Compressed air dryers produce compressed air free of moisture, saving compressed air lines from corrosion and air wastage. This increases the life and operation quality of tools and instruments.
But did you ever wonder how they actually work?
By reducing the temperatures of the compressed air to its required dew point (dew point is the temperature at the point of change between vapour and liquid), condensate is formed, separated and drained away.
This cooling is achieved in two stages by using Air/Air and refrigerant/Air (evaporator) heat exchangers.
The Air/Air heat exchanger uses the air at 3oc which has already passed through the chiller stage to pre-cool the incoming warm air. With efficient pre-cooling, the system can offer significant economies and on both running and capital costs.
Following pre-cooling, the air passes into the Refrigerant/Air heat exchanger, where the refrigerant lowers the air temperature to its 3oc dew point. The resultant condensate is coalesced and discharged via an automatic drain valve.
The dry cold air is then routed back to the Air/Air heat exchanger to pre-cool the warm incoming air and as a consequence is itself reheated. The advantage of reheating it is that the air now has a lower relative humidity, energy is regained and external pipework sweating is avoided.
Then the whole cycle starts again...
