The transverse motion of fabrics in domestic tumble dryers under different drying conditions

The transverse motion of fabrics in domestic tumble dryers plays an important role in fabric heat and mass transfer using hot air. However, owing to a lack of effective and accurate experimental methods, little attention has been paid to this dynamic behavior. This paper describes how a high-speed detection system was utilized to track a tracer fabric dyed yellow as it was tumbled amongst other fabrics under different drying conditions, with the aim of identifying transverse fabric motion in a domestic tumble dryer. The experimental results demonstrate that fabric motion is complicated and can be affected by the size of fabrics as well as by drying load mass. Most fabrics inhabited two main regions, the bulk region and the disperse region. Increasing the size of the disperse region, where fabrics are projected into the air by the motion of the rotary drum, also expands the contact area between the fabric and the surrounding air, and augments the mixing motions of textiles. This contributes positively to the mass and heat transfer, and to the prevention of wrinkling. A higher drying efficiency together with a better smoothness appearance was observed with a fabric size of 80 cm 80 cm and a mass of 3 kg. The high-speed detection system identified that specific ranges of fabric size and load mass led to increased fabric mixing and air-fabric contact.

Automated summary

This study used a high-speed detection system to track the transverse motion of fabrics in tumble dryers, finding that fabric motion was complex and influenced by factors such as fabric size and load mass. Increasing the size of the disperse region improved fabric mixing and air-fabric contact, leading to higher drying efficiency and better fabric appearance.