Clothes Dryer Research Articles

Can improving climate change perception lead to more environmentally friendly choices? Evidence from an immersive virtual environment experiment

Rational decision theory assumes that individuals have perfect knowledge of the consequences of their choices and actions. However, this assumption often fails to align with reality, particularly in the context of environmental degradation, where the impacts of actions can be distant in both time and space. Will an enhanced perception of those impacts encourage pro-environmental choices?To explore this question, we designed and conducted an experiment in an immersive virtual reality environment (IVE). After an initial training phase, participants were asked to choose between using a tumble dryer or a clothesline to dry their laundry. Participants in the treatment group received exaggerated feedback during the training phase, experiencing a simulated sudden outbreak of a thunderstorm when they used the dryer. In contrast, participants in the control group did not receive any feedback. The experiment was conducted at two Italian universities, Siena and Pisa, with a total of 270 subjects.The methodological finding is that even less elaborated IVEs can still be effective as experimental tools. The substantive finding is that exposure to exaggerated feedback in an IVE significantly increased the likelihood of choosing a more environmentally friendly action, such as using a clothesline, which involves lower energy consumption.

Increase the economic potential of the Ambulu Community by providing appropriate batik drying technology

One of the MSMEs developed Batik as a regional product is Rezti's Batik. Rezti's Batik is located in Ambulu, Jember Regency, about 28.4 km from the University of Jember. Increasing the number of consumer orders has made Rezti's Batik production continue to increase. One of the obstacles faced by Rezti's Batik is the process of making Batik which takes a long time because the drying process still relies on heat from the sun, which takes 4-6 hours. The process can also take longer if the rainy season slows the production process's completion. The solution method is the manufacture of appropriate technology in the form of installing a batik cloth dryer. The batik cloth drying installation implementation at Rezti's Batik is a drying system that utilizes heat from the furnace in the sagging process as a heating medium. The designed dryer consists of a stove as a heat generator which will later be distributed with air from the blower so that the hot air will spread evenly throughout the room.

Fast-airflow tumble clothes dryer with small thermoelectric heat pump: Experimental evaluation

Residential clothes drying accounts for about 5 % of the total residential-sector energy consumption in the United States. Most dryers use electric resistance heaters to dry clothes and have low efficiencies. Higher-efficiency dryers that use vapor compression heat pumps are expensive and complex and have not gained a large market share in the United States. A novel tumble clothes dryer using a small thermoelectric heat pump with faster airflow than typical dryers is presented in this work. The benchtop performance of the thermoelectric heat pump and high-speed blower are presented, and the development of the prototype dryer is described. The dryer was tested for efficiency and dry time for a range of airflow rates and applied currents to the thermoelectric heat pump. The combined efficiency factor was 5.09–6.29 lbBDW/kWh (specific moisture extraction rate of 1.23–1.53 kgw/kWh) with 100–138 min dry times for these tests. The measured efficiency was 36 %–68 % greater than the minimum efficiency standard in the United States, and compared with vapor compression heat pump–based clothes dryers, the prototype dryer had less expensive, less complex components and did not use refrigerants. The performance of this small thermoelectric heat pump clothes dryer is also compared with previous iterations of the thermoelectric tumble clothes dryer described in the literature.

Occupant-driven end use load models for demand response and flexibility service participation of residential grid-interactive buildings

As demand response becomes increasingly used as a tool to support improved grid flexibility, it is important to consider that there are many potential types of energy end uses that may be used to support such flexibility. Residential appliances, often accounting for 30 % or more of residential energy use, are a currently untapped source of demand flexibility, particularly when aggregated together across homes. To date there has been very limited analysis of residential appliances for use as grid-interactive loads. As such, this research uses disaggregated energy end use data for 564 households, to model the electricity demand flexibility potential of the use of residential dishwashers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, ovens, and ranges (oven + stovetop) on both weekdays and weekends. This includes both at the building level, as well as aggregated to the grid level, specifically the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) region. This study was divided into two parts. Part 1 focuses on determining appliance-level loads, and Part 2, which involves aggregation to the grid. Findings suggest that among the studied appliances, clothes dryers provide the greatest demand reduction potential for most times of the day, followed by dishwashers and clothes washers. The maximum potential reduction for clothes dryers is found to be approximately at 11:00 a.m. and this potential sustains throughout most of the daytime period. When considering the willingness of households to participate, based on a survey of households in the Midwest region, clothes dryers still have the most potential for demand reduction. The availability of appliances for load modulation on weekdays and weekends indicates similar load reduction potential for all appliances. Overall, the results of this study suggest that there is an opportunity for shifting appliance usage to optimize grid efficiency and enhance demand response strategies.

Quantification of Fiber Shedding from Cotton Fabrics During Drying in a Domestic Heat Pump Tumble Dryer

ABSTRACT Tumble drying of textiles is associated with mechanical and thermal stress, which leads to textile damage and shedding of fibers. In this study, fiber shedding from cotton textiles is investigated by evaluating the mass of fibers accumulated on different filters positioned downstream of the tumble dryer drum. The total mass of fibers at the end of drying was positively correlated with the dry mass of the loaded textiles. By observing the time-dependent accumulation of fibers on a high-performance filter, three different phases of fiber shedding could be identified. In the first phase, which lasted up to a textile moisture content of about 35%, only minimal fiber accumulation was detected. The following phase lasted almost until the end of drying and showed the highest fiber accumulation rates. In the last phase, the rate of fiber accumulation decreased. The experiments also showed that longer tumbling of textiles with a lower moisture content led to a greater total mass of accumulated fibers. To reduce fiber shedding, damage to the textiles and the resulting pollution, it is recommended to reduce the mechanical loading of textiles, especially in the final stages of the drying process.

Optimization of an efficient and environmentally friendly drying program for cotton textiles in clothes dryers

Motivated by the imperative need to mitigate the environmental burden imposed by substantial energy consumption in clothes drying, this study hypothesizes that implementing a staged drying program, which dynamically adjusts parameters in accordance with the varying temperature and humidity demands throughout the drying process, can significantly enhance energy efficiency, minimize fabric damage, and reduce the overall environmental footprint of cotton textile drying in domestic clothes dryers. To identify key parameters in each drying stage, a thorough analysis of the time-variability and stage characteristics of the drying process was conducted. Thus, an efficient experiment design was implemented to balance the heater power, relative humidity dividing points between adjacent stages and air circulation. Results indicated that a staged drying program, utilizing the temperature and humidity characteristics of each drying stage, consumed less electricity during tumble-drying. Specifically, energy consumption was reduced by approximately one-third compared to the original program. Fabric smoothness improved by 1.0 grade, and over-drying is efficiently prevented. Furthermore, the environmental and economic impacts were reduced by applying the optimized program. Assuming a total usage of 1000 times for a dryer and an average drying load size of 3.5 kg per drying cycle, employing the optimized program can result in a reduction of 148 kg in CO2 emissions and a savings of $26 throughout the dryer’s entire lifespan. This finding provides insights for dryer manufacturers to optimize drying procedures based on cloth types, and it will significantly reduce the environmental impact of drying machines.

Compact heat pipe heat exchanger for waste heat recovery within a low-temperature range

Heat pipe heat exchangers (HPHX) are attracting attention for being capable of effective heat exchange through phase change. Much waste heat is generated at low-temperature sources, but there has been a lack of research on this. Most previous studies focus on large HPHXs over 1 m in length. In the present study, a compact HPHX (185 × 70 × 140 mm3) with nine heat pipes was fabricated, and the potential for waste heat recovery (WHR) was investigated at low heat sources. Also, the thermal performance of the HPHX was compared with and without the fin of the heat pipe. Experiments were conducted by changing the hot-side gas temperatures (50, 75, 100, and 125 °C) and mass flow rates (0.03, 0.04, and 0.05 kg/s). The heat transfer rate and pressure loss had a linear relationship with the hot-side temperature and mass flow rate. Despite a low temperature 50 °C, more than 100 W of heat can be recovered using a compact HPHX. At least 1.8 times improved thermal performance was obtained in HPHX in which finned heat pipes were installed. These results are expected to serve as indicators for various applications that generate low-temperature waste heat, such as clothes dryers and kitchen hoods.

Analisis Tingkat Risiko Bahaya Area Kerja Laundrybox dengan Metode HIRARC

Laundry is a business sector that has the potential to cause the danger of work accidents. each potential danger has a different way of handling it. This research was conducted to find out the potential danger that could occur in a laundry business. HIRARC is a method used as a means of analyzing potential risks that may occur in work activities. From this research, it was found there are three activities or processes were identified as having potential dangers. These three activities consisted of spraying fragrances, using a clothes dryer, and inaccurate gas installation. Spraying fragrances has a high potential of danger with a risk rating value of 3 this potential danger can be prevented by using a facemask and glasses while working. The second activity is the use of a clothes dryer which has a low potential of danger with a risk rating value of 1, this activity can be prevented by implementing a safe action. The final work activity is a less careful gas installation with a moderate level of danger with a risk rating value of 2, more attention is needed when installing the regulator and using a good quality regulator. Keywords: HIRARC, laundry, risk

The impact of changing drum rotation direction on fabric motion and drying performance in clothes dryers

Fabric motion in tumble dryers, particularly the motion observed from the cross-section of the rotating drum, contributes significantly to the heat and mass transfer between textiles and the surrounding hot airflow. However, the wider picture for this process is not yet clear and requires further study. In this article, fabric motion with different drum rotation direction settings was analyzed experimentally to determine the effect of drum rotation direction on drying performance. A high-speed video camera was used to record the fabric motion during the entire drying process. The recorded movies were then processed, and the velocity and occupancy distributions of the tracer fabric and several motion indexes were analyzed by using OpenCV and Matlab. The results indicated that changes in the drum rotation mode cause significant variations in the dynamics of fabric motion in domestic tumble dryers across different drying conditions with variations in fabric size, drum rotation speed and load size. Constantly changing drum rotation direction plays an important role in enlarging the motion area and reducing the passive motion area, lifting the textiles up to a higher place and agitating the mixture inside the rotating drum. This means that the fabrics can be effectively scattered instead of tangling together, and because this drying condition provides more opportunities for them to be exposed to the surrounding hot airflow, it enhances convective heat and mass transfer within the drying chamber and reduces the formation of wrinkles on fabrics. This study could lead to new guidance for obtaining effective fabric motion patterns that lead to an optimal drying performance.

“I’ve just lived inside a tumble dryer”: a narrative of emotion labour, (de)motivation, and agency in the life of a language teacher

Abstract Tensions between external sources of power and internal feeling rules in the workplace, i.e., emotion labour, can have a profound effect on professional dimensions. The purpose of this article is to report on a study that explored a secondary language teacher’s emotion labour and its influence on her professional (de)motivation and agency. Framed in narrative inquiry, this longitudinal study collected data through narrative interviews and drawings between February 2020 and March 2022. The participant was an EFL (English as foreign language) teacher who held teaching posts at three different state secondary schools and a private language centre in Argentina. During this period, the teacher grappled with emergency online teaching due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lengthy teacher strikes. Drawing on analysis of the short stories constructed from the narrative interviews, the tensions between external and internal feeling rules and their interplay with (de)motivation and agency are chronologically mapped out.

Exergetic, sustainability and exergoeconomic analyses of a fully photovoltaic-powered heat pump tumble dryer

In this study, the experimental performance of a commercial heat pump tumble dryer (HPTD) system integrated with photovoltaic (PV) was evaluated using energy and exergy analysis. Additionally, a sustainability and exergoeconomic performance analysis of system components was conducted to identify components in need of improvement. The energy consumption of the HPTD was recorded using a power quality analyzer and compared to the energy generated by the PV. Only 17.6% of the energy generated by the panels was consumed by the HPTD, with the remaining portion being utilized by other laboratory devices connected to the same grid, contributing to a sustainable future. In addition to meeting the energy demand, the PV system satisfied the entire power requirement of the HPTD. It was determined that the drying chamber and the compressor together accounted for 74.53% of the total exergy destruction in the system, with this cost being predominantly incurred during the drying process. Moreover, based on the exergy, sustainability, and exergoeconomic analyses conducted, it was concluded that the drying chamber, integrated with the fan unit, exhibited the lowest exergy efficiency (57.04%), the highest waste exergy ratio (0.83%), and the lowest exergoeconomic factor value (0.716) among the system components, indicating the need for improvement in the fan-integrated drying chamber.

Ag Nanoparticle Incorporated Guar Gum-Sodium Alginate-I-Carrageenan Tribiopolymer Blended Cloth Waste Lint Extracted Cellulose Nanocrystal Antimicrobial Composite Film.

A biopolymer-based formulation for robust and active food packaging material was developed. This material consisted of a blend of three biopolymers (guar gum-sodium alginate-i-carrageenan) reinforced by cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) alongside the integration of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with varying sizes. The CNC utilized in this process was derived from cloth waste lint (CWL) generated from a household cloth dryer machine. This CNC synthesis underwent a series of solvent treatments to yield the CNC used in the composite. CNC and AgNPs were incorporated into the tribiopolymeric blend matrix to construct a nanocomposite film that showed excellent tensile strength (∼90 MPa). The nanocomposite film also exhibited antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Bacillus cereus MTCC 1272. In this report, it was demonstrated that the zone of inhibition against E. coli and B. cereus depends on the variation of size and amount of AgNPs inside the polymeric matrix. The practical applicability of such a film was also demonstrated by applying it to sliced bread and the enhancement of the shelf life of the raped bread was compared with a control. Thus, the guar gum-sodium alginate-i-carrageenan tribiopolymer blend with a cloth waste lint extracted cellulose nanocrystal composite film is antimicrobial, hence, an excellent candidate as an active packaging film.

Putting a New ‘Spin’ on Energy Information: Measuring the Impact of Reframing Energy Efficiency Information on Tumble Dryer Choices in a Multi-country Experiment

AbstractIt has been shown that consumers often underinvest in energy efficiency despite net benefits over the longer term. One possible explanation is that they do not properly understand energy information when provided in physical units, as in most energy labels. Prior studies have investigated the effect of reframing energy information into monetary units. Outcomes are mixed, and it is unclear whether this is due to the use of different products, methodologies or to studies being conducted in countries with different energy prices and labelling standards. This paper overcomes this ambiguity by testing the effect of providing monetary energy information using the same experiment in a multi-country setting. Results show that the intervention’s effectiveness varies considerably across countries. Moreover, they highlight the presence of within-country heterogeneities based on demographic characteristics, with monetary information being more effective for high-usage households but seemingly crowding out the motivation of those whose purchasing decisions depend on environmental considerations.

Care Strategies of Linen and Guest Satisfaction among Hotels in Upper East Region of Ghana

Purpose: The care of linen is paramount in hotel operations for its sustainability. The study sought to investigate linen care strategies in some selected star-category hotels in the Upper East Region of Ghana. The objectives of the study were to examine the strategies used in the care of linen and their effect on guest satisfaction and to test if a relationship exists between them.
 Materials and Methods: The study employed descriptive survey design by the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Through purposive sampling, a sample size of 52 hotel employees was selected from 24 star-rated hotels. Structured questionnaire and observations were used to collect data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 was used for the data analysis. Means and standard deviations were used for the descriptive statistics. Multiple linear regression was employed for the inferential statistics. The hypothesis was tested at a 5% significance level. Thus, data were presented in tables and text for both descriptive and inferential statistics.
 Findings: The study findings were that hotels operated On-premise laundry systems. Outsourcing of linen from commercial service providers was absent. Linen inventory control was done through stock-taking and record-keeping. Hotels followed the laundry processes (sorting dirty clothes, putting dirty apparel in a machine or hand wash, applying detergent, drying the washed articles on the line or in a tumble dryer, ironing, folding and storage of laundered articles) but were not diligent with the manufacturer’s instructions. The linen reuse programme was mostly not through designed cards. Available laundry tools/equipment were laundry bins, washing machines/extractors, washing basins, drying lines, ironing boards and irons. Tools/equipment not available were tables/shelves for sorting linen, tumbler dryers, calendaring machines, industrial steam irons and a laundry folder. Linen care strategies had a significant effect on guest satisfaction (R = 0.671, R2 = 0.451, F = 3.828, p = 0.001). The hypothesis that linen care strategies do not have any significant effect on guest satisfaction among hotels in the Upper East Region of Ghana was rejected (P = 0.0001< 0.05).
 Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study employed Management Administrative Theory and Practice Theory. Through the application of management functions, thus, forecasting and planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling; hotel leaderships are in a better position to increase efficiency through the creation of organisational structures. Through the administrative structures, housekeeping supervisors can suggest and monitor the care and maintenance of linen. About the Practice theory, if hotels identify linen care strategies that make sense to their operations and do so religiously through principles and procedures; higher standards of various care strategies could be attained to promote the hotel business.

Examining the Performance of the Heat Exchanger in a Heat Pump Clothes Dryer

Examining the Performance of the Heat Exchanger in a Heat Pump Clothes Dryer

Investigation on the comparison analysis of the characteristics between the Forward and Backward curved fan system and the Improvement on flow/noise performances by optimizing blade angles in clothes dryers

Recently, the needs for clothes dryers are rapidly increasing due to the consumer's interest in convenience for time reducing and cleanliness like dust. The drying performance of these clothes dryers is greatly affected by the fan system. The fan system affects the flow performance and is related to drying time of clothes dryer. Also, the aerodynamic noise generated by the fan system in the dryer has a great influence on the overall noise of the machine. Because of these reasons, many manufacturers are conducting researches on improving the performance of the fan system in the dryers. The purpose of this study is to improve the flow & noise performance of a fan system in clothes dryer using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and acoustic analogy based on FW-H (Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings) equation. The numerical analysis on the flow characteristics of the fan system is conducted by ANSYS FLUENT. The 3-dimesnsional incompressible RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) equation is adopted as the governing equation and the SST k-ω model is used for turbulent model. The integral surface for FW-H equation to analyze the acoustic field is composed of the closed surfaces including the scroll. This study investigates more suitable fan for a dryer system by comparing the flow characteristics of a backward curved fan, already adopted to a dryer, with a new forward curved fan which has same diameter. To improve the flow performance, the blade angles have been tuned by the design optimization which is the response surface method for geometric parameters. As a result, the dryer with the forward curved fan, which had optimal blade angles, reduced the rotating speed with the same volume flow rate as the original fan. And finally it showed the much reduced noise level compared to the original fan when the dryer ran.

Experimental study on thermal–hydraulic performance of moist air inside flat tube of two kinds of plate-fin heat exchangers

The plate-fin heat exchanger is the core component of the condensing clothes dryer, which has a significant effect on the performance of the dryer. Two types of plate-fin heat exchangers with different fin structures are proposed to improve the performance of condensing dryers, offset-fin heat exchanger and slit-fin heat exchanger. Experimental investigations are conducted to study the thermal–hydraulic performance of moist air inside flat tube. The heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of the moist air inside flat tube, the heat transfer rate per unit area, latent heat and sensible heat are compared and analyzed under different experimental conditions. The comparison shows that the offset-fin heat exchanger compared with the slit-fin heat exchanger can increase heat transfer rate per unit area by approximately 15%. Moreover, the comprehensive performance improves by 5%, respectively. Finally, correlations for predicting the Nusselt number and Darcy friction factor inside flat tube are proposed. The values deviate within20% and 10%, respectively. The results provide a design guide for applying plate-fin heat exchangers to condensing dryers.

Experimental investigation of a heat pump tumble dryer with a zeotropic refrigerant mixture

Due to their high global warming potential (GWP), fluorinated refrigerants are being replaced in many heat pump and refrigeration systems. Especially in small systems such as heat pump tumble dryers (HPTD), the replacement of the globally used working fluid in this application, R134a, appears to be manageable. One established alternative is the use of hydrocarbon refrigerants. Within this research project, new zeotropic refrigerant blends of hydrocarbons are theoretically evaluated as retrofit substitutes for R134a in heat pump tumble dryers. The aim is to use the temperature glide inherent to zeotropic mixtures during phase change to increase the heat transfer efficiency and thus, the COP of the system. A mixture of R290 (propane) and RE170 (dimethyl ether) was selected and experimentally investigated in a commercially available HPTD. To assess the new mixture, parameters relevant to the cycle such as pressure, temperature, compressor power, and the dryer moisture extraction rate are compared to those values achieved using the refrigerant R134a. Retaining the heat exchanger and compressor from the R134a system, the system charge with the new mixture was 40 % lower, while the thermal capacity was equal to or higher than that of the R134a system. The increased temperature level supplied by the mixture reduced the drying time and the energy consumption of the HPTD. The investigation showed that the heat exchanger design needed to be adapted to the temperature glide properties of the mixture in order to realize meaningful heat transfer efficiency gains.

Development of an empirical correlation to predict the effectiveness of heat and mass transfer from textiles in a rotating drum

The clothes dryer is one of the most energy-consuming household appliances. Modeling the rotating drum within clothes dryers presents significant challenges due to the concurrent heat and mass transfer between the air and textiles, exacerbated by the random motion of textiles within the drum. To address the intricacies of drum modeling, many researchers have traditionally assumed a constant value for the area-mass transfer coefficient, neglecting its dependence on operational parameters. This study proposes a novel dimensionless correlation for predicting the moisture evaporation rate, based on the concept of heat and mass transfer effectiveness. To develop the correlation, we conducted an extensive series of 36 experiments, taking into account various factors such as textile type, textile size, textile mass, drum size, rotational speed of the drum, air temperature, relative humidity, airflow rate, and moisture content. The new correlation with previous ones were compared using ten sets of independent experimental data. The average absolute deviation of the present correlation was found to be 11.63 %, while Gluesenkamp et al.'s correlation exhibited a deviation of 5970.8 %, and Novak et al.'s correlation showed a deviation of 62.90 %. Newly proposed correlation demonstrates superior agreement with the independent data sets when compared to other empirical correlations.

Virtual prototyping to reduce vibration transfer of ASKO tumble dryer compressor

Virtual prototyping to reduce vibration transfer of ASKO tumble dryer compressor