Students’ fold-away tumble dryer to iron out those airing problems

A tumble dryer that is cheap to run, can fold away, and might even iron your clothes sounds too good to be true — but two UCD graduates plan to make it a reality.

Thu, 22 Nov, 2012 - 00:00

Conall Ó Fátharta

Sure to be heroes to students and their mothers across the globe, Finbarr Maguire and David Ronan of PurOrigin have scooped the prestigious NovaUCD 2012 Start-Up Award for their innovative, energy-efficient clothes dryer designed to create a niche in the tumble dryer market.

The PurDry is a hybrid of a clothes horse and tumble dryer, requires no installation, can be folded up and stored when not in use, and promises to halve your drying bill.

Mr Maguire, co-creator of the PurDry, yesterday explained some of the features of the dryer, which he hopes will be on the market this time next year.

“Space is at a premium in modern living spaces, so the PurDry can be folded away and will half your bill, maybe more,” said Mr Maguire. “It weighs about five or six kilos.

“We are hoping to have a smartphone feature so you can start the dryer remotely at the optimum time, say when you’re at work.

“It will also recognise different fabrics and dry them accordingly, so they won’t shrink. Essentially our plan was to take the thinking out of the process and save people time and money.”

Mr Maguire said they hoped to link with an established brand to bring the dryer to market and expect to be comparable in price to a low-cost tumble dryer.

Amazingly, they are also tentatively looking towards a premium feature that will allow the dryer to iron your clothes as well as dry them.

“With individual carbon taxes coming down the line, products like this are going to be the way of the future, not only energy wise but also financially,” said Mr Maguire.

The duo have both just completed masters of engineering degrees in energy systems at the UCD school of mechanical and materials engineering and will graduate in December. The dryer is just the first product they have planned.

PurOrigin was also presented with a €20,000 prize fund after being declared overall winner of UCD’s 17th NovaUCD Campus Company Development Programme.