CONDENSER TUMBLE DRYER HAVING A HEAT PUMP AND A RECIRCULATED-AIR PORTION, AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE CONDENSER TUMBLE DRYER

A dryer has a drum for laundry items to be dried, a supply air channel, an exhaust air channel, a recirculated air channel branching off therefrom and discharging into the supply air channel upstream of a drum inlet, a blower, a heat pump having a condenser disposed in the supply air channel, an evaporator disposed in the exhaust air channel, a throttle, a compressor, a controller and a heater. The dryer is configured such that moist warm air flows out of the drum in an exhaust air channel part, substantially in the same direction as the supply air in an inlet part of the supply air channel containing the condenser. The process air leaving the drum has a relative air humidity Frel, to which Frelmin≤Frel≤Frelmax applies, wherein Frelmin is a predetermined minimum value and Frelmax is a maximum value of the relative air humidity.