Design of an air condenser for tumble dryers

Air condenser tumble dryers are those of the most energy consuming home appliances. Therefore, improving the performance of the condenser tumble dryers has recently drawn much attention in today?s world where the energy reserves continuously reduce. Among the various components of the tumble dryers, the condenser is the most important one. The first object of this study was to determine the factors that affect the performance of the condenser which is of the air-to-air heat exchangers. For this purpose a simple air condenser dryer energy model was developed and the effect of the condenser on energy consumption was investigated. A condenser testing unit was designed and constructed to measure the performance of the condensers. The test matrix was formed according to a ?Design of Experiment (DOE).? The tests of the existing benchmark condenser were conducted to determine the factors that affect the condenser performance. In the second part of the study two new condensers were designed and prototyped. One of two new condensers was tested in the condenser testing unit and the results were compared with the existing benchmark condenser. Finally, three condensers, that is, the existing benchmark condenser and two newly designed condensers, were tested in a benchmark air condenser tumble dryer. The test results showed that one of the newly designed condensers had much better performance than the benchmark condenser in terms of the condenser efficiency, the condensation rate, the water collecting efficiency and the energy consumption values, while the other newly designed condenser was slightly better than the benchmark one.