Novatec Inc., Conair Group and Koch-Technik recently announced they have upgraded their dryers with new or improved controls.
NOVATEC INC.
Novatec, Baltimore, recently upgraded its controls on all models in its NovaWheel Plus line of desiccant wheel dryers, to include advanced features such as energy-saving Overdry Protection, Intelligent Regen and a countdown timer.
In addition, Ethernet connectivity is standard on model NW-500+ and higher models, and is available as an option on models NW-25 through NW-400+.
"Processors can save thousands of dollars a year in drying energy costs by using Novatec's Overdry Protection," said Mark Haynie, VP of Novatec's dryer technology.
Novatec engineers designed the company's Overdry Protection technology to ensure minimal energy consumption by automatically adjusting heat and air temperature through the hopper to necessary levels and no hotter.
"We did extensive testing of the performance of the new design vs. our previous generation of dryers," Haynie said. "Averaging all the results in the different sizes, we determined that users could save 10 to 15 percent a year on their energy bill by using the Overdry Protection feature."
Novatec's Overdry Protection technology takes operator intervention out of the equation. The operator enters the drying temperature, and the dryer does the rest by automatically dialing back the heater output to the lowest temperature that produces the maximum dryness without over drying. It reduces energy costs and protects the properties of expensive resin.
Intelligent Regen, another exclusive Novatec feature, ensures that the regeneration temperature does not exceed what is necessary for drying the desiccant. If the temperature rises higher than 212 degrees Fahrenheit at the regeneration outlet, the temperature is automatically reduced at the inlet, the company said.
Novatec's recipe storage and recall feature allows drying recipes to be created and stored to allow convenient hopper setup by simply choosing a recipe and assigning it to a hopper. Recipes may contain all temperature set points and alarm parameters related to temperature, as well as user-entered descriptions of the material itself. The use of recipes is also a convenient way to easily program multiple heater bins with the same parameters once they've been saved to a recipe.
A new countdown timer tells the operator when material is ready to be processed and holds the purge valve closed until the material has reached the proper drying level for processing.
The upgraded controls on NovaWheel Plus Dryer models are web-enabled, so anyone with internet access through a computer, smartphone or tablet can connect with the controls to monitor conditions or change settings from a remote location. If there is an alarm, the control can alert someone to correct the situation immediately and remotely, if necessary.
"Novatec is one of the only dryer manufacturers that offers a PLC as standard," Haynie said. "Most competitors offer a microprocessor control. The advantage of a PLC includes flexibility of adding customized features and the ability to respond to changes in the market."
In addition to these new upgrades, Novatec and partner Prophecy Sensorlytics, Baltimore, plan to offer additional predictive maintenance and analytics products by midyear.
One of the offerings, ElectroSense, will be an electrical line monitoring system that predicts the health of electrical motors and components. It will be a standard feature on Novatec central dryer models 800 and higher.
ElectroSense will detect a heater outage on a central dryer, which can have anywhere from one to eight heater banks.
"If a processor loses a heater and continues to operate the dryer, the remaining heaters will be operating under additional stress, which will cause them to fail at an exponential rate," Haynie said.
Later this year, Novatec and Prophecy Sensorlytics also plan to release MachineSense, a system that can monitor and predict the health of moving machine components and subassemblies. Machine-Sense will be installed on dryer blower motors. It will alert operators if a blower impeller is out of balance or wearing.
Both products will allow processors to schedule maintenance in advance of failure, avoiding costly, unexpected work stoppages.
CONAIR GROUP
Conair Group, Cranberry Township, Pa., recently added its upgraded DC-A dryer control to smaller and mid-sized Conair Carousel Plus dryers and MDCW mobile drying/conveying systems.
The DC-A control is based on the Allen-Bradley Micro850 PLC platform and includes a 7-inch color touch-screen display with graphical design, minimal text and no function codes to decipher. It provides descriptive help screens for operators and features auto-start capabilities and password protection, and has Conair's Drying Monitor capabilities built in. Trending data available from the DC-A control can simplify maintenance and troubleshooting, while providing users with information they can use to optimize drying parameters and save energy.
Conair recently enhanced the DC-A dryer control by adding remote access via virtual network computing (VNC), a capability not previously available. It means users can interface with the control using any internet-connected device from anywhere as if they were standing in front of the dryer on the plant floor.
Any operation that can be performed on the dryer interface — monitoring conditions, changing settings, responding to alarms, troubleshooting or downloading process data — now can be performed remotely.
The new DC-A control now is standard equipment on Carousel Plus dryer models 15 to 300, and on MDCW models 15 to 200. Carousel Plus models 150 to 400 are available with either the DC-A control or the DC-T control, which has a larger touch screen, the company said.
Conair also recently unveiled updates to its line of MedLine MicroWheel dryers, which now come with standard polished stainless steel housings and hoses for added cleanliness.
In addition, a new model was added to the MedLine MicroWheel line: the MW1-0.2. It comes with a smaller 0.2 cubic foot hopper, which is ideal for use when injection molding small medical parts or for low-volume medical extrusion applications. Conair MedLine products are configured, manufactured, calibrated and documented to simplify the selection, installation and certification of equipment used in clean-room applications, according to the company.
KOCH-TECHNIK
Koch-Technik, part of Werner Koch Maschinentechnik GmbH in Ispringen, Germany, has upgraded its KKT mobile dryers with a new control system.
The touch-panel control interface replaces a previous control system that used a plain text display.
The controller guides the user through the programs on the panel touch-screen display, according to the company. A basic program dries the material to the residual moisture level required for processing while maintaining energy efficiency, whereas a fast program is designed for the highest material throughput rates while simultaneously maintaining optimum drying quality, the company said.
An energy-saving program adapts the drying process directly to the current throughput rates and the initial moisture level of the resin to reduce energy costs. This makes energy savings of as much as 40 percent possible during the drying process.
The new control display allows users to monitor operating conditions and adjust parameters, including drying time, temperature and dwell time at any stage.
Bruce Geiselman, correspondent
Contact:
Conair Group, 724-584-5500, www.conairgroup.com
Koch-Technik, 49-7231-8009-0, www.koch-technik.com
Novatec Inc., 410-789-4811, www.novatec.com
Bruce Geiselman | Senior Staff Reporter
Senior Staff Reporter Bruce Geiselman covers extrusion, blow molding, additive manufacturing, automation and end markets including automotive and packaging. He also writes features, including In Other Words and Problem Solved, for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. He has extensive experience in daily and magazine journalism.
