MATERIALS PREPARATION | TECHNOLOGY


reportedly leading to increased demand for exercise bikes. The expansion of the production capacities at the cycling equipment supplier seems to come at exactly the right time.”


Low energy Maguire makes great play of the energy-saving aspects of its range of Ultra Low Energy Dryers, which it expanded to four in 2019, when it launched the Ultra-600 at the K show. This has a throughput of up to 600 lb/h (272kg/h). Models range from the Ultra-150 to the Ultra-1000. All are said to use much less energy than many desiccant dryers: the company claims that drying with Ultra can save up to 92W/kg, which equates to a saving of $6,500/yr with a throughput of 100kg/h (based on US costs), whilst doing the same job. Both types of dryer use the same amount of


energy to bring the material up to drying tempera- ture from ambient temperature. The difference is in the energy used to dry: according to Maguire, a desiccant dryer can use ten times the amount of energy of an Ultra dryer. Ultra units heat the material in a vacuum, so the water comes off at a much lower temperature (around 56°C). Ultra dryers use no desiccant to remove mois-


ture from the air. Desiccant has to be regenerated regularly to remove the water it has absorbed – which is energy-intensive – and the amount of moisture in the air is calculated periodically by measuring the dew point, which Maguire says is not reliable. On Ultra units, what counts is the level of the vacuum, which can be measured constantly and accurately. The process is also much faster. Citing a system drying polycarbonate, Maguire says some desic- cant dryers take three to four hours to dry, versus 30-40 minutes with an Ultra dryer. Chris Crittenden, who oversees global market-


ing strategy from the Maguire IMEA offices in Dubai, says Ultra dryers can be used in the same applications as desiccant dryers. He says the company is seeing “snowball effects” in adaptation as the technology catches on in certain sectors. Dri-Air Industries’ latest innovation in dryer


control is its web-based SmartView Desktop App, which connects all the dryers in a production operation, each of which has its own IP address, to a central computer. The feature, available on Dri-Air’s SmartTouch controlled dryers, allows central access to such information as dryer status, dewpoint, hopper status, and desiccant regenera- tion status. Operators can start and stop dryers and set hopper temperatures on single- and dual-hop- per portable dryers.


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Dri-Air introduced the SmartTouch controls with


smart communications in early 2020 (see Injection World March 2020). It is fitted as standard on the HP series dryers, dual hopper dryers and optional on twin-bed Arid-X dryers. Dri-Air President Jason Sears says: “The desktop


application would be a beneficial tool in cases where the dryers/presses are in a cleanroom where access is very difficult, or an engineer’s desk or office is a far distance from the dryers.” Dri-Air is present mostly in the Americas, various Asia-Pacific countries, and the Middle East.


Compressed air Wittmann introduced CARD compressed-air dryers just under a year ago. The company says three models have become particularly popular: the CARD 6G/FIT, CARD 10S and CARD 20S. On these appliances, the desired drying temperature can be set via a touch screen operating panel, and at the end of the pre-drying phase a signal is issued to release an automatic production start-up. The material drying data can be exported via a USB port or via OPC UA. The units have an integrated week timer, enabling the use of the dryers to be adapted to ongoing production planning; they are ready to run immediately as soon as dried material is required. “In the CARD S models, the compressed air consumption is very finely and precisely adjusted to the actual demand by an intelligent digital air volume control system,” says the supplier. If the interval between two conveying cycles


exceeds a certain period of time, this is interpreted as “no material consumption”, and the dryer then starts the necessary actions to protect the material and to reduce energy consumption. CARD dryers can be mounted directly onto the machine feed. In combination with a claw flange,


March 2021 | INJECTION WORLD 41


Above: Maguire Ultra dryers in action


IMAGE: MAGUIRE


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