1. Field
A drain pump and a clothes dryer having a drain pump are disclosed herein.
2. Background
Clothes dryer are home appliances that supply hot wind into a drying drum to remove moisture absorbed into clothes in a state in which objects to be dried are put into the drying drum and rotated. Hot wind supplied into the drum may be generated by using electrical resistance heat or combustion heat using a gas fuel. Then, the hot wind may be supplied into the drying drum using a blower fan.
Clothes dryers may be classified into forced convection dryers and air vented dryers according to a hot air supply method. That is, forced convection dryers may be dryers in which hot air supplied into a drying drum is repeatedly heated and cooled while circulating inside of the dryer, and air vented dryers may be dryers in which hot air supplied into a drying drum is discharged from the drying drum to the outside.
During the drying of clothes, lint attached to clothes may be separated therefrom, and thus, float in air discharged from a drying drum, and foreign substances existing in the clothes may drop onto a bottom of the drying drum. To remove the lint contained in the air discharged from the drying drum, a lint filter assembly or lint filter may be mounted in a passage through which the air discharged from the drying drum flows.
When the lint accumulates on the lint filter assembly, the lint may interrupt a flow of air, increasing a load of the blower fan. As a result, drying performance may deteriorate, power consumption may increase, and the lint may act as a failure cause of the blower fan. Further, the lint accumulated during the drying process may be introduced into a fan motor or combustion device mounted on or at a lower portion of the drying drum through a gap between the drying drum and a cabinet, causing a fire in the dryer.
To solve this limitation, the foreign substances accumulated on the lint filter assembly have to be periodically removed. In a case of a detachable lint filter assembly, a user may periodically separate the lint filter assembly to clean the lint filter assembly and then re-mount the lint filter assembly.
Various methods for easily removing lint accumulated on the lint filter assembly are being attempted. Recently, a lint removing structure for removing lint using water in a state in which a lint filter assembly is mounted within the dryer has been proposed.
According to the related art, water is sprayed through nozzles disposed at front and rear sides of the lint filter assembly to remove lint accumulated on the lint filter assembly. The water sprayed from the nozzles and a lint lump separated from the lint filter assembly may be introduced into a drain pump and then discharged outside of the dryer.
However, in a case of the drain pump according to the related art, while the drain pump operates, foreign substances suctioned into the drain pump may block a suction hole of the drain pump or be wound around an impeller of the drain pump, causing a clogging phenomenon. The clogging phenomenon may increase a load of the drain pump, damaging the drain pump.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds