There will always be a domestic need for laundry—we all wear clothes for warmth, style, and security. Yet cleaning the clothes we wear seems like a standard affair that will never change. Fill washer with water and soap, insert clothes, and set to run. This has been the way we do things for years (after hand washing with a washboard and soapy water in a bucket, of course), but that may be changing in the coming years.
The Orbit Washing Machine by Electrolux does just that—removing water from the cleaning equation entirely. By using electromagnetic forces and carbon dioxide in solid state, the machine is capable of removing stains and cleaning clothes without getting them wet at all. The ball works by filling it with clothing and inserting it into the ring assembly. The ring uses power generated from its own (also self-recharging) batteries to run electric current through liquid nitrogen, which produces enough magnetic levitation to move the ball within the hoop.
The actual cleaning is done by firing carbon dioxide in solid state at the clothing to safely remove stains, then sucking it back up and converting back to solid state for later use. The system itself is concept, of course, and certainly won’t be in our laundry rooms anytime soon, but a revolutionary device that reduces water waste and energy consumption is something many modern companies strive to create.
