DESICCANT DRYING
A desiccant is a chemical that removes moisture from air. A desiccant dryer is installed between the compressor and the PRV. Dew points below –100F are possible with a desiccant dryer. The desiccant requires about one-third of the process air to regenerate itself, or it may be heated. To regenerate, desiccant dryers may require a larger compressor to produce the needed airflow to supply the control system and the dryer.
It may be necessary to install a desiccant dryer after the refrigerant dryer in applications where the 12F dew point at 20 psi mainline pressure does not prevent condensation in air lines (e.g., a roof-top unit exposed to severe winters).
The desiccant dryer most applicable to control systems uses the adsorbent principle of operation in which porous materials attract water vapor. The water vapor is condensed and held as a liquid in the pores of the material. The drying action continues until the desiccant is saturated. The desiccant is regenerated by removing the moisture from the pores of the desiccant
material. The most common adsorbent desiccant material is silica gel, which adsorbs over 40 percent of its own weight in water and is totally inert. Another type of adsorbent desiccant is the molecular sieve.
A desiccant is regenerated either by heating the desiccant material and removing the resulting water vapor from the desiccant chamber or by flushing the desiccant chamber with air at a lower vapor pressure for heatless regeneration. To provide a continuous supply of dry air, a desiccant dryer has two desiccant chambers (Fig. 15). While one chamber is being regenerated, the other supplies dry air to the system. The cycling is accomplished by two solenoid valves and an electric The refrigerant dryer uses a non cycling operation with a hot gas bypass control on the refrigerant flow to provide a constant dew point of approximately 35F at the tank pressure. The refrigeration circuit is hermetically sealed to prevent loss of refrigerant and lubricant and to protect against dirt.
timer. During one cycle, air passes from the compressor into the left desiccant chamber (A). The air is dried, passes through the check valve (B), and flows out to the PRV in the control system.
Simultaneously, some of the dried air passes through the orifice (G) to the right desiccant chamber (E). The air is dry and the desiccant chamber is open to the atmosphere, which reduces the chamber pressure to near atmospheric pressure. Reducing the air pressure lowers the vapor pressure of the air below that of the desiccant, which allows the moisture to transfer from the desiccant to the air. The timer controls the cycle, which lasts approximately 30 minutes.
During the cycle, the desiccant in the left chamber (A) becomes saturated, and the desiccant in the right chamber (E) becomes dry. The timer then reverses the flow by switching both of the solenoid valves (D and H). The desiccant in the right chamber (E) then becomes the drying agent connected to the compressor while the desiccant in the left chamber (A) is dried.
The process provides dry air to the control system continually and requires no heat to drive moisture from the desiccant. A fine filter should be used after the desiccant dryer to filter out any desiccant discharged into the air supply.
PRESSURE REDUCING VALVE STATION
The pressure reducing valve station is typically furnished with an air filter. The filter, high-pressure gage, high pressure relief valve, pressure reducing valve (PRV), and low-pressure gage are usually located together at one point in the system and may be mounted directly on the compressor. The most important elements are the air filter and the PRV.
AIR FILTER
The air filter (Fig. 16) removes solid particulate matter and oil aerosols or mist from the control air.
