Modeling and Performance Investigation of a Closed-Type Thermoelectric Clothes Dryer

In present work, a closed-type clothes dryer with thermoelectric elements was developed. The looped air circulation was designed to simultaneously recycle waste heat and enhance dryer performance. A mathematical model of heat transfer, based on one-dimensional treatment of thermal and electric power, is conducted. The cooling and heating productions are both correlated in terms of electric resistance, thermal conductivity, and electric current. Experimental investigation on drying of clothes has been attempted, covering the drying air temperature, initial-input electric power, and total weight of wet clothes, with drying rate and specific moisture extraction rate as evaluating indexes. Generally, the drying rate was found to increase first and decrease afterwards as time decayed. Analytical and experimental results demonstrate that optimal performance of the thermoelectric dryer strongly depends on intensities of these operating parameters.