HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE COMPRISING AN EXPANSION SYSTEM

摘要

The invention relates to a household appliance (1) comprising a treatment chamber (2) for treating articles (3), a process air guide (5) for guiding process air through said treatment chamber (2), said process air guide (5) comprising a blower (6) for driving the process air, a heater (7) for heating the process air and placed upstream of said treatment chamber (2), and a heat pump (7, 8, 9, 10, 11), wherein said heater (7) is a heat source (7) for transferring heat from a refrigerant circulating through said heat pump (7, 8, 9, 10, 11) to the process air, and wherein said heat pump (7, 8, 9, 10, 11) further comprises a heat sink (8) for transferring heat into the refrigerant, a compressor (9) for compressing the refrigerant, an expansion system (10) for expanding the refrigerant, and a refrigerant guide (11) for circulating the refrigerant through said heat pump (7, 8, 9, 10, 11) in a closed circuit. Said expansion system (10) has a variable restriction which may be controllable by a control unit (14) in response to signals from a sensor unit (15, 16).