This week, we’re continuing our discussion of the energy-efficient technologies housed within the twin tower desiccant dryer. We covered filters and sonic nozzles in our Part I post, which you can read here.
Twin tower desiccant dryers are a common form of compressed air treatment that uses adsorption of moisture through a chemical desiccant to reduce the amount of moisture in the airnet. The efficiency of the dryer depends on the individual parts working together to reduce total energy consumption.
The pressure losses generated by a twin tower desiccant dryer can be a significant part of the total losses in the air system. However, losses can be minimized through efficient dryer design. Atlas Copco incorporates stainless steel full flow butterfly inlet valves into the design of the dryer, rather than using angle seat valves. The butterfly valves reduce pressure losses by lowering restriction in the valve lines. The durable design of the highly reliable butterfly valves provides ongoing operational savings and reduces maintenance costs.
Another way to reduce energy consumption within the dryer is to control the dryer based on the dew point. The dew point controller, standard on the Atlas Copco plus range of twin tower desiccant dryers, lengthens the time between regeneration cycles, reducing the amount of air that is needed to purge the desiccant bed.
Join us next Thursday for the final piece of the twin tower desiccant dryer puzzle. In the meantime, contact us with your questions about dryer technology or maintenance.
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