Oak Ridge National Laboratory
June 2, 2015 – Tomorrow’s clothes dryers could use high-frequency mechanical vibrations instead of heat to extract moisture as a cold mist, dramatically reducing drying time and energy use. Oak Ridge National Laboratory and GE Appliances researchers are developing a prototype that uses ultrasonic transducers with an energy factor that greatly exceeds current heat-based technology. Drying times could be reduced to 15 to 20 minutes with potentially no shrinkage and no fading. “This project can potentially revolutionize the clothes dryer industry and provide 117 billion kilowatt-hours in energy savings,” said Ayyoub Momen of the lab’s Building Technologies Research and Integration Center.