Conventional clothes dryers include a rotating drum into which textiles to be dried are placed. The textiles are dried by forcing heated air through the wet laundry rotating within the drum. Moisture is removed along with the air exiting the dryer or via a condensed water duct.
Conventional clothes dryers have been controlled in various ways. The simplest of these is a timer that controls the duration of the drying cycle. When using a timer, the user places wet laundry inside the dryer and selects the duration for the drying cycle. The dryer cycle then proceeds until the timer expires. Although this method is relatively simple, it is difficult to accurately estimate the length of time required to reach a desired final moisture level, or “dryness,” for every type of textile. If the cycle length is too short, the textiles will not be fully dry at the end of the cycle, and the user must initiate another dryer cycle to finish the drying process. If, on the other hand, the cycle length is too long, the clothes may become “overdry,” which may result in premature textile degradation and/or damage, excess energy consumption, and an associated increase in energy costs.