GE reinvents the dryer to disrupt the laundry industry
GE shows us that you can reinvent even the most mundane products and use technology to disrupt your industry.
Key takeaways
- Ultrasonic humidifiers use high speed vibrations to turn water into steam, so Ayyoub Momen, a staff scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, turned that method on fabric.
- Wave goodbye to laundry Sunday's and say hello to free time.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2016) 'GE reinvents the dryer to disrupt the laundry industry', 311 Institute, 16 August. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/ge-uses-ultrasound-to-transform-your-laundry/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Heating laundry inside a standard 220 volt clothes dryer is a huge energy drain and most households have one but, in an example of how companies can innovate even the most mundane of products, one scientist just found a brilliant way to reinvent the dryer, making it simultaneously faster and more energy efficient to do the laundry.
Ultrasonic humidifiers use high speed vibrations to turn water into steam, so Ayyoub Momen, a staff scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, turned that method on fabric. It's one of those ideas you picture bursting into the brain of an engineer who sits upright in the middle of the night, scribbling on as fast as he can on a piece of paper.
The result is a battery operated, ultrasonic piezoelectric system that takes fabric from soaking wet to bone dry in a fraction of the time of a traditional heat pump dryer like the one you have at home while using a mere fraction of the energy.
Currently, the prototype is a silver dollar sized transducer connected to a battery that dries a wet piece of fabric in about 20 seconds and neither the fabric nor the transducer get hot, like with a regular dryer.
The bad news though is that you can't buy one at the Home Depot, yet but the good news is that General Electric has committed to make the new dryer and they're partnering with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to bring it to market in about four years from now.
Wave goodbye to laundry Sunday's and say hello to free time.
What this means for your organisation
Dull products can be rebuilt.
Heating laundry in a standard 220 volt dryer is a big energy drain, and most homes own one. Ayyoub Momen at Oak Ridge National Laboratory applied the ultrasonic humidifier method to fabric. Any product your sector treats as settled may carry the same weakness.
Battery power changes the design.
The prototype runs from a battery, and neither the fabric nor the transducer gets hot. Our data lists piezoelectric energy systems at Watch, with wide use expected by 2045. Home batteries sit at Prepare, with wide use by 2030, as they reach hundreds of thousands of homes a year.
Plan for a four year window.
GE has committed to make the dryer with Oak Ridge, and it is about four years from market. That is enough time to review any process that relies on heat. Electric Industrial Heat is at Explore, with wide use expected by 2032, as factories swap boilers for heat pumps and heat storage.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
- Which of our products still rely on heat that a different method could replace?
- Could a rival partner with a research laboratory to rebuild our core product?
- What would our energy use look like if our core process ran on battery power?
The trends and technologies behind this story
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s article and 311 data. First published on Fanatical Futurist.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
GE shows us that you can reinvent even the most mundane products and use technology to disrupt your industry.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, President and Futurist, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
Read full bio
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 17-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder, President and Futurist of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity programme, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory ornl.gov
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 16 August 2016. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2016). GE reinvents the dryer to disrupt the laundry industry. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/ge-uses-ultrasound-to-transform-your-laundry/
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