Granted Patent B2

US 7,013,577 · App. 10/867,259 · Granted Mar 21, 2006

Abstract

Claims (20)

1. A clothes dryer comprising:

a drying chamber;

a sprinkler disposed in a drying chamber of the clothes dryer and connected to a water valve;

at least one temperature sensor disposed in the drying chamber; and

a control circuit for the fire suppression system, the control circuit including a test button and a reset button, the test button being wired to the temperature sensor such that actuating the test button presents a signal to the control circuit simulating a condition of the temperature sensor reading a temperature above a pre-selected threshold to trigger the control circuit to open a water valve connected to the sprinkler to activate the sprinkler.

2. A clothes dryer as in claim 1 , wherein the control circuit further includes a reset button being connected such that actuating the reset button causes the control circuit to close the water valve.

3. A clothes dryer as in claim 1 , further including a tumbler disposed in the drying chamber, wherein the temperature sensor is disposed in the drying chamber above the tumbler.

4. A clothes dryer as in claim 1 , wherein the control circuit includes a water valve relay for controlling the water valve, said water valve relay being opened by the control circuit in response to the condition of the temperature sensor reading a temperature above a pre-selected threshold.

5. A clothes dryer as in claim 4 , further including a power relay for controlling electrical power for drying operations of the dryer; said power relay being opened by the control circuit in response to the condition of the temperature sensor reading a temperature above a pre-selected threshold.

6. A clothes dryer as in claim 5 , further including an auxiliary output and an auxiliary output relay, said auxiliary output relay being closed by the control circuit in response to the condition of the temperature sensor reading a temperature above a pre-selected threshold.

7. A clothes dryer as in claim 1 , wherein the temperature sensor is a thermistor, and wherein the test button is wired to short leads of the thermistor when the test button is actuated to simulate to the condition of the temperature sensor reading a temperature above a pre-selected threshold.

8. A clothes dryer as in claim 1 , wherein the control circuit includes a microprocessor.

9. A clothes dryer as in claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is housed in a control box mounted on a back side of the clothes dryer.

10. A clothes dryer as in claim 1 , wherein the control circuit further includes an indicator light.

11. A method of testing a fire suppression system in a clothes dryer, comprising:

actuating a test button of a control circuit of the fire suppression system, the test button being wired to a temperature sensor disposed in a drying chamber of the clothes dryer such that actuating the test button presents a signal to the control circuit simulating a condition of the temperature sensor reading a temperature above a pre-selected threshold to trigger the control circuit to open a water valve connected to a sprinkler disposed in the drying chamber to spray water into the drying chamber; and

after a pre-selected time interval, actuating a reset button of the control circuit to cause the control circuit to close the water valve.

12. A method as in claim 11 , further including steps of:

inserting a load into the drying chamber of the clothes dryer prior to actuating the test button;

after actuating the reset button, removing the load from the drying chamber and measuring a weight of the load.

Assignments (12)