Patent attributes
The present invention provides a dry-cleaning machine capable of performing a water-repellent finishing process when necessary, while ensuring a high level of safety. When the water-repellent finishing process has been performed after the drying process (Step S2), the solvent contained in the water repellent penetrates into the laundry articles. Taking this into account, the upper limit for the temperature difference ?T between the inlet and outlet of the drum detected is set lower (e.g. 10° C.) than that the upper limit (e.g. 20° C.) applied to the case where no water-repellent finishing process is performed. This temperature setting reduces the amount of heat supplied to the laundry articles and accordingly decreases the evaporating speed of the solvent. Thus, the concentration of the gasified solvent in the air-circulating passage is maintained under the safety level. In this case, the time period for the drying operation is set longer to compensate for the deterioration in the drying efficiency.
