In the News Industry Information and Links Industry Research and Findings Protecting the Environment Prices and Practices EPRI is changing the way Americans clean their clothes. In 1997, for instance, EPRI and Maytag introduced the Neptune horizontal-axis washer to expand load capacity, cut water and energy use, get clothes cleaner, and reduce fabric wear.
Neptune sales are high and market demand is growing.
It is designed to complement the conventional clothes dryer, providing the speed and gentleness of microwave fabric drying and the compactness of a microwave oven. The CTMD will include a single impeller that can move approximately 100 cubic feet of air through the dryer per minute. The safety system, developed and tested by EPRI for use in full- size dryers, works by detecting very small amounts of precombustion gases. Also, of course, the CTMD is designed to meet all safety and regulatory requirements for consumer laundry and microwave appliances established by Underwriters' Laboratories and the Federal Communications Commission. The architecture of the CMTD will be very close to that of a typical microwave oven and will have the same microwave power source and safety interlock scheme.