Clothing dryer and method for controlling the same

Abstract

A clothing dryer is provided. The clothing dryer includes a water tray provided to store residual water including condensate generated by drying of laundry, a drain pump provided to pump the residual water in the water tray to an outside, a sensor provided to detect a residual water amount of the condensate stored in the water tray, memory storing one or more computer programs, and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the one or more computer programs include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the clothing dryer to control a drain processing speed of the drain pump, and control the drain pump so that the drain processing speed is slower when the residual water amount of the condensate is smaller than a first threshold level than when the residual water amount of the condensate is larger than or equal to the first threshold level, based on residual water data provided by the sensor, wherein the drain processing speed is determined by at least one of a rotational speed of the drain pump or a driving time of the drain pump.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A clothing dryer, comprising:
 a water tray provided to store residual water including condensate generated by drying of laundry;   a drain pump provided to pump the residual water in the water tray to an outside;   a sensor provided to detect a residual water amount of the condensate stored in the water tray;   memory storing one or more computer programs; and   one or more processors communicatively coupled to the memory,   wherein the one or more computer programs include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the clothing dryer to:
 control a drain processing speed of the drain pump, and 
 control the drain pump so that the drain processing speed is slower when the residual water amount of the condensate is smaller than a first threshold level than when the residual water amount of the condensate is greater than or equal to the first threshold level, based on residual water data provided by the sensor, and 
   wherein the drain processing speed is determined by at least one of a rotational speed of the drain pump or a driving time of the drain pump.   
     
     
         2 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the clothing dryer to:
 control the drain pump to stepwise decrease or increase the drain processing speed in proportion to the residual water amount when a level of the residual water is smaller than the first threshold level.   
     
     
         3 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the clothing dryer to:
 control the drain pump to operate at an initial drain processing speed when the residual water amount of the condensate is larger than or equal to the first threshold level, and 
   wherein the rotational speed of the drain pump for determining the initial drain processing speed is preset based on a drainage method of the condensate, which is one of water container drainage or direct drainage.   
     
     
         4 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 ,
 wherein one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the clothing dryer to:
 control the drain pump to operate at an initial drain processing speed when the residual water amount of the condensate is larger than or equal to the first threshold level, 
   wherein the rotational speed of the drain pump for determining the initial drain processing speed is preset based on a height of a water outlet portion of the condensate discharged from the water tray, and   wherein the water outlet portion corresponds to another opening of a drain pipe, one opening of which is fastened to the water tray.   
     
     
         5 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the clothing dryer to:
 control the drain processing speed of the drain pump based on an operation mode which is one of a standard course, a quick course, or a low noise course provided for drying the laundry.   
     
     
         6 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the sensor includes a water level sensor, and   wherein the residual water data corresponds to a water level of the condensate stored in the water tray, measured by the water level sensor.   
     
     
         7 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the sensor includes:
 a weight sensor provided to detect a weight of the laundry put into a drum rotatably installed inside a main housing, and 
 a dryness sensor provided to detect a dryness level of the laundry, and 
   wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the clothing dryer to:
 obtain information about the weight of the laundry detected by the weight sensor, 
 obtain information about the dryness level of the laundry detected by the dryness sensor, and 
 obtain the residual water data based on the information about the weight of the laundry and the information about the dryness level of the laundry. 
   
     
     
         8 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the sensor includes a condensate weight sensor positioned below the water tray, and   wherein the residual water data includes weight information detected by the condensate weight sensor.   
     
     
         9 . The clothing dryer of  claim 8 , wherein one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the clothing dryer to:
 obtain the weight information about the condensate based on weight information about the water tray before the condensate is stored and the weight information measured by the condensate weight sensor; and   determine the residual water data based on the obtained weight information about the condensate.   
     
     
         10 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein the drain processing speed is determined by a rest time of the drain pump. 
     
     
         11 . A method for controlling a drying operation in a clothing dryer, the method comprising:
 obtaining remaining water data of a water tray storing condensate generated due to drying of laundry; and   controlling a drain pump so that a drain processing speed is slower when a residual water amount of the condensate is smaller than a first threshold level than when the residual water amount of the condensate is greater than or equal to the first threshold level, based on residual water data,   wherein the drain processing speed is determined by at least one of a rotational speed of the drain pump or a driving time of the drain pump.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 controlling the drain pump to stepwise decrease or increase the drain processing speed in proportion to the residual water amount when a level of the residual water is smaller than the first threshold level.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 controlling the drain pump to operate at an initial drain processing speed when the residual water amount of the condensate is greater than or equal to the first threshold level,   wherein the rotational speed of the drain pump for determining the initial drain processing speed is preset based on a drainage method of the condensate, which is one of water container drainage or direct drainage.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 controlling the drain pump to operate at an initial drain processing speed when the residual water amount of the condensate is greater than or equal to the first threshold level,   wherein the rotational speed of the drain pump for determining the initial drain processing speed is preset based on a height of a water outlet portion of the condensate discharged from the water tray, and   wherein the water outlet portion corresponds to another opening of a drain pipe, one opening of which is fastened to the water tray.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 controlling the drain processing speed of the drain pump based on an operation mode which is one of a standard course, a quick course, or a low noise course provided for drying the laundry.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the residual water data corresponds to a water level of the condensate in the water tray. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 obtaining information about a weight of the laundry measured by a weight sensor;   obtaining information about a dryness level of the laundry detected by a dryness sensor; and   obtaining the residual water data based on the information about the weight of the laundry and the information about the dryness level of the laundry.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the residual water data includes weight information measured by a condensate weight sensor. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 obtaining the weight information about the condensate based on weight information about the water tray before the condensate is stored and the weight information measured by the condensate weight sensor; and   obtaining the residual water data based on the obtained weight information about the condensate.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the drain processing speed is determined by a rest time of the drain pump.