A Study on Filtration Characteristics of Heat Pump Clothing Dryer

Abstract

Recently, clothes dryers have received much focus as an essential home appliance. This may be attributed to the increase in indoor drying due to environmental factors such as changes in the residential environment (e.g. multipurpose buildings or extended balconies) and fine dust. The sudden growth of the clothes dryer market has resulted in an increase in the demand for high-efficiency dryers that are essential in preventing the environmental problems associated with increased energy consumption, and numerous studies have focused on solving such problems. Heat pump clothes dryers have recently attracted much attention because they can significantly reduce the energy consumption due to the drying process. The present study aims to investigate the characteristics of lint and filter mesh, the relationship between them, and the impact of these factors on the energy efficiency and durability of heat pump clothes dryers. Four different types of mesh were used as primary and secondary filter meshes, and numerical analyses as well as experiments were carried out for a total of 16 possible cases. The results of the numerical analyses were validated using the dust test and the lint collection test. The performance test was carried out for 110 × 110, 110 × 200, and 200 × 200 meshes, based on the results of numerical analyses and experiments, which showed that filtration efficiency was more closely correlated with the aperture opening rate of the mesh than its number, and that increase in the flow rate led to reduced energy consumption. Most previous studies on improving the air flow in heat pump clothes dryers have focused on optimizing the fan blade shape, the size of the evaporator or the heat exchanger, and the pin shape. However, no study has focused on the lint and the filter for removing the lint as they influence the air flow. This study was able to establish that the characteristics of the lint and the filter mesh, in addition to the relationship between them, significantly impact the energy efficiency and durability of heat pump clothes dryers.