Compacting a Garment Finisher

[DistressedNerd]

Anyone have any ideas for compacting the commercially available "Garment Finisher" into a home appliance. I am attempting to perform the feat and have made 4 prototypes with great progress, but wanted to throw this question out there to hear from anyone with ideas, relevant engineering experience, or interest in the task.

 

[MikeHalloran]

How about a link, or some photos of the commercially available version?


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[DistressedNerd]

Here is a video of one - Link

 

[DistressedNerd]

What I really need is insight on how to build something to produce that 5 second blast of steam, pressurizing the shirt.

 

[racookpe1978]

Look at the pressure vessel and valves and piping and safety factors in a home-owner's expresso machine.

You'll need a comparable waiting time for the water to boil and pressurize, or a hot pot to keep it hot and ready. But for a steamer used infrequently, the hot pot will waste a lot of energy, and that wasted energy will increase A/C loads in most of the country most of the year.

 

[IRstuff]

Well, a hot pot is certainly an option. But, that's analogous to a conventional water heater. The alternative would be a tankless water heater approach, and which also come point-of-use versions such as for handwashing faucets. But, that does require a truckload of instantaneous power:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/PowerSta...ankless-Electric-Water-Heater-AE3-4/100543694

This one requires 3.4kW to get 0.5gal flow up by 41F. Presumably, something like this can could get 0.125gal close to boiling. The larger version

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/b3/b39d1588-3176-4fdf-b8cf-2b86e71c40ac.pdf

seems capable of getting 0.1 gal past boiling.

You would then need to couple that with some sort of air pressurizer, which likewise needs to be heater to keep the steam in vapor phase.

TTFN
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