Clothes dryer

Abstract

A clothes dryer comprising: a cabinet including a front panel on which an inlet is formed, a drum rotatably arranged in the cabinet and having a front opening and a rear opening, a front cover linking the inlet of the cabinet and the front opening of the drum, and including a slope portion having a diameter decreasing as being directed toward the inlet of the cabinet from the front opening of the drum, a rear cover connected to the rear opening of the drum and having an air inlet formed at the rear cover to allow air to be supplied toward the rear opening of the drum, and a sensing device arranged on the slope portion for sensing humidity in air discharged from the front opening of the drum.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A clothes dryer comprising:
 a cabinet including a front panel having an inlet through which objects are placed;   a drum rotatably arranged in the cabinet and having a front opening and a rear opening, the drum configured to have air flow along an interior of the drum from the rear opening to the front opening;   a front cover formed to link the inlet of the cabinet and the front opening of the drum, the front cover including a slope portion formed to have a diameter decreasing toward the inlet of the cabinet from the front opening of the drum;   a rear cover formed to connect to the rear opening of the drum and having an air inlet formed at the rear cover to guide the air to flow toward the rear opening of the drum from an exterior of the drum; and   a sensing device arranged on the slope portion for sensing humidity in air discharged from the front opening of the drum.   
     
     
         2 . The clothes dryer of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a fan configured to move the air into the drum;   a heat exchanger arranged in the cabinet to cool the air discharged from the front opening of the drum; and   an air outlet formed in a lower portion of the front cover so that the air discharged from the front opening of the drum flows to the heat exchanger,   wherein the sensing device is arranged in an upper portion of the front cover.   
     
     
         3 . The clothes dryer of  claim 2 ,
 wherein the drum is rotated counterclockwise while the drum is viewed from front to back of the drum, and   wherein the sensing device is arranged to lean to a right side when the drum is viewed from front to back of the drum.   
     
     
         4 . The clothes dryer of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 a lighting device adjacent to the sensing device.   
     
     
         5 . The clothes dryer of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 an electrode sensor coupled to a lower portion of the slope portion to sense humidity of the objects in the interior of the drum; and   a controller configured to determine an operation time for the clothes dryer based on one of humidity sensed by the electrode sensor or humidity sensed by the sensing device.   
     
     
         6 . The clothes dryer of  claim 1 , wherein the sensing device includes
 a sensor including a sensing surface facing inside of the slope portion; and   a cover coupled to an inner wall of the slope portion to cover the sensor.   
     
     
         7 . The clothes dryer of  claim 6 , wherein the cover includes
 a cover surface arranged on the inner wall of the slope portion; and   a through hole penetrating the cover surface for the sensing surface to be exposed to the inside of the slope portion.   
     
     
         8 . The clothes dryer of  claim 7 , wherein the sensing device further includes
 a filter arranged between the cover surface and the sensor to protect the sensor from foreign materials.   
     
     
         9 . The clothes dryer of  claim 8 , wherein the cover is a first cover, and
 wherein the sensing device is couplable to the inner wall of the slope portion and includes a second cover receiving the sensor and the filter between the first cover and the second cover.   
     
     
         10 . The clothes dryer of  claim 9 ,
 wherein the sensing device includes a printed circuit board (PCB),   wherein the sensor is mounted on the printed circuit board (PCB),   wherein the PCB is placed on the second cover to be received between the first cover and the second cover.   
     
     
         11 . The clothes dryer of  claim 10 ,
 wherein the first cover includes a first guide passing through the slope portion and formed to extend to outside of the slope portion from the cover surface to guide a wire electrically connected to the PCB.   
     
     
         12 . The clothes dryer of  claim 11 ,
 wherein the second cover includes a second guide couplable to the first guide and passing through the slope portion and formed to extend to outside of the slope portion to guide the wire between the first guide and the second guide.   
     
     
         13 . The clothes dryer of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the front cover is arranged in front of the drum in the cabinet and forms a flow path connected to an interior of the drum, and   wherein the sensing device includes a sensor facing the flow path, and is arranged to match the air inlet along a front-back direction.   
     
     
         14 . The clothes dryer of  claim 13 , wherein the front cover includes
 a cover part couplable to the sensing device and formed to slopingly extend from back to front of the front cover to form the flow path.   
     
     
         15 . The clothes dryer of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 an electrode sensor coupled to a lower portion of the cover part to sense humidity of the objects in the interior of the drum, and   a controller configured to determine an operation time for the clothes dryer based on one of humidity sensed by the electrode sensor or humidity sensed by the sensing device.