Drying Rooms – Moving from an “Open System” to a “Controlled Closed System” – Results showing huge Energy Savings.
Overview.
AlorAir Solutions UK Ltd provide drying rooms, and drying solutions.
We have been dealing with drying rooms and drying systems for a number of years for a number of sectors, we can help save money by reducing energy costs, speed up drying processes, control drying processes and other factors depending on what your requirements are.
Problem.
Inefficient drying container used for drying soil samples, costing the customer time and money to run.
Solutions.
In this instance we helped convert a container which was drying using an “open” system to a “closed” system, this means that rather than taking in more air from the outside heating it and saturating it with moisture from samples and then extracting it only to heat up new fresh air etc and the cycle repeating. To a “closed” system where we start with one room filled with the same air which we heat to help with the evaporation of moisture from the samples, we also add more air movement to assist lifting the moisture into the air, and then remove the moisture using dehumidifiers.
We were a little hampered within the height of the container not allowing us to have our regular air flow solution, so we had to come up with a different one. In this case we used fans which pulled the air upwards centrally and dispersed it over the top to the walls and back down.
We created bespoke racking systems to hold the soil samples in their trays whilst still allowing for air movement around, they had to be sturdy enough to hold the sample weight whilst transporting the samples in and out of the drying container as well as around the testing facility.
Custom built shelves to hold the dehumidifiers and fan heaters to give as much open floor space as possible were installed.
Key Outcomes.
From our solution they were able to increase the number of samples which could be dried at any one time.
They were able to load and unload the drying container easier and faster saving labour hours and also were able to manage the soil sample batches easier too.
They reduced drying times achieved by better air flow within the container, consistent drying from the dehumidifiers and a vast reduction in energy required to heat the air to assist in the drying. Once the air had been heated to the correct temperatures, it was only a matter of trickle heating to keep it up to temperature, rather than a full heating which had been previously happening when they were using an “open” style system.
Please see the tables below (supplied by the customer) – we installed in August 2023 when there is less water in the soils and it is hotter outside, BUT the comparison in October 23 compared to say April 23 when similar quantities and weather were being done is staggering – from €11.8K down to €2.8K a saving of nearly €9000 = €3000 per month!!
Before.
Please see comparison below showing what was there in the way of old wood and chicken mesh racking, external dehumidifiers and air swapping technology and the finished pictures of the drying room including the trollies, dehumidifiers, air movers and fan heaters.
After.
New Control Units – updated display and monitoring, slopes to both in and out of the drying room for easy access with purpose built trolleys. Custom built shelves for fan heaters and dehumidifiers.
Safety mesh to go around low ceiling hung air movers, showing purpose built soil sample trollies and how it all fits into the container drying room, bump bars on the back walls.
Closing Remarks.
Being able to monitor air flow, temperature and humidity levels they have seen not only a reduction in drying times, but a more consistent drying time as well and of course a huge cost saving.