Dryer Manual

AIR DRYER INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Working Flow

Compressed air, saturated with water vapor, enters the dryer and is

pre-cooled by the outgoing refrigerated air in an air-to-air heat

exchanger (pre-cooler). In the pre-cooler, the warm incoming air is pre-

cooled and the outgoing refrigerated air is warmed, this reduces the

amount of heat that will have to be removed later by the refrigeration

system, providing a more energy efficient dryer. The Pre-Cooled air

enters the evaporator, where heat from the compressed air is transferred

to the cold refrigerant. The compressed air is therefore cooled to 37°F

(3°C) allowing water vapor to condense into water droplets. The

compressed air then flows to the moisture separator, where the

condensed moisture, oil and solids are separated from the compressed air

and discharged from the system by an automatic condensate drain trap.

The cold compressed air enters the shell side of pre-cooler. By removing

heat from the incoming air, the outgoing air is reheated. In the

refrigeration system, the compressor compresses low temperature, low-

pressure refrigerant into high temperature, high-pressure gas. The

compressed refrigerant gas flows through the discharge line to a

condenser, where the gaseous refrigerant is condensed into a high-

pressure liquid, by exchanging heat to the cooling airflow. The high-

pressure liquid refrigerant reduces to a low pressure, low temperature

mixture of liquid and vapor after passing through the thermostatic

expansion valve and evaporator as it takes heat from the compressed air.

The low-pressure refrigerant gas leaves the evaporator and flows to the

liquid refrigerant accumulator, ensuing that only gas is returned to

compressor. The accumulator prevents liquid refrigerant from entering

the compressor and causing severe damage to the compressor.

Refrigerant travels through the suction line to the compressor where the

refrigeration cycle again starts.