What Does Cyclone Dry Mean in a Washing Machine?

Components

• Washing/drying machines that use cyclone dry technology have several specific components. These include a heater to heat the air; ducts to distribute the hot, dry air; a condensing apparatus inside the duct that reduces the air’s humidity; a fan for forcing the air through the ducts; a water condensing unit that condenses the water from the washed clothes and fabrics; and circulating ducts to allow moisture to escape.

Condensing Apparatus

• Inside the actual condensing apparatus, there is a grove carved into the casing. The outside of the casing is a cylinder, but the interior casing is funneled, so that the groove guides the condensed water into a tightening spiral down the casing. An air outlet connects to this funneled spiral and helps drive the water and air into a “cyclone,” from which the technology derives its name. The water is filtered out, leaving the air hot and dry.

Function

• The condensing unit, moving the air into a cyclonic manner, therefore drives the hot and dry air into the drum where the clothes and fabric are and dries the laundry more quickly than machines with a traditional tumble-dry function. It literally dehydrates the laundry, rather than waiting for heat to evaporate the water.

Use

• Cyclone dry technologies have been adapted for use by a number of manufacturers. Samsung, of course, as the originator of the technology, uses this in its washing machines and dryers, but cyclone dry features can be found in machines manufactured and distributed by Sanyo, LG, Kenmore and Dyson.