Thermoelectric Clothes Dryer

Oak Ridge National Laboratory will research and develop a thermoelectric clothes dryer concept. The team will start the project using thermodynamic system modeling. The team will develop a prototype, evaluate, and compare it to a baseline vapor compression heat pump clothes dryer. Fabrication of a thermoelectric prototype with a liquid-pumped-loop thermoelectric heat pump will also be followed by an accelerated experimental study of the long-term effects of power quality and power cycling on thermoelectric module performance. This project's thermoelectric-based approach to clothes dryer is projected to have a lower first cost than vapor compression dryers by replacing refrigerant lines, compressor and an expansion device with low-cost thermoelectric modules, a water-pumped loop and low-cost power supplies.