Abstract
An experimental study of the drying process using the prototype of a venting type dryer is presented. The machine has two motors: one for moving the drum and another for moving the turbine; electrical resistance is used as the heat source. The prototype operates under controlled test conditions in accordance with the Department of Energy (DOE) Standard 10 CFR 430. The aim of this study is to statistically determine the impact of the main factors and their interactions involved in the drying of clothing from a complete design of experiments. Statistical analyses for drying time and the energy consumption are determined from the studied factors. The factors studied are turbine motor frequency (to admit and expel air from the dryer); power supplied to the electric coil, amount and moisture of clothing and restriction of exhaust duct the gases. The results show that all of the studied factors and four of the interactions are statistically significant in the drying of clothes. The shortest drying time and the lowest energy consumption were obtained with the higher level of restriction and the lower initial moisture of clothing.
Acknowledgments
This work has been supported and jointly developed by MABE Technology and Projects and the Instituto de Ingenieria of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. The authors would like to thank Victor Gonzalez, Engineering Director of the Care of Clothes Area; Martha Hecht, Leader of Washing and Drying Performance Subsystem; Guillermo Astorga, Performance Design Engineer; and Edward Gonzalez for his support in carrying out the experimental tests.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Nomenclature
DT | = | Drying time (min) |
EC | = | Energy consumption (kWh) |
Pdrum | = | Electrical power motor moving the drum (kW) |
Pheater | = | Input electrical power to the heater (kW) |
Pturbine | = | Power of the fan motor (kW) |
R2 | = | Percentage of variation of the response variables (%) |
R2(adj) | = | Percentage of response variation (%) |
SMER | = | Specific moisture extraction rate (kg/kWh) |
SEC | = | Rate of consumed energy per kg of moisture removed (kWh/kg) |
X | = | Removed moisture per hour (kg/h) |
Greek symbols
δ | = | Load size (kg) |
γ | = | Initial load moisture (%) |
λ | = | Power (W) |
η | = | Restriction (cm) |
β | = | Turbine motor frequency (Hz) |
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Santiago Plata
Santiago Plata is a Senior Designer at MABE Technology & Projects in the Clothes Care Area since 2005. He has worked on algorithms development of washing machines and dryers to meet with Energy Consumption requirements and Performance specifications. He is currently studying a Ph.D. in Thermofluids at the Programa de Posgrado en Ingenieria UNAM, Mexico.
William Vicente
William Vicente is a research engineer at the Instituto de Ingenieria UNAM, Mexico. He received his Ph.D. in fluid mechanics in 2000 from the Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain. He is currently working on heat transfer, combustion, turbulence and computational fluid dynamics.
Martin Salinas-Vazquez
Martín Salinas-Vazquez is a research engineer at the Instituto de Ingenieria UNAM, Mexico and a tenured lecturer in fluid mechanics, FI-UNAM. He received his Ph.D. in fluid mechanics in 1999 from the INP-Grenoble, France. He is in charge of the Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at the Instituto de Ingenieria UNAM. He is currently working on heat transfer, free surface flows, and biological flows under numerical aspects.