IQS Newsroom Articles on Dryers
About Dryers and Dryer Manufacturers
Including: Air
Dryers, Flash
Dryers, Rotary
Dryers & Spray
Dryers.
Dryers are used to remove liquids or moisture
from bulk solids, powders, parts and sometimes other liquids by evaporation
and sublimation processes. The particular drying technologies
can vary greatly, depending on the type of dryer needed for
the drying process. Often, dryers work very much
like home clothes drying units, by using either gas dryers
or electric dryers to heat the air that dries the clothing.
Other types of fuels are also used in large dryers, such as
wood or coal to heat the rotary drums that dry grain and other wet processed
crops. Compressed air dryers and infrared
heat dryers are additional types used in the bulk drying of materials.
The use of infrared heat is unique from other dryers in that
it is most commonly used for the curing of wet coatings or inks in processes
such as silk screening.
The most important thing for many dryer manufacturers is to
remember the amount of exposure to heat for a period of time. In the
case of flash dryers, the process is extreme but fast, in that the material
is exposed for a very short amount of time but given enough heat to be
dried almost instantaneously. In some processes, materials can be dried
without the use of heat or even cool air. These types of dryers
use a process called desiccation, which uses tiny moisture-drawing granules
to absorb moisture in a way that is similar to how cat litter reacts
with fluid. Many drying units are custom made for maximum efficiency
and profitability.
The use of conveyer
systems by dryer manufacturers is very common. Conveyor
belts carry the desired material through the different stages of
the drying process in order to dry products in an easy and efficient
way. Using conveyor systems to dry materials is especially useful for
food and agricultural industries. Contamination is a minimal concern
because most drying systems are very sanitary. Dryers are, and should be, cleaned often, in between each drying procedure.
There are two types of dryers: those that come
into direct contact with heat (direct industrial dryers) and those that do not (indirect dryers). Each of these dryers have different types of dryers used for different
applications. Dryer manufacturers design products to be
used in a variety of industries, such as the food processing, pharmaceutical,
paper, pollution control and agricultural sectors. Diverse materials
need to be dried in completely different businesses, such as chemicals
for research and medical concerns, paper for printing and packaging
operations and edible materials for further processing into popular
foods and snacks. Dryers have important uses all over the
world.
Dryer Types
- are
the most common types of industrial dryers. The product to be dried
comes into direct contact with heated air dispensed by the machine.
-
use a belt to move materials through the dryer at a continuous feed.
Agricultural products are often dried on a belt or similar conveyer
dryer system.
-
remove water and other contaminants from compressed air and the lines
that carry it. This is done via refrigerant or desiccant processes.
-
remove water and moisture from a product with absorption, by way of
grainy materials such as silica gel or activated alumina.
-
are industrial dryers that dry a substance or material during exposure
to a short burst of high heat. Water sludge is often dried this
way at water treatment plants for the easy removal of contaminants.
-
are used to dry heat sensitive materials such as chemicals and pharmaceuticals
in small batches.
- use
gas to heat and dry a product as desired. These dryers are quite common.
-
are used most often for the curing of water-based inks and coatings
found in the painting and the screenprinting industries. These use
infrared radiation to quickly dry or set the material.
-
can be gas, liquid or solid fuel fired, and pass material through a
heated rotating drum. Sometimes the drums have multiple chambers
that allow a longer pass to get through the drum.
-
take a material, such as wet sludge or wet powder, and spin it centrifugally,
then direct a line of spray of the material into a drying chamber,
which rapidly dries the material. This type of dryer is also called
a dispersion dryer.
-
are used during a certain method of pollution control. They take air
polluted with small particles or combustible solids and liquids
and oxidize the organic parts before destroying them.
- are used
to provide low temperature drying of materials in the chemical and
pharmaceutical industries.
Dryer Terms
Common Terms Related to Industrial Dryers, Air Dryers, Spray
Dryers, Compressed Air Dryers, Gas Dryers, Electric Dryers, Flash Dryers, and
Hot Air Dryers.
-
Adherence of particles to a small mass due to moisture, static charge
or chemical or mechanical binding.
- A bag that filters
air by catching air-borne particulates.
- The temperature
at which particles within a liquid move rapidly enough to escape the surface
and become gas or vapor.
- The weight per
unit volume of solid materials, expressed as pounds per cubic
foot or grams per cubic centimeter.
- Heat transferred
by conduction through a solid (the steel shell) of industrial
dryers, separating the heating
medium (steam/oil) and the material being heated. Vapor is usually removed
by a combination of condenser and vacuum
pump.
- Direct
contact between the material and the air heated industrial dryers.
- The movement of
molecules away from the center of concentration of a substance.
- Any gas or gas mixture
that contains no water vapor and/or in which all of its constituents are
substantially above their respective saturated vapor pressures at the
existing temperature.
- The process of
extracting moisture.
- The minimum temperature
at which vapor forms at the surface of a liquid.
- The moisture content
of air.
- The energy required by
industrial heaters
to change a substance from one state to another.
- An instrument for
measuring fluid pressure.
-
A material that contains only unbound moisture.
- Increasing the
amount of oxygen within a molecule.
- The rapid cooling
of combustion exhaust with showers of water.
- Heat transfer from
industrial dryers
by infrared radiation through space (air or vacuum), from a warmer mass
to a cooler mass.
- The direct vaporization
of a solid by heating using industrial heaters, without passing through the liquid state.
- The maximum potential
of industrial heaters, devices, or other industrial machines, expressed in amount per time.
- A visible suspension
in the air of a substance's particles.
- A high-temperature
combustion process that melts and converts non-combustible inorganic
materials.