from the air inlet to the air outlet;
- a heat exchange plate disposed within the housing;
- a first heating element positioned within the housing, with the first heating element spaced from the heat exchange plate to define a first spacing distance;
- wherein at least one of the first spacing distance or the cross-sectional area increases along the axial direction from the air inlet toward the air outlet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.