Vacuum Heat Pump Dryer With Steam-Assisted Low-Temperature Drying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing clothes dryers, including heat pump dryers, face challenges with high energy consumption and long drying times, which can damage fabrics and lead to wrinkling and shrinking, as they often rely on high temperatures and inefficient air circulation.
Innovation Solution
A vacuum heat pump dryer method that uses a sealed drum with a heat pump system to create a near-vacuum state, where the heat pump heats the drum surface, and hot steam is injected to enhance heat convection, allowing for rapid evaporation of moisture at lower temperatures, reducing energy consumption and drying time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If high temperature drying is used to increase drying speed, then drying time is reduced, but energy consumption increases and fabric damage occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical parameter of atmospheric pressure to near-vacuum state, which fundamentally alters the drying mechanism. Under vacuum conditions, water evaporates at lower temperatures, enabling fast drying without high thermal energy input, thus resolving the contradiction between drying speed and energy consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes phase transition of water under vacuum conditions. Water evaporates from liquid to vapor phase at lower temperatures in the vacuum environment, and the vapor is then condensed back to liquid in the condenser. This phase transition mechanism enables rapid moisture removal without requiring high temperatures, solving both the energy consumption and drying speed issues
2Productivity
If high temperature drying is used to increase drying speed, then drying time is reduced, but fabric damage and wrinkling increase
Solution Approach 1:
By changing the atmospheric pressure parameter to vacuum state, the invention enables evaporation at low temperatures (30-50°C inside drum), which eliminates thermal damage to fabrics while maintaining high drying speed through enhanced evaporation rate in vacuum
Solution Approach 2:
The vacuum environment acts as an inert atmosphere that protects fabrics from oxidative damage and thermal degradation. The near-vacuum state provides a protective environment that prevents fabric deterioration while enabling rapid moisture removal through vacuum evaporation
3Use of energy by moving object
If conventional heat pump air circulation is used, then energy consumption is reduced, but drying time remains long
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the pressure parameter from atmospheric to vacuum state, which dramatically increases the evaporation rate of moisture from clothes. This allows the system to maintain low energy consumption through heat pump operation while achieving fast drying speeds through enhanced vacuum evaporation
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts air and moisture from the drying chamber using vacuum pumping, creating a pressure differential that accelerates moisture migration from clothes to the vacuum environment. This extraction mechanism enables fast drying without requiring high energy input for air circulation
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method significantly reduces energy consumption and drying time while protecting fabrics by evaporating water at lower temperatures, improving heat exchange efficiency and safety by maintaining a near-vacuum state within the drum.
Implementation Method 1
the internal atmospheric pressure of the drum becomes small until close to the vacuum state through the vacuum system
Implementation Method 2
the heat pump system heats the surface of the drum
Implementation Method 3
the heat generated by the heat pump device is exchanged to the outer surface of the drum through a liquid medium so as to heat the wet clothes in the drum
Implementation Method 4
the hot steam is passed into the drum to increase heat convection between the inner surface of drum and the clothes
Implementation Method 5
the water of clothes evaporate to form water vapor which is taken away by the vacuum
Implementation Method 6
the damp-hot air mixed with the water vapor produced by heating clothes and the hot steam pumped into the drum and contacted with clothes are pumped out through the vacuum extraction and condensed into water by the heat pump system
Data Source
AI summary
A dryer includes a sealed drum, a heat pump system, a vacuum device and a steam generating device. The steam generating device connects with the interior of the drum to introduce hot steam into the interior of the drum. The vacuum device connects with the interior of the drum. The heat pump system is arranged external to the drum. Heat generated by the heat pump device is exchanged with the outer surface of the drum through a liquid medium so as to heat the wet clothes in the drum. Simultaneously, damp-hot air mixed with the water vapor in pumped from heating clothes in the drum by the vacuum device and the hot steam pumped into the drum and contacted with clothes are cooled and condensed into water. The water produced by damp-hot air is connected with water provided by the steam generating device.