Variable speed drives cut costs for dryer users

Drying machinery maker Simon Dryers has reduced its operational and capital costs by installing ABB variable speed drives (VSDs).

VSDs help dryer users to control costs and manage the drying process. Many dryer users specify an oversized dryer, as they may be uncertain of the initial market size for their finished products. A VSD allows them to start at 50% drying capacity and then increase this as demand grows, without having to buy another machine.

Also, because many materials that need drying are natural products, their moisture content will often vary. VSDs allow dryer rotation speeds to be changed easily, achieving a longer or shorter drying time to account for this variability. Programmable logic controllers are also increasingly used as part of the dryer solution, allowing customers to access trend data on drying parameters such as temperature and humidity.

Simon Dryers md Christopher Ellis said: "We don't have a standard dryer product. Instead, we take one of the basic types of dryers, drum, rotary, or other and fine-tune it to meet the particular drying needs of each customer."

Drum dryers are suitable for drying products such as food stuffs, cereals, baby food and fruit, while rotary dryers are used for sugar and chemicals.

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