Lead Performer: Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Oak Ridge, TN
Partners: Sheetak Inc. – Austin, TX
DOE Funding: $850,000
Cost Share: $95,000
Project Term: October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2016
Funding Opportunity: Building Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Incubator Technologies (BENEFIT) ‐ 2014 (FOA DE‐FOA‐0001027)

Project Objective

DOE’s Building Technologies Office is seeking new clothes dryer technologies to increase the energy factor (EF) above 5.44 (vented) or 4.04 (ventless), with simple payback of less than five years and drying times not more than 20% longer than over baseline units.

The project goal is to develop and demonstrate a proof-of-concept prototype dryer based on drum-integrated thermoelectric technology, with an EF above 6 and drying time comparable to conventional technology. This thermoelectric technology has the potential to be much less expensive at scale than vapor compression-based heat pump dryers.

Project Impact

If successful, this transformative dryer technology can save 356 TBtu/year, create new U.S. jobs through manufacture of a cost-effective alternative to conventional machines, and enable the U.S. to be the leader in dryer technology.

The thermoelectric design has the potential for very low cost. Compared with a conventional electric resistance model, the proposed design adds low-cost thermoelectric modules and simplifies other elements of the design. In addition, the ventless design makes installation less expensive and simpler because it only requires electrical service and a condensate drain (or pump). Therefore, cost should not be much greater than conventional (non-heat pump) dryers.

The design achieves this by integrating the heating elements into the drum itself (something not feasible with vapor compression). The resulting benefits to system heat transfer can eliminate the traditional efficiency gap between thermoelectric and vapor compression heat pumps, thereby allowing the potential for comparable efficiency to vapor compression heat pumps systems at lower cost.

Contacts

DOE Technology Manager: Tony Bouza
Lead Performer: Kyle Gluesenkamp, ORNL

Related Publications

Gluesenkamp, K.R., Momen, A.M., Vineyard, E.A. (2014). Heat pump clothes dryer with thermoelectric drum. Oak Ridge National Laboratory Invention Disclosure 201403292, DOE S-124,906.