Why Dry Air?
Clean, pure, dry air is absolutely necessary for medical, laboratory, dental, instrument and other healthcare applications. A disadvantage to compressing air is the moisture that is naturally created in the compression process. In all life support systems this moisture must be removed and the downstream air monitored for any excess moisture.
We use high quality refrigerated or desiccant air dryers specifically designed for use in medical applications. In our systems, the drying components are coupled with special filtration, dew point monitor, carbon monoxide monitor and other elements specific to various healthcare applications. The quality of air produced by our drying systems always meets or exceeds current NFPA99 and other industry regulations.
The first step is to examine and evaluate your air requirements and then select the right components to produce the air quality required. As a custom manufacturer we have complete flexibility in the components we can use to create the package that will produce the perfect air quality to suit your needs.
Desiccant Air Dryers:
This type of design uses desiccant to dry the medical air. Normally two or more desiccant dryers are used for a system with one of them for backup. While one tower of the dryer in use is being used to dry the air, the other is being purged to remove captured water. Dew point levels better than -10° F to +20° F can be normally achieved. However, this requires about 15% of the system’s air flow to “regenerate” the desiccant.
Our desiccant dryer are designed to remove moisture and contaminants from the compressed air. The air is monitored for dew point to optimize purge control, which is critical to make the system’s operation more efficient. The air is then treated to provide air quality exceeding current NFPA99 level 1 medical air regulations.
Refrigerated Air Dryers:
This type of design uses a refrigerant to cool the compressed medical air that goes into the dryer. Non-cycling refrigerated dryers run continuously 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This dryer style is most widely used for medical air applications.
As the air is cooled, moisture is condensed, trapped, and removed from the dryer. The compressed air coming from the air compressor passes through cold, copper coils. As the compressed air passes the cold coils, an exchange of heat takes place. As the warm air from the compressors is cooled, moisture is condensed out of the compressed air. Normally, a refrigerated dryer will only dry the air to a dew point level of about 35 °F at 80 to 100 psig to avoid freezing. However, the dew point will drop to below 32° F as the pressure is further reduced to 50-55 psig.
airandvac.com also carries an inventory of air treatment components and packages available for rent or lease. Please feel free to contact us for information.
