Air Energy Management

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Refrigerated Dryers

A refrigerated air dryer cools the air going through it to condense water vapour and reheats the outgoing air to prevent the pipe work freezing up. Water vapour will not condense out of the compressed air unless the temperature goes below 2 degree C. So, they're great for indoor applications

Refrigerated Air Dryers - Direct Expansion
In a direct expansion type air dryer the refrigerant works directly on the compressed air going through it. Tubes carrying refrigerant are directly adjacent to tubes flowing compressed air and the refrigerant motor speeds up or slows down the refrigerant to match the demand.

Great for constant duty systems. However, as the refrigerant motor is constantly running they're not very efficient. They also cannot react instantly to changes in demand. So, if the duty is 500 cfm and suddenly everyone goes to lunch they can freeze up as there may only be 40 cfm going through it but it's still trying to cool 500.

Conversely when everyone comes back from lunch and there's a sudden large air demand they take time to get back up to speed and consequently can let water vapour past. Not good if you've got a critical application like spray painting a car door.

Good for constant duty, poor for varying air demand. However they are cheap!

Refrigerated Air Dryers - Thermal Mass
These are an indirect air dryer. Compressed air passes through a series of tubes immersed in a tank of ethylene glycol maintained at 2 degree C. The refrigerant compressor only operates to maintain the ethylene glycol at 2 degree C so when it's reached temperature it switches off. It's very efficient!

They don't freeze up as the refrigerant motor would be off and when there's a sudden increase in air demand the ethylene glycol is ready to cool 100% of the rated capacity of the dryer…so no water vapour down stream.

They have been around for years, are exceptionally reliable and what ever the demand you won't get any water vapour past them. They are more expensive than a direct expansion type air dryer but then…you get what you pay for.

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