Air dryers are an important part of any production process. They are used to prevent compressed air from being contaminated. There are a number of industries that use air dryers including food and drink, manufacturing and packing, textiles and paint, engineering, automotive and the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Keep reading below to find out all about desiccant air dryers in manufacturing:
How Do These Air Dryers Work?
In many commercial and manufacturing settings, compressed air plays a crucial role. Air dryers work by getting rid of any moisture from the compressed air. Air that has excess humidity can cause tools and equipment to erode over time and pipes to freeze. There are a number of different types of air dryers on the market, but one of the most popular is a desiccant air dryer.
What is Desiccant?
Desiccants are drying agents that remove any water vapors from compressed air. The two main types of desiccant used in the manufacturing industry are silica gel and activated alumina. In most cases the desiccant comes in the form of small beads. Thousands of these beads are required in order for the air dryer to work properly.
What is a Desiccant Dryer?
A desiccant dryer uses compressed beads to soak up any water vapor. Most of the desiccant air dryers for sale regenerate so that the drying agent doesn’t need to be constantly replaced. Super-Dry provide their customers with the best desiccant air dryers on the market. Before buying a new dryer for your business, you need to know how they work. This will help you work out which desiccant is right for your business.
How Do They Work?
Most desiccant air dryers operate on a two-tower design. Both towers contain thousands of different beads, but they both perform different processes.
One tower removes the water vapor and dries the compressed air and the second tower helps the desiccant to regenerate. The aim of the regeneration cycle is to get rid of as much water as possible from the compressed air to stop the water from condensing.
Air compressor desiccant dryers are automatically programmed to sort this process. However, you do need to regularly check that your air dryer is working correctly. To do this you should look through the glass window to see if the indicator beads have changed colour.
Regenerating Desiccant
The three main types of desiccant air dryers used for regeneration are:
- Rotary Screw System (Oil-Free) – the heat from the compressor is used for the regeneration. This is an efficient system.
- Hot Air System – Hot air is blown into the system to dry the desiccant.
- Dried Air System – This is only suitable for small dryers. The system uses a portion of the compressed air for regeneration.
Things to Consider
There are a number of things you need to think about before choosing which desiccant air dryer is perfect for your business:
- Filtering system – you need to install a water filter, condensation trap and oil filter in order to keep the water entering the air dryer oil-free.
- Energy costs – air dryers can be costly, so look into this, before you have one installed. If you think installing a desiccant air dryer is worthwhile, then why not think about other energy costs you could reduce in your business?
- Desiccant replacement – you will need to think about replacing the desiccant every couple of years.
Choosing the correct regenerative desiccant dryer can help take care of your tools, equipment and property. You need to think about all the different options before choosing which one is right for your company.
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