What is meant by laundry equipment?

Laundry equipment refers to the objects to be incorporated for cleaning, drying, washing, and ironing clothes efficiently. Several appliances function differently according to their needs.

Laundry

Laundry is defined as the washing of clothes and other textiles along with ironing and drying them. In the olden days, laundry was performed by hand and many washers would clean the clothes by hand which would take a lot of effort, more time, and manpower. Nowadays, automated machines are developed to do the process of cleaning, washing, as well as drying which is convenient for most of us.

Laundry processes are inclusive of washing (normally with water having cleaning agents called detergents or other chemicals), agitation, rinsing, drying, pressing, and eventually folding. The washing may seldom be done at a little higher temperature than the room temperature to activate the chemicals needed for the removal of stains and kill germs due to sweat or other factors inside the fabric but different materials of cloth may react to higher temperatures differently, hence it is advised to check the labels and follow any specific instructions. For instance, cotton is required to be rinsed at a cooler temperature to avoid shrinkage problems. One can also opt for professional services in case of huge laundry or expensive fabric material.

Wiring laundry circuits

In recent times, houses contain three different circuits to supply the laundry room. The first one is a 20 A circuit to supply the 120 V power for the washing machine. Second, being the 30 A circuit dedicated to running the electric dryer. The third one is a standard 15 A lighting circuit that supplies light fixtures in other rooms along with the laundry area.

Washer Receptacle

The 120 V, 20 A circuit supplies as a receptacle for the washing machine. Usually wired with 12 gauge, two-wire cable including a hot, a neutral, and a ground wire. The receptacle is a 20 A GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) receptacle. A dedicated circuit supplies only a single piece of equipment, a designated circuit is meant for one-time use and not certainly one appliance.

Dryer receptacle

Almost all electric dryers run on both 240 V and 120 V power. The 240 V is for the heating element and the 120 V is for the timer, clock, buzzer, and various bells and whistles. Nowadays, dryers come with a four-prong plug which is useful along with a 120 V or 240 V receptacle and is normally supplied by a 10-gauge three-wire cable having two hot wires (neutral and a ground wire). The circuit is safeguarded with a 30 A circuit breaker. Installing three-prong cords is not permitted by the National Electrical Code (NEC).

Lighting circuit

The light fixtures in the laundry rooms are on the same circuit as the lighting for the immediate next room or hallway. Conventional lighting circuits are 15 A and typically have general receptacles as well.

GFCI protection

The NEC needs GFCI protection for all receptacles installed in the laundry areas inclusive of a 20 A designated receptacle for the washer or gas dryer and any receptacles frequently used. GFCI protection is not necessary for a 30 A electric dryer receptacle.

Wiring options can be the electricity boxes equipped with NM (non-metallic) type cables or single THHN (Thermoplastic High Heat- resistant Nylon coated) insulated wires.

Laundry appliances

Various laundry appliances comprise dryer machines, hydro extractors, dry cleaning machines, front-loading washing machines, garment steamers, drying tumblers, electric steam generators, flatbed presses, vacuum tables, washer extractors, vacuum ironing tables, laundry dryers, carpet cleaning machines, steam presses, vacuum finishing tables, electric steam boilers, stain removing machines, textile dryers, single tub washing machines, flatwork ironers, laundry carts, and laundry linen trolleys.

Washing machine

A washing machine is a piece of house equipment required for washing laundry. It needs water to wash clothes unlike dry cleaning and uses detergents (solid and liquid) to clean clothes automatically.

Motor specifications and working

A washing machine mainly comprises the wash cycles starting from washing, rinsing, spinning, and ending to maintenance wash. The temperature of the water must be below 40°C and anything higher than this will nullify the enzymes of the detergent. The motor used is either a universal motor (electric motor) or a split-phase induction motor with a starting torque of 150 to 200 % of full load torque and an initial current of 6 to 8 times the full current load and speed variation being 2% to 5% from the no-load condition along with a power rating between 60 W and 250 W. The speed of the motor evolves from 300 rpm (revolutions per minute), then 700 rpm, and eventually to 1000-1600 rpm. The agitator spins and pushes the water in the outward direction between the paddles to the tub’s end. The water circulates by going outward to the sides of the tub and again to the center of the tub. This cycle keeps going on and in certain intervals, the rotation of the agitator is reversed for better water distribution and effective cleaning. Initially, the speed of rotation of the agitator is slow for the rinsing period, after draining the water it spins really fast to dry the clothes inside. For safety purposes, the machine mechanism halts if the above-hinged lid is opened.

Types of washing machine

Top-loading washing machine

It is also known as the vertical axis cloth washer extensively used in Canada and the U.S. The water circulation takes place along the poloidal axis during the wash cycle. The clothes are loaded into the machine container from above which is within a water-retaining tub and a water-pumping agitator fin-shaped at the bottom center of the container along with a closing frame hinged at one side on the top. While washing, the tub is filled with water to submerge the clothes entirely and it usually checks the quantity of load (clothes to be washed) from 1 (no load) to 10 (full load). Some machines produce different sounds and music for putting conditioner, stopping abruptly, and ending the wash. It uses a universal motor or a DC brushless motor and top-loading machines have a complex process, are heavy and expensive with more consumption of electricity.

An alternative to the agitator is an impeller-type tub by Hoover where the impeller attached on the sides of the washtub rotates in a standard direction while generating a fast-moving water current dragging the clothes through the water along the toroidal path. One motor of constant speed is all that is needed to power the pulsator (impeller) without the use of gearboxes or any complicated electric controls.

Other types of top-loading are reversible motor, mode-changing transmission, and the combination of a reversible motor with the mode-changing transmission.

Front-loading washing machine

It is also known as the horizontal-axis cloth washer usually prevailing in Europe. Mostly this design is preferred in industrial and commercial washing. The inner washtub and the outer container are placed horizontally, the loading of clothes takes place from the front opening of the machine. The agitation process is given by the back and forth spinning of the cylinder and by gravity. Since this wash action does not need the load to be freely suspended onside water, minimum water is used to soften the fabric cloth. The front-loaders limit the water usage through the surface tension property of water and the capillary wicking action. Whether the machine is fully loaded or not, the container is filled with the same low level of water until the above clothes soak the water, and then it gets filled to maintain the original level of water. The main motor is linked to the drum by a grooved pulley belt and a big pulley wheel and the gearbox, clutch, or crank is not required.

Context and Applications

• Bachelors in Technology (Electrical Engineering)
• Masters in Science (Micro Processing Units)
• Masters in Science (Electronics and Telecommunications)
• Masters in Science (Robotics and Machine Learning)

Practice Problems

Q1. Wiring installation may be done by using what type of wires?

1. NM (non-metallic)
2. Fiber optic
3. Coaxial
4. None of these

Correct option- a

Explanation: Wiring installation may be done by using what NM (non-metallic) type of wires.

Q2. Which of the following is not laundry equipment?

1. Garment steamers
2. USB endoscopes
3. Computer
4. Laundry chutes

Correct option- c

Explanation: The computer is not laundry equipment.

Q3. What is the full form of NEC?

1. National Energy Code
2. National Electrical Code
3. Non-Elemental Code
4. National Electronics Code

Correct option- b

Explanation: The full form of NEC is National Electrical Code.

Q4. Vertical access cloth washer is also known as-

1. Front loading
2. Washing machine
3. Top loading
4. Dry cleaning

Correct option- c

Explanation: Vertical access cloth washer is also known as top loading.

Q5. Cleaning with very low moisture content is known as-

1. Dry carpet cleaning
2. Laundry cleaning
3. Linen chutes
4. None of these

Correct option- a

Explanation: Cleaning with very low moisture content is known as dry carpet cleaning.

Related Concepts

• Vacuum finishing tables
• Stain removing machines
• Textile dryers
• Single tub washing machines