The Clothes Dryer 2

A standard dryer uses the 220v plug setting for an average of about 35 minutes, but can use it or an hour or longer. It requires a heating element and an alternator as parts.

A Bunker Dryer runs using an airtight decompression chamber. The clothes, water, and air are decompressed to ~5psi, causing the water to evaporate into the air and leave the clothes. The wet air is cycled by fan over a condensation pipe, where it will collect and drip through a one-way valve out of the chamber.

The entire process should require no more than 5 minutes and use a standard 110v outlet. 110v at 4 or 5 amperes should do the trick of rapidly decompressing the chamber to a suitable pressure, and the pipe could be refrigerated artificially, or it might simply appear cold to the touch from inside if it is a thin layer around atmosphere at normal pressure, due to the thermodynamic principle of expanding gasses. This will use substantially less equipment to produce, take less time, and use less energy to dry clothing.

It may be possible to invert the charge on a power tire inflater [~$16] to produce depressurization to an airtight chamber. Putting a groove and a one way seal into that chamber may produce the condensor, or it may require about 16" of modest refrigeration, also estimated to be a low price. This unit could cost under $100.

William Bunker
17 August 2006