Impact of Laser Surface Texturing in sustainability at homes: improvements in energy efficiency for dishwasher and tumble dryer machines

Application of PROMETHEUS to a dishwasher application (Arcelik) has the potential to create hydrophobic/philic surfaces that can potentially increase drying performance and energy usage by 4 % per machine. In the drying cycle, water droplets on the surface of dishes are evaporated due to the hot surface of dishes that were heated during the rinsing stage.

The dishwasher machine's base's surface water layer has an important role in the drying process energy saving. Heat pump technology is used for high-energy level tumble dryers. In this system, humid air is circulated to the evaporator to decrease the amount of humidity inside of the air and then this air is passed through a condenser to be heated. During the cycle, humid air is condensed on the surface of the evaporator fins.

Water layer on the surface of the evaporator. And this water layer blocks the airflow and so energy efficiency decreases. Prometheus laser texturing process a hydrophobic texture is obtained through surface modification and it provides reducing water layer fin surfaces. According to thermal engineering calculation, 4% energy saving is expected with hydrophobic texture thanks to the Prometheus project.

• ▪ Progress until now: Dishwasher case: Initial studies were performed by using prototypes placed in different regions of the dishwasher's interior surfaces (representing the %1.5 of the total interior surfaces) and the residual water on these prototype surfaces were reduced 76% and 78% on side surfaces and top surface, respectively, when compared to the original reference condition. Tumble dryer case: Sample studies ongoing.


• ▪ Next Steps: Dishwasher case: Scaling up to the whole interior surface of the dishwasher and performing the drying efficiency test studies are on-going. Tumble dryer case: After sample studies will be achieved prototype tests will performed. Textured with laser and will be used for tests compared (benchmarking) to the original aliminum fin samples in the real tumble dryer.