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US 5,396,715 AGranted
Microwave clothes dryer and method with fire protection
AssigneeElectric Power Research Institute, Inc.
InventorRichard D. Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Microwave clothes dryer and method in which water is introduced into the chamber in response to detection of an impending fire to immediately increase the moisture content of the clothes throughout the chamber to a level which will not sustain combustion.
Claims6
In a microwave clothes dryer:
- a chamber for holding clothes to be dried, means for introducing microwave energy into the chamber to evaporate moisture in the clothes, means for detecting an impending fire in the chamber, and means responsive to detection of an impending fire for introducing water into the chamber to wet the clothes throughout the chamber to a moisture content on the order of 100 percent.
In a method of drying clothes, the steps of:
- placing the clothes in a drying chamber, introducing microwave energy into the chamber to evaporate moisture in the clothes, detecting an impending fire in the chamber, and introducing water into the chamber in response to detection of an impending fire to wet the clothes throughout the chamber to a moisture content on the order of 100 percent.
In a microwave clothes dryer:
- a chamber for holding clothes to be dried, means for introducing microwave energy into the chamber to evaporate moisture in the clothes, a nozzle for spraying water into the chamber to wet the clothes, means for detecting an impending fire in the chamber, and means responsive to detection of an impending fire for supplying water to the nozzle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.