US 12,281,433 B2
Clothes dryer
Hitoshi Minai, Yokohama (JP); Toshifumi Hashimoto, Yokohama (JP); Shigenori Hato, Yokohama (JP); and Ryo Aoki, Yokohama (JP)
Assigned to SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., Suwon-si (KR)
Appl. No. 17/298,200
Filed by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Suwon-si (KR)
PCT Filed Nov. 22, 2019, PCT No. PCT/KR2019/016072
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 28, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/111664, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 4, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 2018-225048 (JP), filed on Nov. 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0090311 A1, Mar. 24, 2022
Int. Cl. D06F 58/22 (2006.01); B01D 46/681 (2022.01); D06F 58/02 (2006.01)
CPC D06F 58/22 (2013.01) [B01D 46/681 (2022.01); D06F 58/02 (2013.01); B01D 2279/00 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A clothes dryer comprising:
a drum configured to accommodate and dry clothes; and
a lint removal device configured to remove lint in air flowing out of the drum,
wherein the lint removal device comprises:
a filter part configured such that the lint is adhered;
a screw, which is rotatable, arrangeable at an inner side of the filter part such that while the screw is arranged at the inner side of the filter part, the screw rotates to push out the lint that is adhered to the filter part; and
a lint compression part connected to one end of the filter part to compress the lint pushed out by the screw and has a tapered surface gradually decreasing in diameter from the filter part,
wherein the screw comprises:
a shaft; and
a blade, having a helical shape, extending along the shaft such that a first portion of the blade is located within the inner side of the filter part and a second portion of the blade is located within an area adjacent to the inner side of the filter part toward which the lint that is adhered to the filter part is pushed, and
wherein the blade has elasticity and has a rigidity less than that of the shaft,
wherein the lint compression part comprises:
a compression assistance part protruding inward of the tapered surface to facilitate compression of the lint,
wherein when a foreign substance is caught between the compression assistance part and the blade so that a forward rotation of the screw is impossible, the screw is rotated in a reverse direction, and
wherein the compression assistance part comprises a compression rib extending along the tapered surface, and
the compression rib is configured to be farther away from the blade when the screw is rotated in the reverse direction.