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Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

energy.gov

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Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#111

Post by yetihehe »

sargun wrote: post #101
yetihehe wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it works exactly this way. I don't have a clothes dryer, but I have condensing air demoisturizer (for places with too much moisture). Works fine when you need to dry some clothes in one room. Also costs MUCH less than full dryer. Air coming out is only a little hotter than room, but sometimes room gets colder due to evaporation from all textiles.

I've thought about buying an old 200mm or 230mm fan, and hooking it up to a Peltier cooler -- First pass the air over the "cold" side to drop out the moisture, then through some rechargeable desiccant, and then through the hot side to my clothes. I wonder why dryers don't work this way, other than I think that it'd be much slower to dry as compared to a traditional dryer, and I'm not sure if you'd be able to wick the…

Why rechargeable dessicant when moisture just condenses on cold side? Then it drops into container. Also peltier cooler is too inefficient to do this. It uses about half of energy just for resistive heating. Typical european dryer works just like this but doesn't use dessicant.

Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#112

Post by zxcmx »

Smushman wrote: post #72
sandworm101 wrote: post #11

And how will my cat react to this thing? Something with enough sonic energy to vaporize a significant volume of water is probably loud enough to wake every animal in the area.

This video actually has audio included of the action on a small piece of cloth (~1 inch circle) - I could not hear anything when it was drying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCmXzdz6qGQ

I'm not sure that we can make an accurate judgement based on that because it's going to depend on the mic they used, audio codec, (and less relevantly), speaker setup and hearing of listener.

Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#113

Post by johnny_reilly »

willyt wrote: post #105
spodek wrote: post #7

It's not the fastest clothes dryer, but I often use one that runs on fusion in outer space.

Once both my kids wet the bed every night for a week. 3 loads a day. Even on a sunny day in Scotland a duvet won't dry on the line in 1 day.

I feel you.

Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#114

Post by amelius »

nnain wrote: post #91
comicjk wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hanging clothes in direct sunlight is overkill, and probably reduces their useful life due to the UV. All you need is sufficient moving air. I hang mine under the deck or just on racks indoors.

Sunlight isn't an overkill. It's a great germ killer (You have to be cautious not to leave them out for too long, lest the UV/Heat damages the colours). You can use a lot of detergent to remove the last bacteria; but household detergents are a big source of water pollution.

Or you could throw your clothes into a geyser [1] :)

> (...) The group put their soiled clothes in a pillowcase and threw it into the geyser’s cone. When it erupted, the clothes were sent flying over a hundred feet into the air. When they collected them, the churning, heated water had indeed cleaned them.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14146482

Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#115

Post by seanp2k2 »

hugodahl wrote: post #90
sbierwagen wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.amazon.com/SSEYL-MS-C-Textile-Moisture-Meter/dp/...

4.47$ shipping, and it's not even next day? Pass! /s

Yeah I'll wait for the ETEKCITY version for $16 with prime shipping.

Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#116

Post by seanp2k2 »

willyt wrote: post #105
spodek wrote: post #7

It's not the fastest clothes dryer, but I often use one that runs on fusion in outer space.

Once both my kids wet the bed every night for a week. 3 loads a day. Even on a sunny day in Scotland a duvet won't dry on the line in 1 day.

Bed-wetting children get cheap blankets and mattress protectors (plastic sheets), not duvets!

Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#117

Post by seanp2k2 »

prawn wrote: post #52
duncan_bayne wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We did that, right up until we had three kids and full-time jobs :)

We dry ours (2A+2C) inside on hanging racks, but it takes up a fair bit of space. In a smaller house, we'd have no chance.

You also need adequate cubic footage to absorb the moisture dependent upon the humidity inside. If you run the AC, that helps keep the humidity lower, but it's probably more expensive than just running the dryer.

Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#118

Post by sambe »

jdavis703 wrote: post #18
ergothus wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For apartment goers (or those that live in uncooperative climates) the reliability of such a system is a bigger problem than the speed. But for those that can use it, it is indeed a great system.

Can you put your clothes on a fire escape? Or in your bathroom (works great if you have a bathroom with a window).

It's considered reasonable to endanger lives to dry washing? (I don't live in the US).

Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#119

Post by seren »

smaili wrote: post #19

> At the end of the project, appliance manufacturers including GEA will be ready to invest in this technology and commercialize it. This will result in the U.S. becoming the leader in the clothes drying industry and generate new jobs and innovative applications of the technology. Pretty sure as soon as China is aware of this idea (if not already), they will have something in production and out the door faster and at…

GE appliances is already a Chinese company so pretty sure they have some chance to be the first to actually commercialize it. So no need to worry about China copying it..

Re: Ultra-low-energy consumption ultrasonic clothes dryer

#120

Post by sambe »

MrFoof wrote: post #16
Scoundreller wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the longevity of your clothes.

This is the main reason. The difference in the longevity of my clothes -- same exact articles, same brand, same material, thickness, size and stitching -- from switching from a "hotbox" dryer to condensation dryer was initially amazing. No more did cuffs and collars start to crack and fail, nor did my shirts slowly develop small tears. The latest (2014 is when they really started to hit the market) heat pump dryers d…

It varies by country. I'd think most in the UK consider "dryer" to mean heated dryer. I've found condensation dryers do a sub-par job and heated ones are fine on the low setting.
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