Laundry treating appliance with heating assembly

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance includes a treating chamber and a drying circuit fluidly coupled to the treating chamber and supplying process air. A heating assembly for the laundry treating appliance is in thermal interaction with the supplied process air. The heating assembly includes a housing defining an air inlet and an air outlet, an air flow path extending through the housing from the air inlet to the air outlet, and a heat exchange plate disposed within the housing. A first heating element is positioned within the housing and spaced from a first side of the heat exchange plate. A set of fins can also extend from at least the first side of the heat exchange plate.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A laundry treating appliance, comprising:
 a chassis defining an interior;   a treating chamber located within the interior;   a drying circuit within the interior and comprising an air recirculation conduit fluidly coupled to the treating chamber, and a blower supplying process air to the air recirculation conduit; and   a heating assembly in thermal interaction with the process air supplied to the treating chamber, the heating assembly comprising:   a housing extending along an axial direction and defining an air inlet and an air outlet, with the air outlet configured to fluidly couple to an air recirculation conduit in the laundry treating appliance;   an air flow path extending through the housing from the air inlet to the air outlet;   a heat exchange plate disposed within the housing and having a first side radially opposite a second side, with each of the first and second sides thermally coupled to the air flow path;   a first heating element positioned within the housing and spaced from the first side of the heat exchange plate; and   a set of fins extending from at least the first side of the heat exchange plate, with a fin in the set of fins comprising a distal end radially spaced between the first heating element and the first side of the heat exchange plate.   
     
     
         2 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the set of fins comprises a first fin with a first distal end defining a first fin height with respect to the heat exchange plate, and a second fin with a second distal end defining a second fin height smaller than the first fin height. 
     
     
         3 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 2 , wherein the first fin is positioned closer to the air outlet than the second fin. 
     
     
         4 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a second heating element spaced from and overlying the second side of the heat exchange plate, wherein the first heating element and the second heating element define, respectively, a first spacing distance and a second spacing distance from the heat exchange plate. 
     
     
         5 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 4 , wherein the set of fins extends radially from each of the first side and the second side. 
     
     
         6 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 5 , further comprising a set of spacers extending through a corresponding set of apertures in the heat exchange plate, wherein a spacer in the set of spacers extends between a first end coupled to the first heating element and a second end coupled to the second heating element to define the respective first spacing distance and the second spacing distance. 
     
     
         7 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 4 , wherein the first heating element comprises a first coil and the second heating element comprises a second coil, wherein the first coil and the second coil radially define a first coil distance and a second coil distance, respectively, from an interior surface of the housing, with the second coil distance being greater than the first coil distance. 
     
     
         8 . The laundry treating appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a washing circuit comprising at least one liquid conduit and at least one treating chemistry dispenser each fluidly coupled to the treating chamber. 
     
     
         9 . A heating assembly for heating process air in a laundry treating appliance, comprising:
 a housing extending along an axial direction and defining an air inlet and an air outlet, with the air outlet configured to fluidly couple to an air recirculation conduit in the laundry treating appliance;   an air flow path extending through the housing from the air inlet to the air outlet;   a heat exchange plate disposed within the housing and having a first side radially spaced from a second side, with each of the first and second sides thermally coupled to the air flow path;   a first heating element positioned within the housing and spaced from the first side of the heat exchange plate; and   a set of fins extending from at least the first side of the heat exchange plate, with each fin in the set of fins comprising a distal end radially spaced from the heating element.   
     
     
         10 . The heating assembly of  claim 9 , wherein the set of fins comprises a first fin with a first distal end defining a first fin height with respect to the heat exchange plate, and a second fin with a second distal end defining a second fin height smaller than the first fin height;
 wherein the first fin is positioned closer to the air outlet than the second fin.   
     
     
         11 . The heating assembly of  claim 9 , further comprising a second heating element spaced from and overlying the second side of the heat exchange plate, wherein the first heating element and the second heating element define, respectively, a first spacing distance and a second spacing distance from the heat exchange plate. 
     
     
         12 . The heating assembly of  claim 11 , wherein the set of fins extends radially from each of the first side and the second side. 
     
     
         13 . The heating assembly of  claim 12 , further comprising a set of spacers extending through a corresponding set of apertures in the heat exchange plate, wherein a spacer in the set of spacers extends between a first end coupled to the first heating element and a second end coupled to the second heating element to define the respective first spacing distance and the second spacing distance. 
     
     
         14 . The heating assembly of  claim 13 , wherein an aperture in the set of apertures comprises a first width and a second width smaller than the first width, and wherein the spacer in the set of spacers comprises protruding legs insertable through the first width, whereby rotation of the spacer within the aperture to the second width engages the protruding legs with the heat exchange plate to define a twist-lock arrangement. 
     
     
         15 . The heating assembly of  claim 11 , wherein the first heating element comprises a first coil and the second heating element comprises a second coil, wherein at least one of the first coil or the second coil defines a coil width that increases in the axial direction from the air inlet toward the air outlet. 
     
     
         16 . A heating assembly for heating process air in a laundry treating appliance, comprising:
 a housing extending along an axial direction and defining an interior surface, an air inlet, and an air outlet, with the interior surface defining a cross-sectional area, and with the air outlet configured to fluidly couple to an air recirculation conduit in the laundry treating appliance;   an air flow path extending through the housing from the air inlet to the air outlet;   a heat exchange plate disposed within the housing;   a first heating element positioned within the housing, with the first heating element spaced from the heat exchange plate to define a first spacing distance;   wherein at least one of the first spacing distance or the cross-sectional area increases along the axial direction from the air inlet toward the air outlet.   
     
     
         17 . The heating assembly of  claim 16 , wherein the first heating element comprises a first coil and defines a first coil distance from the interior surface of the housing. 
     
     
         18 . The heating assembly of  claim 17 , further comprising a second heating element, with the second heating element comprising a second coil defining a second coil distance from the interior surface and a second spacing distance from the heat exchange plate. 
     
     
         19 . The heating assembly of  claim 18 , wherein the second coil distance is greater than the first coil distance. 
     
     
         20 . The heating assembly of  claim 18 , wherein at least one of the first coil distance, the second coil distance, or the second spacing distance is non-constant along the axial direction.