Compressed air filtering and drying will decrease the risk of corrosion and other issues, increase the life of the equipment, and minimize the need for maintenance.
Several air dryers can extract pollutants and water vapor efficiently, and also offering high-quality compressed air that is ideal for sensitive applications. Air dryer types include a membrane, desiccant, deliquescent, and refrigerated air compressor dryers. But in this article, we will review the difference between a refrigerated dryer and a desiccant dryer.
What is an air compressor dryer?
Air compressor dryer is a powerful tool that makes use of various methods to extract moisture and water vapor from compressed air. There are four main types of air compressor dryer as it is mentioned above and each of the types has its pros and cons and they are more suitable for some circumstances.
The quantity of water vapor in the air is measured as the dew point. The lower the temperature of the dew point, the lower it contains and dries with water vapor. While nearly all water vapor can be removed from the air by certain forms of air dryers, lowering the dew point becomes costlier and difficult when the water vapor is removed.
The four main types of an air compressor dryer are membrane, desiccant, deliquescent, and refrigerated air compressor dryers. We are going to review their technique of work to differentiate between the Refrigerated dryer and Desiccant dryer.
Refrigerated air compressor dryers
Refrigeration dryers are the cheapest to own, use, and are the most common form of air compressor dryer. To cool the compressor air, cooling air dryers run until the water vapor condenses into a liquid state, which is then eliminated.
The best option for general purpose air drying is refrigeration dryers since they extract most of the water with minimum energy consumption. Without expending more energy to fully eliminate water vapor, this will significantly minimize the issues associated with humid compressed air.
Desiccant dryers transfer compressed air over a dryer layer that absorbs molecules of water vapor. When the sheet potential is almost saturated, the airflow is moved by the dryer to the second layer. Then the first bed is regenerated. To regulate the regeneration process, a timer or dew point monitoring equipment may be used. Desiccant dryers may deliver air, normally -40 ° F / ° C or less, at low and constant dew points. When compressed air is exposed to freezing temperatures, this technology is a good choice. There are two kinds of dryers: hot and unheated. To extract water vapor from the dryer that is not in use at this point in the cycle, heated dryers use heat. Large quantities of steam or electricity are required for these dryers. To extract water vapor from the dryer, heat-free desiccant dryers use the dry air produced by the dryer. To reduce its dependency on unnecessary external resources (e.g. steam, electricity, or gas) for heating is the key benefit of this technology. Near the point of use, a regenerative adsorption dryer may be mounted to supply dry compressed air down to -100 °F (-73 °C) at dew points. Heated dryers are suitable for supplying instrumentation with quality air for critical applications.
Refrigerated air dryers are usually acceptable for compressed air in general and it gives a dew point between 35 and 40 ° F (PDP). Generally, the cost is much lower than the cost of other methods for drying. To cool compressed air and eliminate moisture, refrigeration dryers use refrigeration compressors and heat exchangers. There are two types of dryers for refrigeration. The first form is the cycle, the most energy-efficient choice, which is frequently used for higher flow rates and where the flow differs from offset to offset. pancake air compressor To achieve accurate PDP at various flow speeds, the refrigeration dryer or VSD is turned on and off. The non-cycling form is another, cheaper alternative. Any time they’re switched on, cycle fewer dryers are still on and run under the same load. The distinction is between the way you use a refrigerator at home. It opens only when needed and as it’s needed, switches on and off. Keep the door open all the time and you now have a cycle-free refrigerator. To extract large quantities of water droplets and oil mist before entering the air paint, all forms of dryers must have a coalescent pre-filter. This allows the air dryer to extract moisture from the compressed air more effectively. The ‘post-filter’ will clean all residual oil mists, particles, and hydrocarbons after drying. For air systems, the type of end filter is based on the ISO air quality standard.
Desiccant dryers are usually used when a very dry compressed air is needed for application or when the supply of compressed air operates in a cold climate. This dryer can be down to -100 with dew points. A desiccant dryer is needed in some plants only for certain applications and processes. For instance, a car body typically only requires a dryer for cooling tools and general air use, but the paint booth can use very clean and dry air. In a double hairdryer, during the programmed cycle, the hairdryer draws in moisture and then cleans it, releasing moisture into the atmosphere. The other clean and will be done with tower dry. As part of the cleaning cycle, this form of dryer uses dry compressed air, so you need to have adequate compressed air for your specifications and cleaning needs.
Our Expertise Opinion
There is four main dryer air compressor in the market as they are mentioned above. The two of the main types were vividly differentiated concerning their techniques of works. Both the refrigerated dryer and descant dryer are very similar in working technique but the desiccant dryer is costly than the refrigerated dryer although in terms of easy operation the result is interchangeable. But when it comes to choosing and purchasing any dryer it is essential to consider ranges of necessary factors such as; Operation mode, Cost of the tools and maintenance, Mode of your task.
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