COMPACT BURNER SYSTEM FOR GAS DRYER

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 63/597,457 filed Nov. 9, 2023, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Disclosed herein are compact burner systems for gas dryers.

BACKGROUND

Gas fueled appliances are fairly common and often require a burner assembly made of numerous components. As with many assemblies having multiple components, these components may fail, causing frustration among the customers.

SUMMARY

A compact burner system configured to be arranged vertically in a gas dryer, may include a burner bracket, an inlet upper duct housing arranged above the burner bracket, a cover arranged on the inlet upper duct cover and the burner bracket to create a housing, and a burner tube arranged in the housing and maintained by the burner bracket.

A compact burner system for a gas dryer may include a burner bracket, an inlet duct upper housing arranged above the burner bracket, a cover arranged on the inlet duct upper housing and the burner bracket to create a housing, and a burner tube arranged in the housing and maintained by the burner bracket.

A compact burner system in a gas dryer may include a burner bracket, an inlet duct upper housing arranged above the burner bracket, a cover arranged on the inlet duct upper housing and the burner bracket to create a housing, a burner tube arranged in the housing and maintained by the burner bracket and having an igniter opening, an igniter configured to be received, at least partially, by the igniter opening to be arranged adjacent to the burner tube.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments of the present disclosure are pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. However, other features of the various embodiments will become more apparent and will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a clothes dryer;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of a compact burner system for the clothes dryer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an inlet duct cover of the compact burner system;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inlet duct upper housing of the compact burner system;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an inlet duct deflector of the compact burner system;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a burner bracket of the compact burner system, shown assembled with burner tube, gas valve, igniter, and radiant sensor;

FIG. 7A is a perspective view of a first part 114a of the burner tube of the compact burner system 100;

FIG. 7B is a perspective view of a second part of the burner tube;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a gas valve the compact burner system; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a supply line arranged in a supply line bracket of the compact burner system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the disclosure that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present disclosure.

In current gas fueled air vented dryer architectures, the burner assembly is comprised of numerous components that are mounted in the base of the appliance below the drum. This requires considerable material and assembly costs (large sheet metal components, front assembly, etc.) and includes components that could be reduced or eliminated with a more efficient design.

Disclosed herein is a compact burner system configured to reduce the number of components within the gas burner system for a gas clothes dryer, while utilizing the same space currently occupied by an electric heater in comparable electric dryers. This approach will allow full service of the gas system through the rear panel rather than necessitate removal of the top panel, front panel, and drum. The burner assembly is therefore reduced to the gas valve, burner bracket, igniter, burner funnel and inlet pipe components, which may connect directly to the existing electric inlet duct. This eliminates components such as the current burner funnel, gas inlet duct, and funnel bracket, while allowing for a reduction and optimization of the burner bracket, burner tube, and inlet pipe. In addition, this gas burner design allows for the potential of a direct connection to the consumer's supply pipe to the valve, eliminating the need for an inlet pipe.

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a laundry treating appliance in the form of a clothes dryer 10 according to aspects of the present disclosure. While the laundry treating appliance is illustrated as a front-loading dryer, the laundry treating appliance according to aspects of the present disclosure may be another appliance which performs a cycle of operation on laundry, non-limiting examples of which include a top-loading dryer, a combination washing machine and dryer; a tumbling or stationary refreshing/revitalizing machine; an extractor; a non-aqueous washing apparatus; and a revitalizing machine.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the clothes dryer 10 may include a cabinet 12 in which is provided a controller 14 that may receive input from a user through a user interface 16 for selecting a cycle of operation and controlling the operation of the clothes dryer 10 to implement the selected cycle of operation. The clothes dryer 10 will offer the user a number of pre-programmed cycles of operation to choose from, and each pre-programmed cycle of operation may have any number of adjustable cycle modifiers. Examples of such modifiers include, but are not limited to chemistry dispensing, load size, a load color, and/or a load type. The controller may include a computer device, such as including a processor and software adapted to perform the operations described herein.

The cabinet 12 may be defined by a chassis or frame supporting a front wall 18, a rear wall 20, and a pair of side walls 22 supporting a top wall 24. A door 26 may be hingedly mounted to the front wall 18 and may be selectively moveable between opened and closed positions to close an opening in the front wall 18, which provides access to the interior of the cabinet 12.

A rotatable drum 28 may be disposed within the interior of the cabinet 12 between opposing front and rear bulkheads 30 and 32, which collectively define a treating chamber 34 having an open face that may be selectively closed by the door 26. The drum 28 may include at least one baffle or lifter 36. In most clothes dryers 10, there are multiple lifters 36. The lifters 36 may be located along the inner surface of the drum 28 defining an interior circumference of the drum 28. The lifters 36 may facilitate movement of laundry within the drum 28 as the drum 28 rotates.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a compact burner system 100 for the clothes dryer 10 of FIG. 1. The compact burner system 100 may be configured for use in a gas dryer and may be arranged generally vertically to save space in the rear cabinet of the dryer 10. However, other configurations and placement may be appreciated such as below the drum, above the drum, etc. The burner system 100 may be configured to connect directly or indirectly to the inlet duct of the dryer 10 and directly to the consumer's gas supply pipe, eliminating the need for an inlet pipe. The combustion chamber may form a rectangular cross section. Further, the assembly, in one example, is configured to fire upwards rather than horizontally into a funnel.

The burner system 100 may include an inlet duct cover 102 configured to cover an inlet duct upper housing 104 to form an inlet duct. An inlet duct deflector (illustrated as deflector 106 in FIG. 5) may be arranged within the inlet duct and supported by the duct upper housing 104. A burner bracket 110 may be arranged below the inlet duct upper housing 104 and may function as a combustion chamber. The burner bracket 110 may also replace the need for a traditional funnel and igniter bracket, thus reducing the space requirements of the system 100.

An igniter 112 may be arranged on the burner bracket 110 and may be in the form of a gas igniter, or other type of igniter. Adjacent to the igniter 112 is a burner tube 114 configured to supply gas to the igniter 112. In this case, the burner tube 114 is arranged as a tube extending into a wide vent or funnel portion in order to accommodate the vertical arrangement of the burner system 100. The igniter 112 may extend into an igniter opening 142 defined by the burner bracket 110, which is discussed in more detail herein.

A radiant sensor (illustrated as sensor 120 in FIG. 6) may be arranged on the burner bracket 110 and may be configured to detect radiated heat within the burner system 100. A gas valve 122 is arranged below the burner tube 114 and igniter 112 and is configured to selectively deliver gas to the burner tube 114. The gas valve 122 may receive gas via a supply pipe (shown as supply line 160 in FIG. 8), which is held in place by a valve bracket 124. The supply pipe may be accessible to a consumer at the base of the dryer 10 and may be directly connected to the consumer's gas supply.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the inlet duct cover 102 of the compact burner system 100. The inlet duct cover 102 may define an inner portion of a conduit for directing the hot airflow from a lower, proximal end to an upper, distal end. The inlet duct cover 102 may further define an opening 130 at the distal end of the inlet duct cover 102 to allow air to pass therethrough and exit the inlet duct cover 102. The opening 130 may include a screen covering and a louver configuration. As explained, the inlet duct cover 102 may be configured to cover an inlet duct upper housing 104 to form the inlet duct.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inlet duct upper housing 104 of the compact burner system 100. The inlet duct upper housing 104 may affix to an upper portion of the inlet duct cover 102 and form the outer portion of the inlet duct between the housing 104 and the cover 102. The duct may have a rounded distal end, where the housing 104 and cover 102 mimic the same curvature to create a closed duct.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the inlet duct deflector 106 of the compact burner system 100 configured to be arranged within the duct created by the housing 104 and cover 102. The deflector 106 may be configured to deflect air therein and may include a plurality of perforations 136 along its length to aid in flow treatment. This flow treatment may include altering the leading and trailing edge of the airflow and creating a fluting or vortex configuration. The deflector 106 may have a specific orientation, angle and location within the housing to perform the desired flow treatment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a burner bracket 110 of the compact burner system 100. The burner bracket 110 may be arranged below the inlet duct upper housing 104 and may be configured to maintain certain components. The burner bracket 110 may form a lower portion of the inlet duct and be covered by the inlet duct cover 102. The burner bracket 110 may maintain the igniter 112, burner tube 114, and the gas valve 122 and supply line 160.

The burner bracket 110 may define an igniter opening 142 where the igniter 112 may extend at least partially therethrough. The burner tube 114 may be placed inside the housing between the burner bracket 110 and the cover 102, and the burner bracket 110 may maintain the tube of the burner tube 114 in a cylindrical indent 146 and the wider vent portion of the burner tube 114 is arranged adjacent the igniter opening 142 and the igniter 112. The burner bracket 110 may form a rectangular cross section.

The radiant sensor 120 may be arranged at a side of the burner bracket 110 as illustrated in FIG. 6. Additionally or alternatively, the radiant sensor 120 may be arranged below the burner bracket 110. The gas valve 122 is maintained on the burner bracket 110 below the tube of the burner tube 114.

FIG. 7A is a perspective view of a first part 114a of the burner tube 114 of the compact burner system 100. FIG. 7B is a perspective view of a second part of the burner tube 114b. The burner tube 114 may be specifically designed to accommodate the vertical arrangement of the burner system. In the example shown in the figures, the burner tube 114 may include a tube portion 150 and a funnel portion 152. The tube portion 150 is configured to connect to the supply line (shown as supply line 160 in FIG. 9) and deliver gas through the tube portion 150 to the funnel portion 152. A plurality of fins 156 or louvers may be arranged at the distal end of the funnel portion 152. The second part 114b may selectively attach to the first part 114a.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the gas valve 122 the compact burner system 100 and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a supply line 160 arranged in a supply line bracket 162 of the compact burner system 100. The supply line 160 may have a proximal end configured to connect to the tube portion 150 of the burner tube 114 and a distal end configured to connect directly with a consumer's gas supply.

By the configuration of the burner bracket 110 and other components, the need for a bulkhead bracket, as well as an igniter bracket, are eliminated. The burner bracket 110 also replaces the need for a funnel, which takes up a large footprint and area.

While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the disclosure. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the disclosure.