ORBIT LEVITATES LAUNDRY - and cleans without water

The "Orbit" is a concept washing machine designed by Elie Ahovi for the Electrolux Design Lab. The machine levitates your laundry and cleans it with dry ice. No water is used.

In detail, the process first begins with the user loading their clothes into a metallic sphere that is double-coated with shatter-proof glass. The spherical ball is opened and controlled with a ceramic touch screen interface. To levitate the ball, it must first be supercooled using liquid nitrogen. This causes its electrical resistivity to drop and the ball becomes a superconductor. In this state, the ball can levitate as a battery-filled ring surrounding the ball generates a magnetic field.

The washing process consists of dry ice being blasted at the laundry at high speeds. The CO2 sublimates on contact with the clothing, causing no damage. Instead, it interacts and breaks down the unwanted organic material in the laundry. The dirt and waste from this process is filtered through a tube that you can clean. To re obtain dry ice, the CO2 is frozen again.

The cleaning process is fast and noiseless but the "Orbit" incorporates several far-fetched technologies not readily available to the masses. However, it would be quite interesting to have a future where this washing machine concept is a common commodity in the future household.