Clothing dryer including heater

Abstract

The disclosure is intended to reduce flow resistance of air passing through a heater in a clothing dryer. To that end, a clothing dryer may include a drum, a heat exchanger, an inlet duct which air passed through the heat exchanger flows to be is introduced into the drum, a blower fan forming a flow of the air, and a heater in the inlet duct. The heater may include a housing comprising a lower side comprising a first open surface so as to form an inlet through which the air flowing in the inlet duct is introduced into the housing and an upper side comprising a second open surface so as to form an outlet through which the air introduced into the housing is discharged from the housing, at least one plate parallel to a direction in which the air flows through the housing and fixed to a front surface and a rear surface of the housing, and a coil passing through a hole formed in each plate of the at least one plate in a direction perpendicular to a face of the plate. An area of the second open surface may be larger than an area of the first open surface.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A clothing dryer comprising:
 a drum;   a heat exchanger;   an inlet duct through which air passed through the heat exchanger flows to be introduced into the drum;   a blower fan configured to generate a flow of the air; and   a heater in the inlet duct, wherein the heater includes:
 a housing comprising a lower side comprising a first open surface so as to form an inlet through which the air flowing in the inlet duct is introduced into the housing, and an upper side comprising a second open surface so as to form an outlet through which the air introduced into the housing is discharged from the housing, 
 at least one plate parallel to a direction in which the air flows through the housing and fixed to a front side and a rear side of the housing, and 
 a coil passing through a hole in each plate of the at least one plate in a direction perpendicular to a face of the plate, 
 wherein an area of the second open surface is larger than an area of the first open surface. 
   
     
     
         2 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein
 the at least one plate includes a plurality of plates, and a separation distance between two plates of the at least one plate facing each other increases as the two plates extend from the first open surface to the second open surface.   
     
     
         3 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one plate includes a plurality of plates, and a plate at an outermost side among the at least one plate is parallel to an adjacent side surface of the housing. 
     
     
         4 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein each plate of the at least one plate includes a plurality of openings formed in the plate to reduce flow separation. 
     
     
         5 . The clothing dryer of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of openings are alternately arranged with the hole in the plate. 
     
     
         6 . The clothing dryer of  claim 4 , wherein an area of each opening of the plurality of openings is larger than the hole. 
     
     
         7 . The clothing dryer of  claim 4 , wherein
 each plate of the at least one plate includes a plurality of sub plates disposed from the first open surface toward the second open surface, and   the plurality of openings of each plate of the at least one plate are formed by a predetermined interval at which two adjacent sub plates of the plate are spaced apart from each other.   
     
     
         8 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first open surface and the second open surface is flat. 
     
     
         9 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first open surface and the second open surface is formed as a curved surface curved in the direction in which the air flows through the housing. 
     
     
         10 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein one of the first open surface and the second open surface is formed as a flat surface, and the other of the first open surface and the second open surface is formed as a curved surface curved in the direction in which the air flows through the housing. 
     
     
         11 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein each plate of the at least one plate has a curved part formed as one side thereof is bent. 
     
     
         12 . The clothing dryer of  claim 11 , wherein each plate of the at least one plate is bent relative to the direction in which the air flows through the housing. 
     
     
         13 . The clothing dryer of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one plate includes a plurality of plates arranged in consideration of the direction in which the air flows through the housing. 
     
     
         14 . A clothing dryer comprising:
 a drum;   a heat exchanger;   an inlet duct through which air passed through the heat exchanger flows to be introduced into the drum;   a blower fan forming a flow of the air; and   a heater in the inlet duct, wherein the heater includes:
 a housing comprising a lower side comprising a first open surface so as to form an inlet through which the air flowing in the inlet duct is introduced into the housing, and an upper side comprising a second open surface so as to form an outlet through which the air introduced into the housing is discharged from the housing, 
 a plurality of plates fixed to a front side and a rear side of the housing, and each plate of the plurality of plates being parallel to a direction in which the air flows through a unit area inside the heater, and 
 a coil passing through a hole formed in each plate of the plurality of plates in a direction perpendicular to faces of the plurality of plates, 
 wherein an area of the second open surface is larger than an area of the first open surface. 
   
     
     
         15 . The clothing dryer of  claim 14 , wherein the unit area is positioned near an area where flow separation occurs due to collision between the air and the plurality of plates. 
     
     
         16 . The clothing dryer of  claim 14 , wherein each plate of the plurality of plates includes a plurality of openings to reduce flow separation. 
     
     
         17 . The clothing dryer of  claim 16 , wherein the plurality of openings of each plate of the plurality of plates are alternately arranged with the hole of the plate. 
     
     
         18 . The clothing dryer of  claim 16 , wherein an area of each opening of the plurality of openings is larger than the hole. 
     
     
         19 . The clothing dryer of  claim 14 , wherein
 each plate of the plurality of plates includes a plurality of sub plates disposed from the first open surface toward the second open surface, and   each plate of the plurality of plates includes plurality of openings formed by a predetermined interval at which two adjacent sub plates of the plate are spaced apart from each other.   
     
     
         20 . The clothing dryer of  claim 14 , wherein at least one of the first open surface and the second open surface is flat.