Combination washer - drier

Abstract

There are provided an outer tub suspended elastically in an enclosure, an inner tub for containing clothes supported rotatably within the outer tub, and a rotary impeller held rotatably on an inner bottom portion of the inner tub. The inner tub and/or the rotary impeller are driven by a motor. A drying blower delivers air into the inner tub, and a heater heats the air delivered by the blower unit. A controller controls operation of the motor, the drying blower, the heater, and the like, thereby controlling each process of washing, rinsing, hydro-extraction, and drying. In the hydro-extraction process, the controller drives the inner tub while also driving the drying blower to maintain delivery of air into the inner tub.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A combination washer-dryer comprising: 
 an outer tub suspended elastically within an enclosure;    an inner tub for containing clothes, supported rotatably within said outer tub;    a rotary impeller held rotatably on an inner bottom portion of said inner tub;    a drive unit for driving said inner tub and said rotary impeller;    a blower unit for delivering air into said inner tub;    a heating unit for heating the air delivered by said blower unit; and    a controller for controlling operation of said drive unit, said blower unit and said heating unit, so as to control each process of washing, rinsing, hydro-extraction and drying, said controller activating said blower unit to deliver air into said inner tub, and also driving said inner tub during the hydro-extraction process.    
     
     
         2 . The combination washer-dryer according to    claim 1   , wherein said controller activates said heating unit to deliver warm air into said inner tub during said hydro-extraction process.  
     
     
         3 . The combination washer-dryer according to    claim 1   , wherein said controller repeats driving said inner tub intermittently during said hydro-extraction process.  
     
     
         4 . The combination washer-dryer according to    claim 3   , wherein said controller drives said rotary impeller intermittently while spinning of said inner tub is suspended during said hydro-extraction process.  
     
     
         5 . The combination washer-dryer according to    claim 2   , wherein said controller repeats driving said inner tub intermittently during said hydro-extraction process.  
     
     
         6 . The combination washer-dryer according to    claim 5   , wherein said controller drives said rotary impeller intermittently while spinning of said inner tub is suspended during said hydro-extraction process.  
     
     
         7 . A combination washer-dryer comprising: 
 an outer tub suspended elastically within an enclosure;    an inner tub for containing clothes, supported rotatably within said outer tub;    a rotary impeller held rotatably on an inner bottom portion of said inner tub;    a drive unit for driving said inner tub and said rotary impeller;    a blower unit for delivering air into said inner tub;    a heating unit for heating the air delivered by said blower unit; and    a controller for controlling operation of said drive unit, said blower unit and said heating unit, so as to control each process of washing, rinsing, hydro-extraction and drying,    wherein said controller activates said blower unit and said heating unit to deliver warm air into said inner tub, and also intermittently drives said rotary impeller and said inner tub alternatively at least during said hydro-extraction process.    
     
     
         8 . The combination washer-dryer according to any one of    claim 1    through    claim 7   , further comprising a garments amount detector for detecting an amount of clothes in said inner tub, wherein said controller changes a driving duration or a spinning speed of said inner tub according to amount of clothes detected by said garments amount detector.