An apparatus which has rotatable carrier hooks wherein, the rotation is carried out in this instance in a selectively controlled manner when moving the carrier hook with items of clothing suspended on the transport bracket past at least one fixed control path. When items of clothing are transported in a state suspended on transport brackets through laundries and also manufacturing plants, the transport brackets with the items of clothing suspended thereon must occasionally be rotated or turned in order to be able to read data carriers of the items of clothing and/or the transport brackets or to orientate all the transport brackets with the items of clothing suspended thereon in an identical manner. To this end, at least one apparatus which is integrated in the respective conveyor path for rotating items of clothing suspended on transport brackets is used.
B65G 17/16 - Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriers; Endless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface comprising individual load-carriers which are pivotally mounted, e.g. for free-swinging movement
B65G 17/20 - Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriers; Endless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface comprising load-carriers suspended from overhead traction chains
B65G 47/244 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors orientating the articles by turning them about an axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying plane
2.
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE WET TREATMENT, IN PARTICULAR THE WASHING AND/OR SPINNING, OF LAUNDRY BATCHES CONSISTING OF A PLURALITY OF LAUNDRY ITEMS
A method and device for the wet treatment of laundry batches provides to load the drum in a plurality of steps. To this end, the laundry batch is divided into partial batches which are gradually loaded into the drum. In particular, the drum is driven in rotation between successive partial batches at a rotational speed which corresponds to the spinning speed and/or supplies liquid to the partial batches during loading. As a result, the individual partial batches are compacted. Due to this compaction, space is provided for the next partial batch. As a result, the drum can be loaded with larger laundry batches of greater weight. This results in a more cost-efficient wet treatment.
D06F 34/18 - Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight
D06F 23/02 - Washing machines with receptacles, e.g. perforated, having a rotary movement, e.g. oscillatory movement, the receptacle serving both for washing and for centrifugally separating water from the laundry and rotating or oscillating about a horizontal axis
D06F 23/04 - Washing machines with receptacles, e.g. perforated, having a rotary movement, e.g. oscillatory movement, the receptacle serving both for washing and for centrifugally separating water from the laundry and rotating or oscillating about a vertical axis
D06F 23/06 - Washing machines with receptacles, e.g. perforated, having a rotary movement, e.g. oscillatory movement, the receptacle serving both for washing and for centrifugally separating water from the laundry and rotating or oscillating about an inclined axis
D06F 33/34 - Control of operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry of water filling
D06F 33/36 - Control of operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry of washing
D06F 33/40 - Control of operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry of centrifugal separation of water from the laundry
D06F 37/04 - Rotary receptacles, e.g. drums adapted for rotation or oscillation about a horizontal or inclined axis
D06F 37/12 - Rotary receptacles, e.g. drums adapted for rotation or oscillation about a vertical axis
A method for preparing and/or monitoring the wet treatment of items of laundry wherein the items of laundry are counted using their electronic data carriers. An electronic data carrier of the item of laundry is determined. If more than a single electronic data carrier is detected, this indicates that there are multiple connected items of laundry which do not permit washing. The electronic data carriers can be used to determine the number of items of laundry loaded into a washing machine and the number of items of the same unloaded batch of laundry. If the unloaded batch of laundry has a lower number of electronic data carriers than during loading, this indicates that not all the items have been unloaded from the washing machine and there is a risk of the washing machine becoming blocked.
Laundry items are spread out by input machines having loading stations with a belt conveyor. The laundry item is placed on a front region of the belt conveyor and pulled further onto the belt conveyor. It is necessary to smooth the laundry item upstream of the belt conveyor using a smoothing machine, which can hinder the pulling of the laundry item onto the belt conveyor. The invention provides a pivotable smoothing means which is in an inactive position for initially pulling the laundry item onto the belt conveyor and is pivoted into an active position only after the laundry item has been initially pulled onto the lower belt conveyor. The laundry item is placed on the smoothing means only after it has been initially pulled onto the lower belt conveyor. Thus, when the laundry item is initially pulled onto the lower belt conveyor, it is prevented from slipping down therefrom.
Laundry items are spread out by a spreading device during which a front edge of the laundry item is stretched out. Subsequently, a front edge strip of the stretched-out front edge is transferred onto a depositing strip which deposits the edge strip onto a feed conveyor which feeds it to a mangle. This front edge typically has a residual sag. In larger laundry items, the depositing strip can collide therewith as it moves down under the edge strip, impairing the mangling quality. Making provision to space the depositing strip from the edge strip, prior to the movement under the latter, to an extent that the edge strip does not collide with the depositing strip as the latter moves down results in the depositing strip accepting the edge strip with a rectilinear front edge and then the laundry item is fed to the mangle and inserted into the latter.
Used laundry items are delivered unsorted to laundries. It has previously been usual to initially sort the laundry items after delivery and treat the sorted laundry items, at least by washing, drying, mangling and folding. The preliminary sorting is labor-intensive and time-consuming. The invention proposes to treat unsorted at least those laundry items which must be mangled. Only before folding are the still unsorted laundry items identified and folded in targeted fashion accordingly. After folding, the identified laundry items are sorted according to their identified criteria, in that folded laundry items with the same criteria are stacked on a respective stack of similarly treated and folded laundry items. This reduces the complexity of sorting laundry items.
D06F 63/02 - Ironing machines having a roller or rollers coacting with a fixed or moving flat bed or table with two or more rollers co-acting with a fixed or moving flat bed or table
D06F 89/00 - Apparatus for folding textile articles with or without stapling
Laundry items are spread out and deposited on a feed conveyor which inserts the laundry item into a mangle. The front edge of the laundry item is stretched by a spreading device, wherein spreading clamps are moved apart on the basis of a measured length of the front edge. Until now, the front edge length item has been measured at the spreading device, which increases the duration of the spreading operation. The invention measures the front edge length upstream of the spreading device when the laundry item is still hanging in two loading clamps of a loading station. So that the front edge length can be contactlessly determined from the lowest point of the sag of the front edge, the distance between the loading clamps is a greater distance than previously. As a result, a V-like sag is formed, the lowest point of which can be contactlessly determined.
B65G 17/20 - Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriers; Endless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface comprising load-carriers suspended from overhead traction chains
D06F 95/00 - Laundry systems or arrangements of apparatus or machines; Mobile laundries
D06F 45/16 - Wringing machines with two or more co-operating rollers; Similar cold-smoothing apparatus - Details
Laundry pieces are to be gripped at various locations in laundries. This is labor-intensive. For this purpose, efforts are being made toward automating the gripping of laundry pieces. A camera has previously been used for this purpose. The automatic gripping of laundry pieces is implemented by way of a plurality of cameras, in that a plurality of cameras simultaneously record image data of respective laundry pieces to be gripped. On account thereof, the cameras always provide exploitable image data of the relevant laundry piece even when one camera is momentarily obscured, for example, or is defective or the viewing direction of a camera is not directed toward the face of the laundry piece. Image data of the laundry piece can always be generated by virtue of the plurality of cameras, said image data enabling a handling installation to automatically grip the laundry piece in a reliable manner.
Devices for dewatering washed laundry have a pressing membrane. The pressing membrane is releasably fastened below a ram plate of the device by way of a fastening ring. This connection is very complex by virtue of the heavy weight of the pressing membrane which has a diameter of approximately 1 m. In order for the fastening of the pressing membrane by way of the fastening ring below the ram plate to be facilitated, it is provided that the pressing membrane on the membrane collar thereof has at least one internal-side protrusion which while assembling the pressing membrane below the ram plate forms a bearing for the fastening ring. On account thereof, the fastening ring is temporarily supported below the ram plate while assembling the pressing membrane, this permitting easier assembling of the pressing membrane below the ram plate.
A method and device for feeding laundry pieces to a laundry treatment installation. Laundry pieces are fed to ironers by infeed machines. In practice, a front transverse periphery of a laundry piece is folded back on itself. In order to prevent this, infeed machines have stretching installations that have belt conveyors that lie on top of one another, one of which is briefly decelerated so as to unravel a front transverse periphery of the laundry piece that is folded back on itself. This deceleration decreases the infeed performance. One belt conveyor of the present stretching installation is at least temporarily driven at a faster speed to unravel a transverse periphery of the laundry piece that has potentially folded back on itself before the laundry piece runs into the ironer, increasing the infeed performance as it is no longer necessary for either of the belt conveyors to be decelerated.
A method and device in which a respective laundry piece initially is automatically gripped at a location and pulled apart. The automatic gripping of laundry pieces for feeding to an infeed machine requires a plurality of handling procedures which for reliable automation have to be coordinated. The laundry piece is subsequently reoriented such that said laundry piece can be acquired in a manner which is favorable in terms of the subsequent steps, which can take place in front of a wall that stabilizes the laundry piece. Once the laundry piece has been gripped in the region of a periphery, the laundry piece, as a function of which periphery has been gripped and by way of which alignment the laundry piece is to be fed to the infeed machine, is pulled longitudinally or transversely onto a conveyor that transports said laundry piece to the infeed machine.
In commercial laundries, textile items are treated in batches. This applies in particular to washing in continuous washing machines and to drying in tumble driers. Such a batch-wise treatment has to be carried out such that the treatment does justice to all textile items of the batch. The textile items are mixed in the batch-wise treatment, making it necessary to sort the batches again after the treatment, namely, the textile items have to be identified again after the treatment. The invention provides that the textile items are individually treated in succession, resulting in an individual treatment of each textile item being implemented. Damage to the textile items or wrong treatments are thus avoided. The textile items are treated while maintaining the sequence of the textile items, on account of which the textile items are not mixed and do not have to be sorted again at the end of the treatment.
D06F 29/00 - Combinations of a washing machine with other separate apparatus in a common frame or the like, e.g. with rinsing apparatus
D06F 33/68 - Control of the operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry of the sequence of washing and drying operations
D06F 33/65 - Control of the operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry of conditioning or finishing phases, e.g. for smoothing or removing creases
D06F 34/18 - Condition of the laundry, e.g. nature or weight
D06F 11/00 - Washing machines using rollers, e.g. of the mangle type
D06F 58/12 - Drying cabinets or drying chambers having heating or ventilating means having conveying means for moving clothes, e.g. along an endless track
D06F 89/00 - Apparatus for folding textile articles with or without stapling
Providing a boiler in the interior of the mangle body, for heating up a gas in particular by an infrared radiant heater, which heats up a heat transfer medium in the cavity of a double-walled shell of the mangle body. The pressing surface of the mangle body can be heated up effectively and in a targeted manner by this heat transfer medium in the cavity of the double-walled shell of the mangle. Belt mangles are known, in the case of which a circumferentially driven mangling belt runs along the outside of the stationary mangle body, which mangling belt transports the laundry items to be mangled on the smooth pressing surface of the mangle body by entrainment. The heating of the pressing surface has been shown to be ineffective in the case of these known belt mangles.
For washed laundry items, such as flat laundry items, that have been separated into singles, spread out and fed to a mangle or the like, for automating these processes a method and device for pulling the singles onto a belt conveyor with a front transverse edge region transversely to the feed direction. Using a guide means in front of the belt conveyor, a front transverse edge of the laundry item is aligned at right angles to the feed direction when being pulled. Once pulled on, the laundry item is centered with respect to the track center of the following transfer conveyor by the belt conveyor. From the belt conveyor the laundry item is placed on a following transfer conveyor where the front transverse edge of the laundry item is aligned at right angles to the feed direction and a sagging of the transverse edge of the laundry item is eliminated.
B65G 47/24 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors orientating the articles
D06F 11/00 - Washing machines using rollers, e.g. of the mangle type
B65G 47/57 - Devices for transferring articles or materials between conveyors, i.e. discharging or feeding devices to or from inclined or vertical conveyor sections for articles
B65G 47/30 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors arranging the articles, e.g. varying spacing between individual articles during transit by a series of conveyors
B65G 37/00 - Combinations of mechanical conveyors of the same kind, or of different kinds, of interest apart from their application in particular machines or use in particular manufacturing processes
B65G 47/14 - Devices for feeding articles or materials to conveyors for feeding articles from disorderly-arranged article piles or from loose assemblages of articles arranging or orientating the articles by mechanical or pneumatic means during feeding
16.
Method and apparatus for ironing and folding laundry items
A method and apparatus that makes provision for two identical folding machines to be arranged one beside the other, and for these to be operated synchronously, so that the large operating width which is necessary for ironing large laundry items, in particular transversely, is also available for folding such laundry items. If large laundry items are to be ironed, and folded, in particular transversely, this requires ironers and folding machines with an appropriately large operating width. Such large operating widths currently cannot be realized technologically in folding machines.
A method that facilitates the automatic identification of the long edge or the short edge of the item of laundry by determining the lengths or the angles of the edge areas of the item of laundry extending from a lower corner of the item of laundry. It may be derived from the determined angles or lengths of the edge areas whether the respective edge area belongs to the long edge or to the short edge of the item of laundry. With this information, a targeted transverse or longitudinal feed of rectangular items of laundry may be carried out to a downstream inserting machine. The fully automated feeding of items of laundry to, for example, an inserting machine is carried out in a targeted way with either the long edge of the item of laundry extending transversely to the feed direction or the short edge extending transversely to the feed direction.
D06F 95/00 - Laundry systems or arrangements of apparatus or machines; Mobile laundries
B65H 7/14 - Controlling article feeding, separating, pile-advancing, or associated apparatus, to take account of incorrect feeding, absence of articles, or presence of faulty articles by feelers or detectors by photoelectric feelers or detectors
D06F 93/00 - Counting, sorting, or marking arrangements specially adapted for laundry purposes
18.
Method for feeding pieces of laundry to an insertion machine
A method that provides to partially automate the feeding of pieces of laundry to an insertion machine by steps which necessitate long distances to be traveled being performed manually. With large pieces of laundry such as, for example, tablecloths and bed sheets, for complete automation a large amount of space is required and the clamps holding corners of the pieces of laundry are required to travel long distances. To achieve this, it is provided to temporarily store the respective piece of laundry after it has been separated and before it is delivered to an insertion machine. It is furthermore provided that in a first corner of the piece of laundry is supplied or held ready by an automatic separator for an operator to manually locate the second corner of the piece of laundry. Partial automation can be achieved without the cycle time being adversely affected owing to manual handling processes.
The automatic supply of items of laundry to a feeding machine for supplying the items of laundry to a mangle requires the formation of adjacent corners of an edge of the item of laundry, which edge is to be spread upstream of the feeding machine, which hitherto has not been able to be achieved automatically with sufficient reliability. The invention brings the respective item of laundry into a U-shaped configuration before same is supplied to the feeding machine and, starting from said configuration, to stretch apart said item of laundry with a spreading device having a conveyor cascade. This reliably forms the adjacent corners of the edge, which is to be stretched out, of the item of laundry, said corners being required for automatically feeding the item of laundry into the feeding machine. A reliable automatic supply of the respective item of laundry to the feeding machine is therefore ensured.
D06F 67/04 - Arrangements for feeding or spreading the linen
B65G 19/02 - Conveyors comprising an impeller or a series of impellers carried by an endless traction element and arranged to move articles or materials over a supporting surface or underlying material, e.g. endless scraper conveyors for articles, e.g. for containers
B65G 47/22 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors
D06F 95/00 - Laundry systems or arrangements of apparatus or machines; Mobile laundries
Methods and apparatuses that provide for laundry to be washed and rinsed in a washing device in a state in which it lies spread out on an upper strand of a belt conveyor and, directly thereafter, to be dried in a likewise spread-out state on an upper strand of a belt conveyor. During the washing, rinsing and also the drying operations, the laundry rests on the belt conveyors, which also transport the laundry through the washing device and the dryer. The items of laundry here are washed, and also rinsed, by being sprayed with jets of liquid. The procedure described provides for a compact washing and drying system and is gentler on the items of laundry.
D06F 31/00 - Washing installations comprising an assembly of several washing machines or washing units, e.g. continuous flow assemblies
D06F 58/12 - Drying cabinets or drying chambers having heating or ventilating means having conveying means for moving clothes, e.g. along an endless track
D06F 95/00 - Laundry systems or arrangements of apparatus or machines; Mobile laundries
F26B 3/04 - Drying solid materials or objects by processes involving the application of heat by convection, i.e. heat being conveyed from a heat source to the materials or objects to be dried by a gas or vapour, e.g. air the gas or vapour circulating over, or surrounding, the materials or objects to be dried
F26B 15/18 - Machines or apparatus for drying objects with progressive movement; Machines or apparatus with progressive movement for drying batches of material in compact form with movement in a path composed of one or more straight lines, e.g. compound the lines being all horizontal or slightly inclined the objects or batches of materials being carried by endless belts
D06F 33/30 - Control of washing machines characterised by the purpose or target of the control
21.
Method and apparatus for loading a clip with an item of laundry, in particular an item of laundry to be sorted
A method and apparatus for transferring items of laundry after being separated first of all to a transfer device which then transfers the individual items of laundry to a loading device. The items of laundry are then hung individually by clips of the loading device into a clip which is in each case held ready and is to be loaded on the conveyor. Items of laundry can thereby be rapidly and reliably hung fully automatically into the clips to be loaded.
A method and apparatus that makes provision for the length of a transverse edge of a laundry item to be spread out to be determined upstream of the spreading device. It is thereby possible to determine the length of the transverse edge for each individual laundry item before the laundry item is situated in the spreading device. For this purpose, the length of the laundry item is determined in the region of corner locators provided upstream of the spreading device, and the width of the laundry item, which corresponds to the length of the transverse edge, is derived therefrom. The length dimension of the transverse edge thus determined upstream of the spreading device is then used to move apart the spreading clamps of the spreading device in a targeted and controlled manner in order to spread out the transverse edge in as gentle a manner as possible.
A method and apparatus that makes provision for a length of a transverse edge of a laundry item to be spread out to be measured upstream of a spreading device, to be precise preferably from above. It is thereby possible to individually determine the length of the transverse edge for each individual laundry item before the laundry item is situated in the spreading device. The length dimension of the transverse edge determined upstream of the spreading device can then be used to move apart the spreading clamps of the spreading device in a targeted and controlled manner in order to spread out the transverse edge in as gentle a manner as possible.
A method and device for supporting the isolating of pieces of laundry from a pile of laundry by means of an imaging apparatus. A further imaging apparatus serves for raising a front edge region of the piece of laundry onto the feed conveyor in an aligned manner. Furthermore, the gripping of corners or also edges, in particular the alignment thereof, can be detected by means of an imaging apparatus. The gripping and aligning of the pieces of laundry can be controlled or regulated by way of the positions and edge contours of the same which are determined by the imaging apparatuses. As a result, reliable, fully automated isolating of pieces of laundry and/or fully automated, targeted feeding of pieces of laundry to a folding machine or another such laundry subsequent handling apparatus is ensured.
Used textile articles such as work coats (11) must be freed from foreign bodies before being treated in laundries. This has previously been done manually. This is time-consuming and in itself entails a risk of injury to the persons (25) freeing the work coats (11) from foreign bodies. According to the invention, the work coats (11) are inspected by x-raying. The x-ray radiation is shielded or reduced by x-raying in a chamber (29) or spatially sufficiently remote from the persons (20, 25) so that the persons (20, 25) are not exposed to impermissibly high levels of radiation.
G01N 23/04 - Investigating or analysing materials by the use of wave or particle radiation, e.g. X-rays or neutrons, not covered by groups , or by transmitting the radiation through the material and forming images of the material
D06F 93/00 - Counting, sorting, or marking arrangements specially adapted for laundry purposes
G01V 5/00 - Prospecting or detecting by the use of nuclear radiation, e.g. of natural or induced radioactivity
D06F 39/00 - LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES - Details of washing machines not specific to a single type of machines covered by groups
G01N 21/3581 - Investigating relative effect of material at wavelengths characteristic of specific elements or molecules, e.g. atomic absorption spectrometry using infrared light using Terahertz radiation
26.
Method and device for supplying laundry items to a laundry treatment device, in particular a mangle
Laundry items by way of devices are fed to mangles, for example. The laundry items by way of the corners thereof are transferred to clamps, for example spreader clamps during the feeding procedure. Tails of the laundry item that project beyond the clamping locations of the spreader clamps are usually formed herein. Said tails lead to so-called ears in particular on the front periphery of the laundry item that is tautly stretched by the spreader clamps. Said ears compromise the quality of the laundry items, specifically of mangled laundry items. The invention provides for the tails in the spreader clamps to be eliminated in that the tails are transported through the spreader clamps so far until the corners of the laundry item are still held in the spreader clamps only at the outermost corner points. The tails are effectively eliminated in that ears can no longer be formed.
Rotary ironers have an ironer roll (11), which has an outer wrapping (21) made of a felt-like material, for example. The wrapping (21) is formed from a blank which is laid around the ironer roll (11) and then made continuous. This has previously occurred by sewing or gluing. Such connections are not durable. In addition, the connection seam can influence the laundry, causing the ironing quality to suffer. According to the invention, the blank of the wrapping (21) is made continuous by needling and/or linking. Such a connection is very stable and durable. In addition, a connection strip (22) of the wrapping (21) created during needling or linking does not negatively influence the ironing quality.
The automatic sorting of laundry items requires a knowledge of all sorting criteria. One strives to read these out from data storage media attached to the laundry items. The problem is when laundry items lack data storage media, or they are not readable because they have been damaged, for example. The invention calls for deriving sorting criteria which cannot be otherwise obtained from at least one imaging recording of an imaging device, such as a 3D-camera. Such sorting criteria, which cannot be derived from the picture or recording of the 3D-camera, are derived from supplemental information which can be obtained in different ways. Thus, it is also possible to sort laundry items without data storage medium or with damaged data storage media in a fully automatic or at least largely automatic manner.
A method and apparatus for a transfer operation of items of laundry to be automated by a handling device, which is designed for example in the form of a handling robot. Up until now, items of laundry have been transferred usually manually from a supply conveyor to loading conveyors of, for example, feeding machines. This is work-intensive and time-consuming.
A method and device allowing the items of laundry which are to be ironed to enter the ironer gap in a manner directed downwards. For this purpose, the inlet region is preferably arranged below the outlet region. The invention ensures a disturbance-free and crease-free entry of items of laundry to be ironed into the band ironer. In the case of band ironers, the inlet region, and outlet region have to lie tightly together in order to bring about as large a wrapping angle of the ironer body by means of the ironer band as possible. This makes the inlet of items of laundry to be ironed into the ironer gap emerging from the inlet region problematic. This invention described herein provides a solution to this problem.
A method and device providing that the corners of a respective laundry item are transferred one by one from a conveyor to spreading clamps of a pair of spreading clamps at the same position in each case. The respective conveyor therefore only requires a single circulatory track. Laundry items in commercial laundries are fed by at least one conveyor to spreading clamps of an input machine. In this case, each corner delimiting a front edge of the laundry item is held by a clamp of the conveyor. The respective conveyor is usually branched, in order for the corners to be transferred at the same time to the two spreading clamps of a pair of spreading clamps. Thus, the respective conveyor must have a branched track system with appropriate switches.
Laundry items (10) are spread out by input machines in laundries, and the laundry items are supplied to a laundry treatment machine, for example a mangle, when spread out. Sensor devices (21) for monitoring the spreading process are known. The sensor devices (21) are oriented towards the surface and the transverse edge (17) of the laundry item (10) from the front in order to measure the slack when spreading the laundry item (10). The measurement result can be distorted or the measurement can even be prevented by objects located in the background. According to the invention, the at least one sensor device (21) which operates contactlessly is arranged over the transverse edge (17) of the laundry item (10) in order to ascertain the slack of the upper transverse edge (17) of the laundry item (10). Thus, objects in the background do not influence the measurement result. Reliable measurements can be taken by the at least one sensor device (21) within a very short period of time.
A method and device for directly determining the region of the respective laundry item to be inserted into a clamp. In this way, it is possible to determine whether the clamp has actually been loaded with a laundry item and whether the region of the laundry item designated for this has also been properly inserted into the clamp. During the transport and the spreading out of laundry items being washed it is customary at commercial laundry establishments to hang the laundry items from clamps, which are transported further by a conveyor to various processing stations. It happens that the clamps may move away before having been loaded with the laundry item. This results in operational disruptions in most cases.
B65G 17/20 - Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriers; Endless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface comprising load-carriers suspended from overhead traction chains
D06F 67/04 - Arrangements for feeding or spreading the linen
D06F 95/00 - Laundry systems or arrangements of apparatus or machines; Mobile laundries
B65H 5/14 - Feeding articles separated from piles; Feeding articles to machines by grippers, e.g. suction grippers - Details of grippers; Actuating mechanisms therefor
D06F 71/40 - Holders or stretchers for the article to be pressed
Up until now the washing and drying of items of laundry in commercial laundries has taken place in a washing appliance (10) and a separate dryer (41). The washing appliance (10) is usually designed in the form of a continuous washing machine having an elongate drum which can be driven in rotation. The washed laundry is loaded from the continuous washing machine into a draining device and, once drained of water, is transferred from said device into a dryer, in particular a drum dryer. The laundry is circulated together with the washing and rinsing detergent in the rotationally driven drum of the continuous washing machine. This has an adverse effect on the laundry. Moreover, the continuous washing machine and the separate dryer take up a lot of space in the laundry area. The invention provides for the laundry to be washed and rinsed in the washing appliance (10) in a state in which lies spread out on an upper strand (13) of a belt conveyor (11) and, directly thereafter, to be dried in a likewise spread-out state on an upper strand (43) of a belt conveyor (42). During the washing, rinsing and also the drying operations, the laundry rests on the belt conveyors (11, 42), which also transport the laundry through the washing appliance (10) and the dryer (41). The items of laundry here are washed, and also rinsed, by being sprayed with jets of liquid. The procedure described provides for a compact washing and drying system and is gentler on the items of laundry.
F26B 15/18 - Machines or apparatus for drying objects with progressive movement; Machines or apparatus with progressive movement for drying batches of material in compact form with movement in a path composed of one or more straight lines, e.g. compound the lines being all horizontal or slightly inclined the objects or batches of materials being carried by endless belts
D06F 95/00 - Laundry systems or arrangements of apparatus or machines; Mobile laundries
35.
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR SUPPLYING LAUNDRY ITEMS TO A LAUNDRY TREATMENT DEVICE, IN PARTICULAR A MANGLE
Laundry items (40) are supplied by devices referred to as feed machines, for example mangles. During the feed process, the corners of the laundry items (40) are transferred on clips, for example spreader clips (14). In the process, protruding peaks (42) of the laundry item are usually formed via the clamping points (44) of the spreader clips (14). Said peaks (42) primarily give rise to so-called ear formations when the front laundry item edge is stretched by the spreader clips (14). Said ear formations negatively impact the quality of the laundry items, in particular mangled laundry items. According to the invention, among others, the peaks (42) are to be eliminated in the spreader clips (14) in that the peaks (42) are transported through the spreader clips (14) until the laundry items (40) are held in the spreader clips (14) only at the outermost corner points (43). In this manner, the peaks (42) are virtually remedied in that no more ear formations which negatively impact the quality of the laundry items (40) can occur.
Items of laundry are fed to mangles by insertion machines, which have a spreading device with moveable spreading clips which spread out and center a front transverse edge of the item of laundry upstream of a feed conveyor. A plurality of loading stations are located upstream of the spreading device. The spreading clips retrieve an item of laundry from the loading stations, which, in the case of outer loading stations, requires long movement distances of the spreading clips, which reduces the cycle time of the insertion machine. The invention makes provision to transfer items of laundry from outer loading stations to transfer clips which move the items of laundry from the outer loading stations into the vicinity of the center of the feed conveyor, then transfer the item of laundry to the spreading clips in the center of the feed conveyor, thus reducing the travel distances of the spreading clips.
The automatic sorting of laundry items requires a knowledge of all sorting criteria. One strives to read these out from data storage media attached to the laundry items. The problem is when laundry items lack data storage media, or they are not readable because they have been damaged, for example. The invention calls for deriving sorting criteria which cannot be otherwise obtained from at least one imaging recording of an imaging device, such as a 3D-camera. Such sorting criteria, which cannot be derived from the picture or recording of the 3D-camera, are derived from supplemental information which can be obtained in different ways. Thus, it is also possible to sort laundry items without data storage medium or with damaged data storage media in a fully automatic or at least largely automatic manner.
The isolating and feeding of pieces of laundry (20) to a feed conveyor (21) requires gripping, transfer and alignment processes. In known devices and methods, said processes cannot be reliably automated. The invention relates to the isolating of pieces of laundry from a pile of laundry by an imaging apparatus. An additional imaging apparatus serves for the aligned uptake of a front edge region of the piece of laundry onto the feed conveyor. Furthermore, the gripping of corners or also edges, in particular the alignment thereof, can be detected by an imaging apparatus. Based on the positions and edge profiles of the pieces of laundry determined by the imaging apparatuses, the gripping and aligning thereof can be controlled or regulated. A reliable, fully automatic isolating of pieces of laundry and/or fully automatic, targeted feeding of pieces of laundry to a folding machine or other laundry subsequent handling apparatus is thus ensured.
Belt mangles (10) are known, in which a circumferentially driven mangling belt (16) runs along the outer side of the static mangle body (11), which mangling belt transports the laundry items to be mangled along the smooth pressing surface (12) of the mangle body (11) by entrainment. In the case of said belt mangles (10) the heating of the pressing surface has proven to be ineffective. The invention aims at providing a boiler (32) inside the mangle body (11). Gas is heated inside the boiler (32) in particular by an infrared radiant heater, which gas heats a heat transfer medium in the cavity (15) of a double-walled casing of the mangle body. The pressing surface (12) can be effectively and precisely heated by said heat transfer medium in the cavity (15) of the double-walled casing of the mangle body (11).
An apparatus whereby laundry items are fed automatically to a mangle. This is achieved in that splaying clamps are movable by a linear motor, wherein slides are assigned to a primary part of the linear motor or form the primary parts of the linear motor and a rail is assigned to a secondary part of the linear motor or forms the secondary part. Laundry items are fed in industrial laundry facilities to a mangle in an outspread state. This is performed by machine using apparatuses for feeding laundry items. Each laundry item attached to splaying clamps is deposited with an outspread front edge arranged to the front onto a feeding conveyor, which feeds the laundry item in the outspread state to the mangle. Here, the splaying can mean that the laundry item either is not completely outspread or that the laundry item is tensioned such that it is damaged irreversibly.
D06F 67/04 - Arrangements for feeding or spreading the linen
H02K 41/00 - Propulsion systems in which a rigid body is moved along a path due to dynamo-electric interaction between the body and a magnetic field travelling along the path
B65G 54/02 - Non-mechanical conveyors not otherwise provided for electrostatic, electric, or magnetic
For the purpose of delivering a laundry item (10) to an ironer, the laundry item (10) is spread, by opposite corners of a lateral edge (20), by means of spreader clips (18, 19). In this case, deformations, or “ear formation” may occur at the corner regions (12, 13) of the laundry item (10) that are gripped by the spreader clips (18, 19). This “ear formation” is mostly irreversible, and in the long term results in damage to the laundry items (10). The invention creates a method and a device by which the laundry item (10) is delivered to an ironer in a gentle manner. For this purpose, at least one corner region (12, 13) of the laundry item (10) that is gripped by a spreader clip (18, 19) is captured by an imaging means as the laundry item (10) is being spread.
The sorting of laundry items, in particular dirty laundry items, has hitherto been carried out manually in most cases, which is costly in terms of personnel and time. High sorting capacities are therefore only possible with the corresponding personnel expenses. The invention provides that, at the start of sorting, specifically during their separation, and prior to their further transport to the individual sorting sites, the dirty laundry items are scanned by imaging techniques and, as a result of the appropriate image analysis, it is possible to determine the areas of the dirty laundry items to be preferably gripped and/or at least a number of sorting criteria, such as size and color. These measures result in a largely automated sorting procedure. These measures can be extended so as to achieve a fully automatic sorting procedure.
B07C 5/00 - Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
B07C 5/34 - Sorting according to other particular properties
D06F 93/00 - Counting, sorting, or marking arrangements specially adapted for laundry purposes
43.
Method and apparatus for feeding items of laundry to a mangle or to some other laundry-treatment arrangement
Items of laundry are fed from an input machine to a mangle or some other laundry-treatment arrangement. Operating personnel are employed to feed the input machine with the items of laundry. This is costly in terms of time and personnel. The invention makes provision for determining surface profiles of the items of laundry by means of imaging installations. From these surface profiles a location for the automatic gripping of the item of laundry or of a corner of same, and preferably also the position of the location or corner, is determined by electronic image processing, whereby the location or corner of the item of laundry can be securely gripped in an automatic and targeted manner. By virtue of the described measures, hitherto manual activities in front of the input machine can be easily performed in a reliable and fully-automatic mode.
A device for the sealing of an external drum of a continuous-flow washing machines in relation to the internal drum in a more reliable manner and to prevent the risk of treatment liquid flooding from the one treatment chamber into the adjacent treatment chamber if a seal leaks by providing separate seals between adjacent external drums by each of the end faces of the adjacent external drums which point to one another having assigned thereto an own, preferably identically realized seal. In continuous-flow washing machines stationary external drums are assigned to some treatment chambers in a rotatingly drivable internal drum. Said stationary external drums have to be sealed relative to the treatment chambers of the rotatable internal drum. If one common seal is provided between adjacent external drums, if there are leaks, this results in total failure with treatment liquid flooding from the external drum into the adjacent external drum.
A clamp for feeding items of laundry to a laundry treatment machine that can be easily actuated and that can enhance performance and reliability when items of laundry are fed, for example, to a mangle or the like, by configuring at least one clamping element of the clamp as a clamping lever having an insertion aid with a guideway for the sliding insertion of a section of the item of laundry into a clamp mouth.
B66C 1/48 - Gripping members engaging only the external or internal surface of the articles and applying frictional forces to vertical edge portions of sheets, tubes, or like thin or thin-walled articles
B65G 17/20 - Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriers; Endless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface comprising load-carriers suspended from overhead traction chains
D06F 67/04 - Arrangements for feeding or spreading the linen
D06F 93/00 - Counting, sorting, or marking arrangements specially adapted for laundry purposes
D06F 95/00 - Laundry systems or arrangements of apparatus or machines; Mobile laundries
D06F 55/02 - Clothes-pegs with pivoted clamping members
F16B 2/18 - Clamps, i.e. with gripping action effected by positive means other than the inherent resistance to deformation of the material of the fastening using cams, levers, eccentrics, or toggles
A method for capturing an item of laundry in a reliable and efficient manner. Washed items of laundry usually leave a washing machine intertwined with one another as a pile of laundry. Before the items of laundry that come out of a washing machine in this way are subjected to further treatment steps, for example mangling or sorting, they have to be separated. In the method, the topography of the item of laundry is ascertained and at least one point of the item of laundry at which the item of laundry is intended to be captured and/or preferably can be captured by a capturing means is determined on the basis of this topography. The item of laundry is captured by the capturing means by specific control of the capturing means at this point.
Dewatering presses (10) which operate with a pre-press stroke and at least one high-pressure stroke are used to dewater laundry drums (11). The pre-press stroke increases the cycle time. Furthermore, it is possible that the stroke path of the high-pressure stroke is not sufficient to completely dewater the laundry drum (11). The aim of the invention is to provide a dewatering press (10) with which the pre-press stroke is carried out in an at least partly electrical and/or pneumatic manner. In this manner, the pre-press stroke can be carried out more quickly, thereby reducing the cycle time. Additionally, the high-pressure stroke is carried out in stages. By adding sequential high-pressure pressing processes, a high-pressure stroke is produced which is relatively longer in total, thereby ensuring that the laundry drum (11) is sufficiently dewatered under all conditions.
During the transverse-folding operation of items of laundry, a number of layers are positioned one above the other so as to overlap one another. In order to achieve optimum folding quality, the aim is for layers of equal length to overlap, which is only rarely possible in practice. It is usually the case that the layers are of unequal length, and this gives rise to a difference in overlap. The invention makes provision for the difference in overlap to be eliminated, or at least to be minimized, in that it is determined whether a difference in overlap is present and the difference in overlap which may be established is corrected for the transverse-folding operation of the next-following item of laundry, which allows established differences in overlap to be compensated for automatically at least for the most part.
Belt mangles, in which a revolvingly driven mangle belt runs along on the outside of the mangle body which is curved in a trough-like manner, convey in an entrained manner laundry items to be mangled along a smooth flattening face of the mangle body. Slippage between the mangle belt and the laundry items, which causes the quality of mangling to suffer, can occur. A mangle belt is provided with a structured outer face to bear on the laundry items to be entrained. The outer face is formed from a needled felt from highly temperature-resistant man-made fibers. On account of the structuring of the outer face of the mangle belt, a rough entrainment face or adhesion face, respectively, for the laundry items, that ensures slippage-free entrainment of the laundry items by the mangle belt while conveying the laundry items along the flattening face of the mangle body, is created.
In apparatuses for automatically folding items of laundry, items of laundry of different lengths usually are folded in an irregular sequence, resulting in idling and/or delays in particular in the longitudinal-folding station (13). The invention provides for determining the length of each item of laundry (10) upstream of the longitudinal-folding station (13) and for accelerating short items of laundry as they are transported through the longitudinal-folding station (13), whereas larger items of laundry are slowed down in the longitudinal-folding station (13). Following completion of the longitudinal-folding operation, the respectively folded item of laundry is located at the end of the longitudinal-folding station (13) and, immediately following completion of the longitudinal folding, is transported away out of the longitudinal-folding station (13). This avoids unnecessary idling times, and for relatively long items of laundry to be folded longitudinally during continuous, relatively slow onward transportation through the longitudinal-folding station (13).
D06F 89/00 - Apparatus for folding textile articles with or without stapling
B65B 63/04 - Auxiliary devices, not otherwise provided for, for operating on articles or materials to be packaged for folding or winding articles, e.g. gloves or stockings
B65B 59/02 - Arrangements to enable adjustments to be made while the machine is running
In commercial laundries, items of laundry (10) are customarily dried in a dryer having a rotationally driveable drum. The rotationally driveable drum increases the outlay on production of the dryer, is susceptible to wear and requires additional driving energy. The invention envisages forming a dryer from a plurality of stationary drying chambers (11, 34). Such a dryer no longer needs to have a rotationally driveable drum. A dryer can thereby be produced more simply and is also less prone to malfunctions.
D06F 58/10 - Drying cabinets or drying chambers having heating or ventilating means
D06F 58/12 - Drying cabinets or drying chambers having heating or ventilating means having conveying means for moving clothes, e.g. along an endless track
Laundry items (10) are usually dried in a dryer having a rotatably drivable drum in commercial laundry facilities. The rotatably drivable drum increases the manufacturing complexity of the dryer, is susceptible to wear and requires additional driving energy. The invention provides a dryer that has a still-standing or stationary drying chamber (11). Such a dryer does not need to have a rotatably drivable drum. As a result, such a dryer is easier to manufacture and also less susceptible to malfunctioning.
D06F 58/10 - Drying cabinets or drying chambers having heating or ventilating means
D06F 58/12 - Drying cabinets or drying chambers having heating or ventilating means having conveying means for moving clothes, e.g. along an endless track
D06F 31/00 - Washing installations comprising an assembly of several washing machines or washing units, e.g. continuous flow assemblies
53.
Method for the wet-treatment, preferably the washing, of laundry
Washed laundry that has been rinsed still contains bound acidic or basic rinsing liquid. In many cases this must be neutralized. This used to be conducted on the basis of values gained from experience, which generally resulted in only partial neutralization. Herein, sample liquid is taken continuously from the neutralization chamber (18) and, after the fine filtration of same, the pH value of the sample liquid is continuously measured by a pH value measurement device (31). In this manner a pH value control system is possible which ensures an automatic and complete neutralization of the rinse liquid still bound in the laundry after rinsing.
D06F 39/00 - LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES - Details of washing machines not specific to a single type of machines covered by groups
D06F 31/00 - Washing installations comprising an assembly of several washing machines or washing units, e.g. continuous flow assemblies
D06F 34/22 - Condition of the washing liquid, e.g. turbidity
54.
Method of, and apparatus for, transporting and/or measuring items of laundry
Items of laundry (10) are fed, in laundries, to a laundry-treatment device with adjacent corners (25) of an upper edge (39) hanging beneath two clip carriages (22). It is customary for the items of laundry (10) to be stored in a sorted state on an interim basis upstream of the laundry-treatment device. The invention provides for adjacent clip carriages (22) of successive items of laundry (10) to be assigned in pairs to drivers (28) of a catch conveyor (26). The invention also provides for the sagging of the upper edge (39), and the lowermost location (40) of the lower edge (42), of the item of laundry (10) to be determined by a line-measuring device (26), in order for the item of laundry (10) to be identified in this way.
B65G 17/20 - Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriers; Endless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface comprising load-carriers suspended from overhead traction chains
D06F 67/04 - Arrangements for feeding or spreading the linen
D06F 95/00 - Laundry systems or arrangements of apparatus or machines; Mobile laundries
A method for providing fresh air fed through a fan to a burner of a dryer, thereby charging the burner, when the dryer is operated with recirculating air. In commercial dryers in which the drying air is heated by a burner, it is customary to reuse the moist air leaving a drum containing the laundry to be dried as recirculating air. The recirculating air component is increased with increasing drying of the laundry. At the end of the drying operation, when the moist air no longer contains as much moisture as at the start, the moist air is used as recirculating air. The burner then no longer gets enough combustion air, which leads to an incomplete combustion. The dryer can be operated with a higher recirculating air component, an optimal combustion being guaranteed through the charging of the burner with fresh air. The invention permits more economical drying.
In tunnel finishers (10), damp or dampened garments (13) are dried while suspended from conveyor hangers (16), thus smoothing out wrinkles. This process is called finishing. In the past, drying was done with air, in particular hot air. According to the present invention, the garments (13) are dried using infrared rays. It has been found that said manner of drying is particularly effective and gentle. In order to improve the effectiveness of the drying, it is further provided that the degree of dryness of the garments (13) is continuously detected. Preferably, this is done using infrared cameras. In said manner, influence on the control of the tunnel finisher (10) can be exerted, and thus, an optimal drying result can be achieved. It is additionally possible, subsequently to the drying process, to activate finishing agents, which, for example, add stain-resistant properties to the finished garment (13), using plasma radiation. This can be accomplished with minimal additional expenditure by means of plasma radiation after the garments (13) have been dried.
D06F 73/02 - Apparatus for smoothing or removing creases from garments or other textile articles by formers, cores, stretchers, or internal frames, with the application of heat or steam having one or more treatment chambers
37 - Construction and mining; installation and repair services
42 - Scientific, technological and industrial services, research and design
Goods & Services
Trading of used laundry machines and replacement parts for
laundry machines; business organisation consultancy services
and business management of laundries. Installation, maintenance and repair of laundry machines;
maintenance, including remote maintenance and online
maintenance of laundry machines and accessories; rental of
laundry machines; washing, cleaning and linen ironing;
consultancy in the laundry sector. Technical engineering, development and planning of laundry
project and/or laundry equipment; remote monitoring of
laundry machines with electronical data transmission and/or
with computer systems.
37 - Construction and mining; installation and repair services
42 - Scientific, technological and industrial services, research and design
Goods & Services
Business organisation consultancy services and business management of laundries Installation, maintenance and repair of laundry machines; rental of laundry machines; washing, cleaning and linen ironing; consulting services in the field of installation, maintenance and repair of laundry equipment Technical engineering and product development of laundry equipment; remote monitoring of laundry machines with electronical data transmission and/or with computer systems
37 - Construction and mining; installation and repair services
42 - Scientific, technological and industrial services, research and design
Goods & Services
(1) Trading of used laundry machines and replacement parts for laundry machines; organisation consultancy services and management of laundries, namely business administration services, management consulting services and technical consulting services in the field of laundries. Installation, maintenance and repair of laundry machines; maintenance, including remote maintenance and online maintenance of laundry machines and their parts and fittings; rental of laundry machines; washing of clothing and of textile, cleaning, namely dry cleaning and linen ironing, namely ironing services. Mechanical engineering; development and planning of laundries, namely offering technical assistance in the establishment and operation of laundries and business planning; consultancy in the laundry sector; remote monitoring of laundry machines.
37 - Construction and mining; installation and repair services
42 - Scientific, technological and industrial services, research and design
Goods & Services
Trading of used laundry machines and replacement parts for laundry machines; Organisation consultancy services and Management of laundries. Installation, Maintenance and repair of laundry machines; Maintenance, including remote maintenance and online maintenance of laundry machines and accessories; Rental of laundry machines; Washing, Cleaning and Linen ironing. Engineering,Development and planning of laundries, consultancy in the laundry sector; Remote monitoring of laundry machines.
61.
Method for smoothing articles of clothing and tunnel finisher
A tunnel finisher in which the articles of clothing (14) are impinged on with steam pulses in a discontinuous fashion. This lowers the steam requirement. It is additionally provided that other points of the article of clothing (14) are continuously impinged on with steam, as a result of which no damage to the articles of clothing (14) occurs during the steam impingement. It is finally provided that transport hangers (15), on which the articles of clothing (14) hang while being transported through the tunnel finisher, are rotated in opposite directions, as a result of which halves of adjacent articles of clothing (14) alternately assume relatively large and relatively small spacings relative to one another. In this way, the articles of clothing (14) can be impinged on effectively and with steam.
D06B 1/02 - Applying liquids, gases or vapours on to textile materials to effect treatment, e.g. washing, dyeing, bleaching, sizing or impregnating by spraying or projecting
62.
METHOD FOR WET-TREATING, IN PARTICULAR CLEANING, OBJECTS
According to the method, a small amount is branched off from the treatment liquid to be reused as a sample, and only said sample is measured in regard to the concentration of at least one treatment additive still present in the treatment liquid used. Before the measurement, only a small part of the treatment liquid to be reused must be filtered as a sample. Only a relatively small filter is required for this purpose. The sample containing only a small amount of treatment liquid can be measured in an easier and more reliable manner.
B08B 13/00 - Accessories or details of general applicability for machines or apparatus for cleaning
D06F 39/00 - LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES - Details of washing machines not specific to a single type of machines covered by groups
An inline washing system to be formed from a tunnel-type washing machine (10) which both rinses and removes water from the items of laundry. However, rinsing and simultaneously also water removal can also be performed in the downstream spin-dryer (18) or water-removal press. It has been found that the rinsing performance is better and fresh water can be saved on account of the invention. By virtue of the invention, it is possible to wash relatively small amounts of laundry using a tunnel-type washing machine (10) in an economical manner. The tunnel-type washing machine (10) can be designed to be shorter and also simpler if it is designed without a rinse zone.
D06F 29/02 - Combinations of a washing machine with other separate apparatus in a common frame or the like, e.g. with rinsing apparatus with liquid-extracting apparatus
64.
Method and apparatus for dividing and/or separating a laundry batch, in particular a laundry cake or the like
A method and apparatus in which laundry cakes (10), formed when washed laundry articles are for the most part freed in a dewatering press of the treatment liquid bound in them giving rise to a laundry cake (10) consisting of coherent laundry articles, are divided from the end face (15) by a roller-like divider (20) which can be driven in rotation about a horizontal axis of rotation (31), which axis of rotation (21) runs parallel to the end face (15) of the laundry cake (10) to be divided, and an effective division of the laundry cake (10) which takes care of the laundry articles is carried out.
B65G 47/26 - Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors arranging the articles, e.g. varying spacing between individual articles
09 - Scientific and electric apparatus and instruments
11 - Environmental control apparatus
Goods & Services
Machines and apparatus for commercial laundries, in particular for washing and drying laundry (laundry machines), Ironing machines, Mangles,Finishers, tunnel finishers, Washing machines,Drainage presses, Spin driers,Drying presses, spin dryers. Controls for energy management in laundries. Dryers,Drying apparatus and drying installations, in particular for laundry and clothing; Heat exchangers,In particular condensing heat exchangers.
66.
Method for the recovery of waste heat from heated launderette machines
A method for the effective recovery of as large a portion as possible of the energy in the waste heat of a trough mangle (10) or other launderette machines. To this end, provision is made for a portion of the energy contained in the waste heat to be recovered by cooling the waste heat in a heat exchanger (14), with the waste heat being cooled to such an extent that it falls below the dew point and condenses, with the result that the energy released during condensation and at least a large portion of the energy from the condensate can also be recovered. In this way, it is possible for up to half the residual energy in the moist waste air from a trough mangle (10) and the waste gas from a heating device to be recovered and reused again.
09 - Scientific and electric apparatus and instruments
11 - Environmental control apparatus
Goods & Services
Ironing machines, ironing presses, mangles; shapers in the nature of shaping machines for textiles, shaping presses; textile finishers in the nature of finishing machines for the smoothing of textiles and clothing, tunnel finishers in the nature of tunnel finishing machines for the smoothing of textiles and clothing; washing machines for laundry, washer extractors in the nature of washing extractors for the washing and dewatering of laundry; rinsing machines for the rinsing of laundry, dewatering presses in the nature of pressing machines for the dewatering of laundry, dewatering centrifuges; drying presses; water-spraying machines for use in the laundry industry; laundry disinfection machines in the nature of machines for the disinfection of laundry in the laundry industry; feeding machines in the nature of machines for the feeding of textiles and laundry to ironing machines; separating machines; sorting machines; folding machines in the nature of machines for the mechanical folding of textiles, industrial folding robots for automatically folding textiles; stacking machines; turning and lifting apparatus for individual items of laundry, textiles, and clothing; installations, machines and apparatus for the transport of laundry, textiles, and clothing in the laundry industry; installations, machines and apparatus for the sorting of laundry, textiles, and clothing in the laundry industry; installations, machines and apparatus for the packaging of laundry, textiles, and clothing in the laundry industry; all of the above for treating, processing, washing, and drying laundry, textiles, and clothing Computer hardware and computer software for operating and controlling laundry machines and to process and administer data in connection with the laundry business; fabric steamers Laundry and textile dryers, namely, dryers for the drying of washed laundry and textiles by hot air; spin dryers; ironing tables that generate steam for ironing; all of the above for treating and processing laundry, textiles, and clothing
It is common with rotary irons having directly heated iron recesses (10) to design the iron recesses (10) in a double-walled manner. A heat transfer medium that is circulated by way of flow channels in the hollow iron recesses (10) and a pump is provided in such double-walled iron recesses (10). A rotary iron of this kind is very complex. According to the invention, the optionally single-walled iron recesses (10) of the rotary iron are heated directly by a heating device (18) designed as a surface burner. Thus installations in the iron recesses (10) and a circulating pump can be omitted. In particular, it is possible to optionally design the iron recesses (10) only with single walls. A rotary iron of said kind has a particularly simple design.
An inline washing system to be formed from a tunnel-type washing machine (10) which only washes the items of laundry is described. Rinsing and also water removal are then performed in the downstream water-removal press (18). It has been found that the rinsing performance is better and fresh water can be saved as a result of this. It is therefore also possible to wash relatively small amounts of laundry using a tunnel-type washing machine (10) in an economical manner because the tunnel-type washing machine (10) can be designed without a rinse zone.
The invention makes provision for the final wash liquid from the washing device to be separated from the items of laundry in a water-removal device, specifically together with a large portion of the final wash liquid bound in the items of laundry. The items of laundry are then rinsed in the water-removal device. Following this, the rinse liquid is routed away from the items of laundry. The final wash liquid and the rinse liquid are temporarily stored in separate storage tanks and returned to the subsequent wash process in a deliberate manner. A mixture of at least a portion of the final wash liquid and the rinse liquid is fed particularly to the prewash zone in order to prewash the next batch of items of laundry.
Some launderette machines, particularly rotary irons (10), produce a lot of energy in the form of waste heat, such as moist waste air or waste gas. This energy is primarily the energy required (supplied) for the operation of the rotary iron (10). The invention relates to the efficient recovery of the largest possible portion of the energy from the waste heat of a rotary iron (10) or other launderette machines. To this end, it is provided that, by cooling the waste heat in a heat exchanger (14), part of the energy present can be recovered, thereby cooling the waste heat so much that it drops below the dew point and condensates, so that the energy released during condensation and at least the majority of the energy of the condensate is also recovered. In this way, it is possible to recover up to half of the residual energy in the moist waste air of a rotary iron (10) and the waste gas of a heating device and reuse it.
D06F 39/00 - LAUNDERING, DRYING, IRONING, PRESSING OR FOLDING TEXTILE ARTICLES - Details of washing machines not specific to a single type of machines covered by groups
72.
Method for smoothing articles of clothing, and tunnel finisher
A method for additionally conducting the hot air for finishing the articles of clothing (14) along the articles of clothing (14) in counterflow to the transporting direction (13). This leads to more effective finishing of the articles of clothing (14) with greater energy efficiency, and therefore the tunnel finisher according to the invention consumes less energy.
D06B 1/02 - Applying liquids, gases or vapours on to textile materials to effect treatment, e.g. washing, dyeing, bleaching, sizing or impregnating by spraying or projecting
D06F 58/12 - Drying cabinets or drying chambers having heating or ventilating means having conveying means for moving clothes, e.g. along an endless track
73.
Method for recovering heat energy released by laundry machines
The use of at least one central heat exchanger to extract and dry the heat energy released by laundry machines, in particular their gland steam. The energy thus recovered can be fed back to the laundry machines as hot air or hot water. This represents a significant reduction in the energy requirements of laundry machines as laundry machines discharge a great amount of unused energy into the environment, which, particularly in light of rising energy prices, represents an unnecessary operational cost for a laundry.
The method used up until now in continuous washing machines in commercial laundries consisted in recycling the treatment liquid, essentially the rinsing liquid, in the rinsing region in the opposite direction (against the direction of treatment). A drawback of this is that the rinsing liquid of different chambers (48) of the rinsing region (14) is mixed, thereby making the rinsing of different laundry in successive chambers (48) difficult. The aim of the invention is to carry out at least one change of bath in continuous washing machines. By changing the bath in at least some chambers (48), no opposite current is required in the rinsing region (14). In continuous washing machines which have a rinsing region (14) with one or several chambers (48), it is sufficient to carry out at least one change of bath in one part of the chambers (48). As a result, there is no need to associate an outer drum (16) to each of the successive chambers (48).
Oil-heated rotary irons can operate at higher temperatures than steam-heated rotary irons. However, care must be taken as a result of the reducing residual moisture of the laundry as it passes along the ironing path of the rotary iron that no damage (burning) of the laundry occurs. According to the invention, the temperatures on the intake sides (14, 15) and the outlet sides (16, 17) of the rotary iron recesses (10, 11) are controlled in such a way that the temperature reduces continuously over the ironing path. To achieve this, the energy supply to the rotary iron recesses (10, 11) is controlled in such a way that the temperatures on the outlet sides (16, 17) of said recesses (10, 11) do not exceed a specified predefined value. Preferably, the temperature on the outlet side (16) of the first rotary iron recess (10) corresponds to the temperature on the intake side (15) of the second rotary iron recess (11).
Commercial laundries are using up to now dryers (12) for the drying of wash, said dryers comprising a rotationally driven drum (16) with openings at opposite frontal faces. One opening serves to load and the other to unload the dryer (12), both openings being technically complicated. The aim of the invention is to provide dryers (12) for commercial laundries which can be loaded and unloaded from the same side, the loading and also the unloading process being carried out automatically. To this end, the same conveyor (13) is used in order to load and unload the respective dryer (12).
The invention makes provision for the weight of the contents of the drum to be continuously determined. As a result, the weight of the dry laundry in the drum and the weight of the liquid required for washing can be determined. The weight determination also makes it possible to determine the residual moisture content of the laundry, identify an unbalance and/or assist batch division. The spin dryer (10) or laundry centrifuge preferably rests on its feet (19) by means of weight sensors, that is to say is weighed. In this way, the weight of the contents of the drum as well as dynamic forces which are produced when the loaded drum is driven in rotation can be established in a simple and reliable manner.
Pieces of laundry (10) are stretched by a stretching device (17) and are centered before being transferred to a successive feeding conveyor (12). The feeding conveyor (12) conveys the stretched piece of laundry (10) in the feeding direction (13) into a successive mangle, for example. In prior art, the stretched piece of laundry is transferred from the clamps (18) to the feeding conveyor (12) by means of support rails. Said support rails are complex and result in an increase of the feeding time. According to the invention, a transfer drum (36) which can be swiveled from a neutral position below the feeding conveyor (12) into a transfer position in front of the feeding conveyor (12) is allocated to the feeding conveyor (12) such that a distance from the spread piece of laundry (10) to the feeding conveyor (12), which is required for stretching and centering the piece of laundry in order to transfer the piece of laundry (10) from the clamps (18) to the feeding conveyor (12), is eliminated.
09 - Scientific and electric apparatus and instruments
11 - Environmental control apparatus
Goods & Services
Machines and apparatus for the clothing industry, in
particular for the treating and processing of textiles
(clothing machines), machines and apparatus for industrial
laundry services, in particular for washing items of
laundry (laundry machines), ironing machines, mangles,
conglutination presses, fixing machines, laminating
machines, apparatus for the treatment of laundry and
clothing with steam, steaming tables, shapers, finishers,
tunnel finishers, ironing and shaping presses, and turning
apparatus for individual items of clothing, washing
machines, de-watering presses, spin dryers, drying presses,
spinner-washers, ironing presses, water-spraying machines,
laundry machines for feeding and sorting items of laundry,
folding machines, folding robots, in particular folding
robots for shaped pieces, folding tables, rinsing and
wringing machines, batting machines, checking tables;
installations, machines and apparatus for the transport,
sorting, output and/or packaging of goods, in particular
laundry and clothing, including parts therefor; conveyors,
circular conveyors, belt conveyors, rotary and roller
conveyors, overhead conveyors, handling and lifting
apparatus for warehouses, lifting apparatus, vertical
conveyors, machines for picking out individual items of
laundry, labelling machines; parts for the aforesaid
machines and apparatus. Computers; apparatus and software for operational data
acquisition; parts for the aforesaid apparatus, in
particular data memories, monitors, data input and reading
apparatus. Dryers, drying apparatus and drying installations, in
particular for laundry and clothing; laundry dryers.
Machines et autres appareils pour l'industrie de la
confection (machines de confection), à savoir machines de
repassage, presses de collage, machines à thermocoller,
machines de mise en forme, machines de mise en forme pour
garde-robe, machines de finition pour textiles notamment de
pièces de vêtements, presses de pliage et de mise en forme
de même que machines à retourner des pièces de vêtements
individuelles; machines et autres appareils de
blanchisserie industrielle (machines de blanchisserie), à
savoir machines à laver, presses d'essorage, presses de
repassage, calandres, machines d'introduction pour le
transport de pièces de linge étalées vers des calandres en
particulier, machines de pliage, tables de machines de
pliage, machines de mise en forme, machines de mise en
forme pour garde-robe, armoires de finition, machines de
finition; machines et autres appareils manufacturiers pour
le métier du nettoyage de tapis/moquettes, à savoir
machines à laver, machines pour le rinçage et l'essorage,
machines à battre les tapis, tables de machines de
contrôle, machines et autres appareils manufacturiers pour
l'industrie de transformation de matières plastiques, à
savoir tables de machines rotatives et tapis roulants;
installations, machines et appareils pour le transport,
l'entreposage, le triage et l'emballage de produits, se
composant essentiellement de transporteurs circulaires, de
bandes transporteuses, de transporteurs à rouleaux et à
roulettes, de voies suspendues consistant en des chariots
mobiles sur rail, d'étagères pour stocker la lingerie et/ou
pièces de vêtements, d'appareils de manutention pour
stocker des textiles sur des étagères et/ou pour prélever
des textiles des étagères, d'élévateurs, de convoyeurs
verticaux et d'étiqueteuses; parties de toutes les machines
et appareils précités. Installations de production de vapeur; appareils de
blanchisserie tels que séchoirs; appareils et installations
pour le nettoyage de tapis/moquettes tels que générateurs
de vapeur (autres que parties de machines) et installations
de séchage; parties de toutes les installations et
appareils précités compris dans cette classe.
Existing washing installations are comprised of a continuous washing machine (10) and of a subsequent spin drier (18) or water extraction press. In the continuous washing machine (10), a washing as well as a rinsing of the laundry ensues. This requires a relatively large amount of fresh water. In addition, a continuous washing machine (10) of this type requires a lot of space. The aim of the invention is thus to form a washing installation consisting of a continuous washing machine (10) that both rinses the laundry items as well as extracts water therefrom. The rinsing as well as the water extraction can ensue in the subsequent spin drier (18) or water extraction press. It has been demonstrated that the invention improves the rinsing capacity and enables a lower consumption of fresh water. The invention enables relatively small amounts of laundry to be economically washed using a continuous washing machine (10). When the continuous washing machine (10) is provided without a rinsing area, it is able to have a shorter and simpler design.
Known washing stations are formed from a tunnel washer (10) and a drainage press (18) arranged downstream therefrom. The washing is washed and rinsed in the tunnel washer (10), necessitating a relatively large amount of fresh water. Furthermore, one such tunnel washer (10) takes up a lot of space. The aim of the invention is to provide a washing station consisting of a tunnel washer (10) that only washes the items to be washed. The rinsing and draining are then carried out in the downstream drainage press (18). In this way, the rinsing performance is improved and fresh water can be saved. It is thus also possible to wash relatively small quantities economically with a tunnel washer (10), as the tunnel washer (10) can be embodied without a rinsing region.
09 - Scientific and electric apparatus and instruments
11 - Environmental control apparatus
Goods & Services
(1) Machines and apparatus for the clothing industry, namely for the treating and processing of textiles (clothing machines), machines and apparatus for industrial laundry services, namely laundry machines, ironing machines, mangles, conglutination presses, fixing machines, laminating machines, steaming machines (steamers), steaming tables, shapers, wardrobe shapers, finishers, tunnel finishers, cupboard finishers, shirt finishers, ironing and shaping presses, and turning apparatus for individual items of clothing, washing machines, de-watering presses, spin dryers, drying presses, spinner-washers, ironing presses, water spraying machines, feed-in machines, in-line sorting machines for items of laundry, folding machines, folding robots, in particular folding robots for shaped pieces, folding tables, rising and wringing devices, batting machines, checking tables; installations, machines and apparatus for the transport, storage, sorting, checking, output and/or packaging of laundry and clothing, and parts thereof, namely conveyors, circular conveyors, belt conveyors, rotary and roller conveyors, overhead conveyors, rack storage units, storage and retrieval units for high-bay warehouses, lifts, vertical conveyors, isolators, labelling apparatus, namely for the application of labels to laundry and clothing items; parts for the aforesaid machines and apparatus.
(2) Apparatus, parts thereof and software for operational data acquisition, namely computers, data memories, monitors, data processors and readers.
(3) Machines and apparatus for industrial laundry services, namely dryers, tumble dryers.
09 - Scientific and electric apparatus and instruments
11 - Environmental control apparatus
Goods & Services
Machines and apparatus for the clothing industry, in particular for the treating and processing of textiles (clothing machines), machines and apparatus for industrial laundry services, in particular for washing and drying items of laundry (laundry machines), ironing machines, mangles, conglutination presses, fixing machines, laminating machines, steaming apparatus, steaming tables, shapers, wardrobe shapers, finishers, tunnel finishers, cupboard finishers, shirt finishers, ironing and shaping presses, and turning apparatus for individual items of clothing, washing machines, de-watering presses, spin dryers, drying presses, spinner-washers, ironing presses, water-spraying machines, feed-in machines, in-line sorting machines for items of laundry, folding machines, folding robots, in particular folding robots for shaped pieces, folding tables, rinsing and wringing devices, batting machines, checking tables; installations, machines and apparatus for the transport, storage, sorting, checking, output and/or packaging of goods, in particular laundry and clothing, including parts therefor; conveyors, circular conveyors, belt conveyors, rotary and roller conveyors, overhead conveyors, rack storage units, storage and retrieval units for high-bay warehouses, lifting apparatus, vertical conveyors, isolators, labelling apparatus; parts for the aforesaid machines and apparatus. Apparatus and software for operational data acquisition, parts for the aforesaid apparatus, in particular computers, data memories, monitors, data input and reading apparatus. Dryers, drying apparatus and drying installations, in particular for laundry and clothing.
Washing machines, de watering presses for washing machines, spin dryers, rotary pressing machines, laundry mangles including feeder and folding machines, all the aforesaid goods for use in industry. Laundry dryers, all the aforesaid goods for use in industry.
Washing machines, de watering presses for washing machines, spin dryers, rotary pressing machines, laundry mangles including feeder and folding machines, all the aforesaid goods for use in industry. Laundry dryers, all the aforesaid goods for use in industry.
