Energy management system available from domnick hunter
Dewpoint Dependent Switching (DDS) energy management system
An energy management system from Parker domnick hunter, also known as domnick hunter , is designed to save up to 80% of power consumed during the process of drying compressed air.
The Dewpoint Dependent Switching (DDS) energy management system is available as an option on all the company’s PNEUDRI adsorption compressed air dryers or retrofitted to its dryers currently in service within a wide range of industries.
These include automotive, food and beverage processing, pharmaceutical, electronics, fibre optics, manufacturing, metal working, mining, primary product processing, transport maintenance and waste water processing.
The DDS system operates by continuously testing and measuring the outlet air quality (or dewpoint) of the dryer and adjusting the duration of desiccant chambers’ drying and purging cycles to suit variable operating conditions.
The fewer cycles the machine goes through in an hour, the less energy it demands, says Parker domnick hunter’s Business Development Manager, John Davis.
“Normally a dryer is set up to cope continuously with the worst peak loads it might encounter. Regardless of the fact that these peak loads might occur for only 5% of the time the dryer is in use, it operates all the time as if it was required to provide its full rated capacity.
“In actual service, of course, compressed air systems are rarely required to operate at full capacity all the time. Over a day’s work cycle there are wide fluctuations caused by factors such as shift work, ambient air conditions and periods of low demand.
“Over a year’s work cycle, the peaks can vary just as much - the dryer might have to cope with extremely warm days and high humidity for only 15 days out of 365.
“So it makes environmental and economic sense for the machine to be able to evaluate the humidity of the air it is dealing with and to slow down its cycles during the extended periods when full capacity is not required.”
John Davis says the DDS system saves considerable volumes of compressed air that would otherwise be consumed by frequent purging of the air dryers’ desiccant chambers.
The chambers are purged to release the water vapour collected by the desiccant within them. When the dryer switches to a purge cycle, compressed air is used to release the water vapour, exhaust them from the dryer and restore the desiccant for the next operating cycle.
“If the machine is going through operating cycles unnecessarily quickly for the conditions, it is wasting compressed air by purging desiccant, which does not require it. Instead, it makes a lot more sense to extend the drying cycle when conditions are suitable.
“During this extended period of energy-free drying, no purge energy is consumed and the machine is operating to its optimum efficiency,” said John Davis.
The compact DDS energy management system can be specified with domnick hunter’s PNEUDRI air dryers, which are widely used throughout Australian industry to remove impurities that can adversely affect processes powered by compressed air.
14-May-2008