Design and fabrication of a cloth dryer

The evolution of drying machine came as a necessity against the traditional method of cloth drying using direct energy from the sun. This necessity is due to the evolution of the earth and change in in environmental conditions resulting from the climate change. The cloth drying machines available in the country are majorly imported and expensive and may not be affordable to average Nigerians. To solve this problem, a cloth drying machine that is affordable was designed and fabricated in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria using locally available materials. The dryer consists of the door, drying chamber, heater, fan, 750 Watts geared electric motor, micro-computer temperature sensor, electrical cables, power transmission devices and the frame. The dryer was tested and found suitable for the task it was developed for at an average drying rate of 0.4 to 1.2 g/min. It was observed that there was a significant reduction in weight of the clothes showing effective moisture removal in the drying process. The dryer is recommended for domestic drying of every category of fabrics.