We're still waiting for sonic showers as a quicker, water-free method of self-cleaning. But for now, designers are one step closer to providing a more efficient way to clean our clothes.

The Orbit is a concept waterless washing machine that levitates clothes and cleans them with dry ice in minutes.

The machine is powered by a battery-filled ring that produces a magnetic field. A superconductive, supercooled metal laundry basket inside of the ring is chilled using liquid nitrogen. As the temperature drops, the basket floats within the ring.

Then sublimated dry ice is fired at high pressure into the dirty clothes. The CO2 reacts with the dirt in the clothing and breaks it down. Dirt gets filtered out through a tube and the CO2 is removed and re-frozen.

PopSci reports:

"At this point it's just a concept by designer Elie Ahovi, but it's not hard to imagine these types of cleanerballs in apartments of the future. Anything that will cut down on time spent doing laundry."

Waterless Washing Machine Levitates Laundry and Cleans It With Dry Ice [via PopSci]

Photo: Elie Ahovi

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com