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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY / FAMU-FSU
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
PROJECT
SCOPE
Dr. Charles A. Lewis sponsored our project,
and wanted us to improve the efficiency of a clothes
dryer. He proposed that we use a heat exchanger to preserve some of the heat
from the exhaust air to heat the intake air, thus allowing the heater to use
less energy to heat the intake air to the desired temperature. Dr. Lewis wants
to help the environment, and he believes that the best way to do so is to
improve one thing at a time. If we can make all the small things, like
household appliances, more energy efficient it will offset the effects of
global warming in the future.
In order to succeed in this project some
research was done on 
patents of heat
exchangers and dryer designs. Figure 1 shows the four basic dryer designs
available. A design had to be chosen based upon the best one suitable for the
design we chose. We studied the different heat exchangers and the effects they
produce on the air in the dryer and dryer designs that have been done before or
are being done now. Research was also done on different materials that could be
used to make the heat exchangers to be used in the system. Some materials of
concern to research were copper and aluminum.
FAMU-FSU