Compressed air can contain unwanted substances such as water, oil or even dust. Depending on the final use of the compressed air, unwanted substances can cause contamination of or damage to the end product. Therefore, air treatment is important to produce high quality compressed air that is suited for the application.
Twin tower desiccant air dryers are a very common form of compressed air treatment used to reduce the amount of moisture within an airnet. The technology behind these systems involves the adsorption of moisture by a chemical desiccant while the gas is under pressure, the release of moisture through depressurization and purging dry or heated air through the desiccant in a regeneration cycle. Although it sounds complicated, the process is actually simple.
There are several technologies that make the twin tower dryer more efficient:
Filtration is a key component to the long-term operation and energy efficiency of a twin tower desiccant dryer. Protecting the desiccant bed from oil and bulk liquid carryover helps increase the life of the desiccant bed, reducing long-term maintenance costs, and increases dryer efficiency thereby increasing the effectiveness of the dewpoint control system. In addition to removing water and oil, Atlas Copco’s filters for twin tower desiccant dryers are designed to have a low operating differential pressure. The increased efficiencies achieved through filtration result in energy savings.
When integrating a desiccant dryer into a large airnet, the dryer and the drying medium needs to be protected against excessive volumetric flow through the desiccant. A sonic nozzle helps to avoid damage to the desiccant and boosts dryer performance by limiting the flow into the dryer and matching it to the design flow of the entire unit. A sonic nozzle is necessary for critical applications such as multiple compressor/dryer installations, systems with regular start/stop or fluctuating air demand, a standby compressor without standby dryer or an incorrectly dimensioned dryer (too high air flow/too low working pressure.)
Contact us with your questions about dryer technology or subscribe to receive our weekly recap email. To dig deeper, contact us for a free copy of the Compressed Air Manual
5 min
