Heat pump laundry appliance with multi-pass heat exchanger

Abstract

A laundry appliance includes a cabinet with a drum rotatably mounted within the cabinet. The drum includes a chamber for receipt of articles for drying. The laundry appliance also includes a sealed system configured to heat and remove moisture from process air flowing therethrough. The sealed system includes a multi-pass heat exchanger and a refrigerant splitter upstream of the multi-pass heat exchanger. The refrigerant splitter is configured to direct a flow of refrigerant generally along a vertical direction and/or against the force of gravity.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A laundry appliance, comprising:
 a cabinet, the cabinet defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction;   a drum rotatably mounted within the cabinet, the drum defining a chamber for receipt of articles for drying;   a sealed system configured to heat and remove moisture from process air flowing therethrough, the sealed system comprising a multi-pass heat exchanger comprising a plurality of inlets, and a refrigerant splitter upstream of the plurality of inlets, the refrigerant splitter oriented generally along the vertical direction.   
     
     
         2 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the sealed system further comprises a plurality of tubes, each tube extending between the refrigerant splitter and a respective inlet of the plurality of inlets. 
     
     
         3 . The laundry appliance of  claim 2 , wherein at least one tube of the plurality of tubes defines a different restriction from at least one other tube of the plurality of tubes. 
     
     
         4 . The laundry appliance of  claim 2 , wherein each tube of the plurality of tubes defines a different restriction from every other tube of the plurality of tubes. 
     
     
         5 . The laundry appliance of  claim 3 , wherein the at least one tube comprises a different length from the at least one other tube. 
     
     
         6 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the multi-pass heat exchanger comprises four passes and the plurality of inlets comprises four inlets. 
     
     
         7 . The laundry appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the drum defines a drum outlet and a drum inlet to the chamber, further comprising a duct system for providing fluid communication between the drum outlet and the sealed system and between the sealed system and the drum inlet, wherein the duct system, the sealed system, and the drum define a process air flow path. 
     
     
         8 . The laundry appliance of  claim 7 , further comprising a blower fan operable to move process air along the process air flow path. 
     
     
         9 . The laundry appliance of  claim 8 , wherein the blower fan is a variable speed blower fan, and wherein the sealed system further comprises a variable speed compressor. 
     
     
         10 . A laundry appliance, comprising:
 a cabinet;   a drum rotatably mounted within the cabinet, the drum defining a chamber for receipt of articles for drying;   a sealed system configured to heat and remove moisture from process air flowing therethrough, the sealed system comprising a multi-pass heat exchanger and a refrigerant splitter upstream of the multi-pass heat exchanger, the refrigerant splitter configured to direct a flow of refrigerant against of gravity.   
     
     
         11 . The laundry appliance of  claim 10 , wherein the sealed system further comprises a plurality of tubes, each tube extending between the refrigerant splitter and a respective inlet of a plurality of inlets of the multi-pass heat exchanger. 
     
     
         12 . The laundry appliance of  claim 11 , wherein at least one tube of the plurality of tubes defines a different restriction from at least one other tube of the plurality of tubes. 
     
     
         13 . The laundry appliance of  claim 11 , wherein each tube of the plurality of tubes defines a different restriction from every other tube of the plurality of tubes. 
     
     
         14 . The laundry appliance of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one tube comprises a different length from the at least one other tube. 
     
     
         15 . The laundry appliance of  claim 10 , wherein the multi-pass heat exchanger comprises four passes and four inlets. 
     
     
         16 . The laundry appliance of  claim 10 , wherein the drum defines a drum outlet and a drum inlet to the chamber, further comprising a duct system for providing fluid communication between the drum outlet and the sealed system and between the sealed system and the drum inlet, wherein the duct system, the sealed system, and the drum define a process air flow path. 
     
     
         17 . The laundry appliance of  claim 16 , further comprising a blower fan operable to move process air along the process air flow path. 
     
     
         18 . The laundry appliance of  claim 17 , wherein the blower fan is a variable speed blower fan, and wherein the sealed system further comprises a variable speed compressor.