Identification of air leakage in a household heat pump tumble dryer

Gatarić, Pero (author), Širok, Brane (author), Gostiša, Jurij (author)

Leakage of air in tumble dryers is an important parameter regarding the energy efficiency of the drying process. In general, tumble dryers are prone to leakage, therefore further investigation and optimization in this field is of great interest. This study investigates and quantifies leakage of air within the closed-loop system of an in-situ household heat pump tumble dryer. Each potential leakage location was characterized by leakage curve obtained either by isolated or cumulative measurements using system pressurization method. Based on the static pressure distribution within the closed-loop system, the leakage outflow and inflow were quantified. The leakage of air at the rear and front drum seal was evaluated with and without drum movement. The results indicated the highest leakage outflow rate at the heat pump housing, which represents 12,6% of the total drying air flow rate within the closed-loop system. Sealing heat pump housing improved the condensation efficiency from B to A class according to the IEC 61121.

• Language: English
• Keywords: heat pumps, tumble dryers, leakage, energy efficiency, condensation efficiency
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 3622–3630
• Numbering: Vol. 40, no. 16
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-143671
• UDC: 621.577:648.336
• ISSN on article: 0737-3937
• DOI: 10.1080/07373937.2022.2073596
• COBISS.SI-ID: 108705027
• Publication date in RUL: 06.01.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Drying technology
• Shortened title: Dry. technol.
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0737-3937
• COBISS.SI-ID: 5922823

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: sušilni stroji, toplotne črpalke, netesnost, energetska učinkovitost, merilne metode

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P2-0401
• Name: Energetsko strojništvo