A washing machine can have at least one heating element and be configured to perform a cycle of operation. A method of operation of the washing machine can include signaling a relay circuit to switch operation of the at least one heating element. A washing machine and a dryer can each have at least one heating element and be configured to perform a cycle of operation. The washing machine and dryer can be connected to a shared power source. A method of sharing power between the washing machine and the dryer can include allocating power between the washing machine and the dryer.

A washing machine comprises a first washing drum with a first heater and a second washing drum with a second heater. Before the first washing drum performs a heating procedure, it is necessary to determine whether the second washing drum is performing the heating procedure; if not, the first washing drum performs the heating procedure; if yes, it is necessary to determine whether the remaining heating time of the second washing drum is less than a set value, T min; if yes, the first washing drum pauses the heating procedure; when the second washing drum finishes performing the heating procedure, the first washing drum then performs the heating procedure; if not, remaining heating time of the first washing drum and that of the second washing drum are determined, whichever drum having the shorter remaining heating time performs the heating procedure first, while the other drum performs the heating procedure second.

A heat pump clothes dryer comprising a circulating air path consisting of a drying drum and a drying air path for circularly flowing drying air; and a heat pump system consisting of an evaporator, a throttling device, a condenser and a compressor successively connected end to end for circularly flowing a refrigerant medium. The condenser and the evaporator are disposed on the drying air path, and perform heat exchange with the drying air. The compressor has independent suction compression chambers, each suction compression chamber being switchably connected in series or in parallel. When the dryer starts drying in a low-temperature environment, the suction compression chambers of the compressor operate in a parallel state, so that the air displacement of the compressor is increased to improve the flowing activity of the refrigerant medium in the heat pump system, so as to avoid occurrence of frosting of the evaporator.

The present disclosure provides system and method for drying various materials using an air-to-air heat exchanger in sequence with a liquid-to-air heat exchanger to provide heat to a chamber to remove moisture from materials contained within the chamber in an energy efficient manner.

A method of operating a dryer appliance includes directing a flow of hot dry air into a chamber defined within a drum of the dryer appliance. The method also includes receiving a signal indicative of an atmospheric condition external to the dryer appliance and determining whether the indicated atmospheric condition is less than a threshold. The method may further include directing a flow of air from the chamber to an interior space when the indicated atmospheric condition external to the dryer is less than the threshold, and activating a component of an environmental control system in communication with the interior space when the indicated atmospheric condition of the ambient environment external to the dryer is less than the threshold.

A clothes care apparatus includes a chamber, an upper fan provided above the chamber and configured to move air to a lower side of the chamber, and a lower fan provided under the chamber and configured to move air to an upper side of the chamber. A first motor is configured to rotate the lower fan and a steam generating device is configured to generate steam by heating water. A controller is configured to control on-off states of the steam generating device and the first motor, configured to turn on the steam generating device in a first period for supplying the generated steam to the chamber, and configured to turn on the first motor in a second period for allowing the steam to be dispersed by air moving to the chamber.

A sensor is provided that is applicable to new and old clothes dryers, including clothes dryers that have a built-in moisture sensor, because the sensor of the present invention also measures the humidity which has proven to be far more accurate. The retrofit moisture and humidity sensor can be installed in a clothes dryer and can be used to reduce energy consumption for gas and electric clothes dryers. The sensor communicates with a receiver device that shuts off the power to the clothes dryer when the items in the clothes dryer are sufficiently dry as measured by the sensor. An advantage of this inexpensive power saving device is that it does not require any mechanical alterations to the clothes dryer.

Disclosed is a control method for laundry treating apparatus configured to perform a dry cycle for clothes by operating a heat pump comprising: a measuring step for measuring a temperature of a refrigerant and a temperature of air which pass through an evaporator to exchange heat; a comparing step for comparing a difference between the measured temperatures of the refrigerant and air with a preset reference temperature; and an adjusting step for adjusting an opening degree of the expansion valve according to the result of the comparing step.

A method for controlling a laundry drying machine having a laundry treating chamber and a control unit which receives a signal indicative of laundry moisture from a moisture sensor. The method includes receiving a user input of a laundry treating program, and, in the machine initialization phase, comparing the laundry moisture indicated by the signal to a first threshold, which is stored in the control unit and is indicative of dried laundry or empty threating chamber. If the signal is determined to be equal or less than the first threshold, one or more of the following actions is performed: carrying out only a portion of the selected laundry treating program; skipping the program main phase; starting the program final phase; stopping the laundry treating program; providing a notification of dried laundry and/or empty treating chamber.

A laundry drying machine includes: a cabinet, a drum rotatably disposed in the cabinet and configured to accommodate a target object, an electric field generator spaced apart from the drum and configured to, based on power being applied to the electric field generator, generate an electric field, and an exhaust duct configured to discharge air inside the drum. The electric field generator includes: (i) an anode electrode spaced apart from the drum, fixed to the cabinet, and configured to apply the electric field to the target object, (ii) a power supply unit configured to supply the power to the anode electrode, and (iii) a matcher configured to match a source impedance of the power and an impedance of a load side. The drum is configured to, based on a reflectivity of the electric field exceeding a predetermined ratio, reduce a rotation speed.