Greetings all,
With reference to dry air in the tropics, we have had very good luck with
the following setup:
The compressed air source is house air compressed outside the building so it
is very wet. It does not seem to be terribly oily though. This is
pre-filtered through a Balston A912-DX followed by a A912-BX coalescing
filter. Most of the water is removed by the DX filter as the automatic
float drain discharges about 1 gallon of water every 2 weeks (in the
summer). The pre-filtered air is then further dried by a Balston 75-10 air
dryer. The dried air then goes into a 72-012 receiver tank followed by a
regulator set to 60 psi, then to the NMRs.
We have been using this setup for about 10 years to furnish spinner/heater
air for two spectrometers and purge air to an FTIR. Even with our frequent
90%+ humidity we have found no need for a refrigerant dryer. This is
supposed to be good to -40 F but since we only run at 300 K, I can not vouch
to "how low we could go" with this air. We have had no mechanical
problems with this unit except with having to replace the A912DX housing due
to corrosion from the nasty water it is always receiving and having to
replace the automatic float drains occasionally (and of course replacing the
DX and BX filters when they need it.) Our facilities department installed
an automatic drain on the house air compressor a couple of years ago (rather
than counting on someone draining it on a regular basis) and this has helped
with the DX housing corrosion problem.
Hope this helps.
Brian
K. Brian Killday
Research Specialist
Division of Biomedical Marine Research
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
5600 U. S. 1, North
Ft. Pierce, FL 34946
Phone: 561-465-2400 ext. 456
Fax: 561-461-2221
Email: killday_at_hboi.edu
-----Original Message-----
> From: Tony Pemberton [mailto:pemberaj_at_sgisw.bham.ac.uk]
> Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2000 6:12 AM
> To: Joseph
> Cc: ammrl_at_wwitch.unl.edu
> Subject: Re: air dryers
On Wed, 1 Mar 2000, Joseph wrote:
> Colleagues
> We are considering getting a Balston model 75-20 (-100F dewpoint)
> compressed air dryer. Does any one out there have any comments (good or
> bad) they are willing to share regarding these dryers? Do they need a
> earlier stage (e.g. -40F dewpoint) to work properly?
> Thanks for your input.
>
> Dr. Joseph Vaughn
> Associate Director, NMR Facility
> Chemistry Department
> Florida State University
> Tallahassee, FL 32306-4390
> Phone 850-644-3334
> Fax 850-644-8281
> email vaughn_at_pro.sb.fsu.edu
>
Joseph,
Can you tell us whether the dryer is of the dessicant type? If so,
with the sort of humidity you experience in Florida, I would suggest
that you require a refrigerant dryer as a first stage. Even in the UK
during the summer, we have had problems with dessicant dryers becoming
overloaded and they then cease to function correctly.
Regards,
Tony Pemberton
*********************************************************************
Mr. A.J.Pemberton Tel: +44 121-414 3388
c/o Dept. Rheumatology, Fax: +44 121-414 3982
Medical School, E-mail: A.J.Pemberton_at_bham.ac.uk
The University of Birmingham,
Birmingham B15 2TT.
U.K.
*********************************************************************
Received on Thu Mar 02 2000 - 13:05:57 MST