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Solar Dryer

Use the sun to dry wet cloths.
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(+8, -1)
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We use cloth nappies and have to do a large family size of drying most days. My wife would dry on the line but has two problems, firstly you have to be around for washing lines, its hard to leave the house in anything but the best of weather. Secondly my wife doesn't like the way 'everything ends up as stiff as cardboard', definitely not good for nappies. For me I think the electric dryer also less hassel than a washing line. You can load it up at night before you go to bed.

The solar dryer would be a glass box about the same size as a normal electric dryer. The back and bottom of the dryer would be a nice matt black.It would sit outside the house in the yard. Inside the box would be a wire drum with a lid/door, with an horizontal axis. Clothes would be loaded by lifting the top lid and opening the wire door. A small (7 * 5 inch) solar cell drives the wire drum round like a slow minuet hand.

Cloths would be loaded at any point, the sun would heat the inside of the glass box like the interior of a car (sans leathered seats). On hot sunny days the clothes might dry quickly but even on a sunny/ cloudy day you might get a good dry over the day. If it does rain well no problem.

my first idea be gentle.

inventorist, Apr 11 2007

A plastic solar clothes dryer https://www.youtube...watch?v=DKi3KG6Ii7o
muffin fan [popbottle, Mar 08 2015]

[link]






       sp. clothes   

       Interesting. On clothes lines, of course, it is the wind much more than the sun that dries the clothes. Perhaps you can incorporate the wind into your design as well?
DrCurry, Apr 11 2007
  

       This idea isn't a million miles from simply "hang your wet clothes in a conservatory". Which would also get my bun.
wagster, Apr 11 2007
  

       Unless you vent or dehumidify it, you've just invented the greenhouse dresser.
nuclear hobo, Apr 11 2007
  

       1. If you take them off the line and throw them in the drier for a minute or two they become soft.   

       2. You could dispense with your solar cell and wind your solar drier up. It could have a spring. If you are not blowing air thru, you probably will not need to turn it as much.   

       3. A box is a good shape for a drier with blowing air but maybe not for this. A large, thin flat box would be best. I envision the front being glass. The next inside layer black. The clothes rest on a wire mesh and are held against the black metal part. The back is open.   

       I think the idea you propose would work better as an autoclave than a drier - it would get hot but I am not sure where the steam would go.
bungston, Apr 11 2007
  

       Not bad, but I kind of doubt that you are going to get enough power from a small solar cell to turn over a twenty kilo load of wet nappies.
Galbinus_Caeli, Apr 11 2007
  

       //twenty kilo load of wet nappies//   

       Ug! Glad I don't have kids yet.   

       Not a bad idea, though. I wonder if you could use heat convection to drive it, or maybe a windmill?
discontinuuity, Apr 13 2007
  

       Speaking on inventions. [inventorist], that polyacrylamide they put in disposable diapers is a wonderful invention. I have at least 3 ideas posted on the HB based on the stuff. Now in the days of greenhouse gases and global warmings, perhaps it is not such a bad thing to fill landfills with carbon.
bungston, Apr 13 2007
  

       As pointed out ventilation is an absolute must, perhaps a padlock and a long chain might also be useful as the dryer is back yard item. I quite the concept of a chemical that changes colour in the presence of water, so if the drying is finished the words ‘dry’ would stand out in say blue.   

       How about an outer box – when closed the dry looks like a garden item and when open the sides lie down exposing mirrors that reflect light in to the box? Depends on how quickly you want things to dry and what the maximum temperature we should let clothes/ nappies reach.   

       What kinds of temperatures do people find their parked cars reaching ( and where?)   

       polyacrylamide - yum.
inventorist, Apr 13 2007
  

       //Ug! Glad I don't have kids yet.//
Yes, it's a shame, for they would love to play in it.
ldischler, Apr 13 2007
  

       The wire drum may need to be hamster-assisted. But that may mean even more nappies.
ConsulFlaminicus, Apr 14 2007
  

       Oh darn. I have a sketch at home of much the same device - with a couple of variations. There is a long, shallow, sloping solar box outside the drying chamber itself, which generates the hot air for dryer. Air is drawn through the system by a solar chimney at the top. And the drum is turned by a windmill.   

       [+]
BunsenHoneydew, Apr 21 2007
  
      
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