1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clothes dryer, and in particular to a method and an apparatus for detecting a residual drying time of a clothes dryer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a clothes dryer rotates clothes in a drum by rotating the drum and generates heat by using a heater, and low temperature-little moisture air is converted into high temperature-little moisture air while passing the heater according to rotation of a drying fan.
The clothes dryer heats the clothes by making the high temperature-little moisture air flow into the drum. Herein, the high temperature-little moisture air is converted into high temperature-much moisture air by steam generated while the clothes are heated. The high temperature-much moisture air is converted into low temperature-little moisture air by being condensed by an internal condenser, and it is converted into high temperature-little moisture air while passing the heater according to the rotation of the drying fan. In more detail, the clothes dryer dries clothes in the drum by performing the clothes heating process repeatedly. In addition, when clothes drying is finished, the clothes dryer stops the operation of the heater and cools the dried clothes by operating only a motor in order to make a user take out the clothes easily. Herein, a time required for heating clothes in the drum of the clothes dryer and cooling the clothes thereafter is called a clothes drying time.
In addition, in the conventional clothes dryer, in order to display a residual drying time, a drying time and a cooling time are preset, the set drying time is reduced in drying with the passage of time, and the set cooling time is reduced in cooling with the passage of time.
In the meantime, detailed description about the clothes dryer was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,449,876.
However, in the conventional clothes dryer, because a preset residual drying time is displayed regardless of a quantity of moisture contained in clothes in the drum of the clothes dryer, there may be error between an actual residual drying time and a displayed residual drying time, and accordingly reliability of the clothes dryer may be lowered due to that error.