Drying apparatus and control method thereof

Abstract

A drying apparatus including a drying unit and a processor configured to control an operation of the drying unit. The processor is configured to, based on a drying request being received, identify whether the drying request is an initial drying command for a material to be dried or an additional drying request for the material to be dried, and based on the drying request being identified as the additional drying command, control the drying unit to perform an additional drying operation for the material to be dried based on a drying operation method corresponding to a previous drying command for the material to be dried.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A drying apparatus comprising:
 a drying unit; and   a processor configured to control an operation of the drying unit, wherein the processor is configured to:
 based on a drying request being received, identify whether the drying request is an initial drying request for a material to be dried or an additional drying request for the material to be dried; and 
 based on the drying request being identified as the additional drying request, control the drying unit to perform an additional drying operation for the material to be dried based on a drying operation method corresponding to a previous drying request for the material to be dried. 
   
     
     
         2 . The drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the material to be dried is a first material to be dried and the drying apparatus further comprises:
 a memory to store weight information associated with a second material to be dried that is dried immediately before the drying request is received and humidity information associated with the second material to be dried,   wherein the processor is configured to:
 identify at least one of weight information or humidity information associated with the first material to be dried; and 
 identify whether the drying request is the initial drying request or the additional drying request based on the identified information and the information stored in the memory. 
   
     
     
         3 . The drying apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the memory further stores opening and closing information of a door of the drying apparatus after a drying operation immediately before the drying request is received, and
 wherein the processor is configured to identify whether the drying request is the initial drying request or the additional drying request by further considering the opening and closing information of the door.   
     
     
         4 . The drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 based on the drying request being the additional drying request and a drying level of the drying operation method being at a threshold level or higher, control the drying unit to perform the additional drying operation based on the drying operation method;   wherein the drying level represents one of a plurality of drying times for each drying course, and   wherein the drying course is classified based on at least one of a type or a drying method of a material to be dried.   
     
     
         5 . The drying apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 based on the drying request being the additional drying request, control the drying unit to perform the additional drying operation for the material to be dried by changing at least one of a drying temperature, a drying time, or a drying end determination condition of the drying operation method.   
     
     
         6 . The drying apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 based on the drying operation method being a predetermined first drying course among a plurality of drying courses, change at least one of the drying time or the drying end determination condition and the drying temperature; and   based on the drying operation method being a second drying course which is a remaining course of the plurality of drying courses, change at least one of the drying time or the drying end determination condition.   
     
     
         7 . The drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 based on the drying request being the additional drying request and a drying level of the drying operation method being less than at a threshold level, provide a message for rechecking the drying level to a user; and   based on the drying level being input from the user, control the drying unit to perform the additional drying operation based on the drying operation method and the input drying level,   wherein the drying level represents one of a plurality of drying times for each drying course, and   wherein the drying course is classified based on at least one of a type or a drying method of a material to be dried.   
     
     
         8 . The drying apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to, based on the drying request being the additional drying request and the drying level of the drying operation method being less than at the threshold level, control the drying unit to perform the additional drying operation for the material to be dried by changing at least one of a drying temperature, a drying end determination condition, or a drying time corresponding to the input drying level of the drying operation method. 
     
     
         9 . The drying apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 based on the drying operation method being a predetermined first drying course among a plurality of drying courses, change at least one of the drying end determination condition or the drying time corresponding to the input drying level and the drying temperature; and   based on the drying operation method being a second drying course which is a remaining course of the plurality of drying courses, change at least one of the drying end determination condition or the drying time corresponding to the input drying level.   
     
     
         10 . The drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 based on the drying request being the additional drying request, identify the number of times that the additional drying request is input; and   based on the number of times that the additional drying request is input being two or more times, control the drying unit to perform the additional drying operation for the material to be dried based on a drying operation method corresponding to the initial drying request and a drying operation method corresponding to at least one additional drying request before the drying request.   
     
     
         11 . A method for controlling a drying apparatus, the method comprising:
 receiving a drying request;   identifying whether the drying request is an initial drying request for a material to be dried or an additional drying request for the material to be dried; and   based on the drying request being identified as the additional drying request, performing an additional drying operation for the material to be dried based on a drying operation method corresponding to a previous drying request for the first material to be dried.   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the material to be dried is a first material to be dried and the method further comprises:
 storing weight information associated with a second material to be dried that is dried immediately before the drying request is received, and humidity information associated with the second material to be dried,   wherein the identifying comprises:
 identifying at least one of weight information or humidity information associated with the first material to be dried; and 
 identifying whether the drying request is the initial drying request or the additional drying request based on the identified information and the stored information. 
   
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein the storing comprises storing opening and closing information of a door of the drying apparatus after a drying operation immediately before the drying request is received, and
 wherein the identifying comprises identifying whether the drying request is the initial drying request or the additional drying request by further considering the opening and closing information of the door.   
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the performing the additional drying operation comprises, based on the drying request being the additional drying request and a drying level of the drying operation method being at a threshold level or higher, performing the additional drying operation based on the drying operation method,
 wherein the drying level represents one of a plurality of drying times for each drying course, and   wherein the drying course is classified based on at least one of a type or a drying method of a material to be dried.   
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein the performing the additional drying operation comprises, based on the drying request being the additional drying request, performing the additional drying operation for the material to be dried by changing at least one of a drying temperature, a drying time, or a drying end determination condition of the drying operation method. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 15 , wherein the performing the additional drying operation comprises:
 based on the drying operation method being a predetermined first drying course among a plurality of drying courses, changing at least one of the drying time or the drying end determination condition and the drying temperature; and   based on the drying operation method being a second drying course which is a remaining course of the plurality of drying courses, changing at least one of the drying time or the drying end determination condition.   
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the performing the additional drying operation comprises:
 based on the drying request being the additional drying request and a drying level of the drying operation method being less than at a threshold level, providing a message for rechecking the drying level to a user; and   based on the drying level being input from the user, performing the additional drying operation based on the drying operation method and the input drying level,   wherein the drying level represents one of a plurality of drying times for each drying course, and   wherein the drying course is classified based on at least one of a type or a drying method of a material to be dried.   
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 17 , wherein the performing the additional drying operation comprises, based on the drying request being the additional drying request and the drying level of the drying operation method being less than at the threshold level, performing the additional drying operation for the material to be dried by changing at least one of a drying temperature, a drying end determination condition, or a drying time corresponding to the input drying level of the drying operation method. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the performing the additional drying operation comprises:
 based on the drying operation method being a predetermined first drying course among a plurality of drying courses, changing at least one of the drying end determination condition or the drying time corresponding to the input drying level and the drying temperature; and   based on the drying operation method being a second drying course which is a remaining course of the plurality of drying courses, changing at least one of the drying end determination condition or the drying time corresponding to the input drying level.   
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 based on the drying request being the additional drying request, identifying the number of times that the additional drying request is input; and   wherein the performing the additional drying operation comprises, based on the number of times that the additional drying request is input being two or more times, performing the additional drying operation for the material to be dried based on a drying operation method corresponding to the initial drying request and a drying operation method corresponding to at least one additional drying request before the drying request.