At Drying Solutions, we understand that being part of the innovation and development space can be an exciting yet cautious path. That’s why we’ve dedicated over 20 years to perfecting the portable Rexmoi® Air Tray Dryer: the most versatile industrial drying solution available today with the ability to:
Available for either rent or purchase, The Rexmoi® Air Tray Dryer makes drying technology accessible and affordable to the wider New Zealand business community.
With our commercial dehydrator system, you can freely dry, test, and produce value added products at your own site, and make the most of the opportunities it provides to start a new business, expand an existing one, or simply increase productivity and sales.
The kiwifruit industry had a problem with labelling fruit when they were removed from cool storage. Condensation was forming on the fruit and the labels would not stick. By controlling the atmosphere in the grading and labelling area, we could keep the fruit dry and perfect for labelling.
Drying berries is an effective method of preservation, eliminating the need for refrigeration.
Dried meat is an exciting market sector, with tray drying being a common processing technique that adds great value to a range of meat and seafood products, including jerky, stocks, and powders.
Vegetables provide ample new product opportunities, from chips through to powdered ingredients for various dishes and health supplements.
We have successfully dried various nuts, including chestnuts, walnuts, and macadamia nuts to name a few, all of which benefited from low temperature drying. The result is a better retention of taste and nutrients, as well as an increased shelf life.
Low temperature cooking is used when a product needs moisture removed in order to set the product and enhance its shelf life. This is important, as high temperatures could inadvertently burn or destroy the product and its valuable nutrients.
Pet food is a huge industry with ongoing product innovation. To keep up and remain competitive in this space companies are providing value-added products to pet owners.
Controlling the temperature and atmosphere for the preservation of products. Food, timber, leather and a variety of other materials can be dried in the Rexmoi® Air Tray Dryer.
The Rexmoi®’s uses aren’t limited to food groups. It can extend to include things like timber, leather, and other materials.
Our network of research and innovation institutions is a valuable tool, providing clients with the support and knowledge required to develop new and innovative products.
We provide ongoing maintenance services, in order to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of the dryers.
We provide customers with experienced food technologists in order to accelerate the research and development phase, and get value added products to market faster.
We understand that every client is different, so we can provide customised drying machine solutions to meet your exact needs.
The challenge? Auckland’s The Vegery came to Drying Solutions in search of an efficient, cost-effective dehydrator that would allow them to scale up production to meet growing demand and unlock new opportunities for their business. The answer? The Rexmoi® Air Tray Dryer!
With the Rexmoi®, The Vegery was able to increase its production by over 500% within a year, improve overall energy efficiency, and gain a place on the shortlist at the 2016 NZ Food Awards, in no small part thanks to the contribution of Drying Solutions’ commercial dehydrator.
When Heilala Vanilla’s product concept struck success, the Tauranga business found themselves in search of an efficient, cost-effective dehydrator that would alleviate the pressure on a household production that couldn’t keep up in the face of exponentially increasing demand.
Heilala Vanilla discovered the answer in Drying Solutions and the Rexmoi® Air Tray Dryer, performing what was previously a month’s work for their 12 household dehydrators in just three days. The results? A 1900% boost in production, with the added headroom for further growth in the future.
To start, the wet product is laid out on trays and dried in batches in a closed housing. The dryer uses an efficient refrigeration system to create warm air, which is circulated over the trays. The moisture is then removed in the form of water.
The dryer has a galvanised steel base and frame, covered with a Urethane Insulated Panel. The panel has an outer skin of powder-coated galvanised steel. The internal surface consists of colour steel or stainless-steel which meets food grade requirements.
The stainless-steel trays are mounted on trolleys to enable the product to be easily moved in and out of the drying chamber via the Insulated Panel door, while a lifting platform allows for easy loading and unloading of the trays into the dryer.
Both the stainless-steel trays and aluminium trolleys can be further customised to meet specific dimensions and can be built of a specific material, in order to suit the product being dried.
The dryer is built on a solid steel base and can be easily moved by a forklift if necessary. It is designed to be used inside a building. At times during the drying cycle, warm or cool air will be released from the refrigeration coils mounted outside the housing, which is why it’s important for the dryer to be located within a space where the airflow will not be impeded or cause any problems. The drain line also needs to be run to a gully trap in the building’s sewage system.
The dryer needs to be connected to the building’s power supply, and it is recommended that this be via a three phase, neutral, earth plug and socket, to allow for easy disconnection. The dryer draws about 10 to 40 amps per phase, however the load will vary depending on the dryer’s size.
The dryer operates in a closed cycle, with air being continuously circulated within the housing. No air is introduced from the outside or is discharged, eliminating the discharge of odours or external contamination of the dried product.
Each dryer can be built to suit a particular application. The biggest dryer developed to date can hold over 500kg or 1.9 cubic metres of wet product, and has the capacity to remove up to 60kg of water per hour. That said, drying time depends on how easily the moisture is removed and the desired water content of the product.
The drying rate depends on the surface area and texture of the product, the thickness of individual pieces, how easily moisture travels from the centre of the pieces to the outer surface and how densely the pieces are packed onto the trays. The rate of moisture removal is at its highest at the beginning of the drying process when the product is very wet, and is at its lowest near the end.
The dryer is fitted with a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) providing automatic control over all stages of the drying process. The PLC is fitted with a touch screen interface that displays data throughout the drying process and allows control settings to be altered by the operator, allowing the dryer to operate at a wide range of temperatures – between -5 to 70 degrees Celsius.
The Rexmoi® dryer also has the added benefit of being able to easily change the temperature during the drying process, allowing for optimum drying conditions for the product. This gives good control over product quality, appearance and bacterial growth.
The chosen set of conditions for a product is called the ‘Drying Recipe’ and is programmed into the PLC. The ‘Drying Recipe’ will be based on a set of initial conditions for the product. It is important that these conditions are adhered to, and if they change over time, the recipe may need to be adjusted.
Once loaded, the dryer operates automatically, without the need for any operator input. Data can be logged by the PLC throughout the drying process. A SCADA system can be added to the PLC to allow for the data to be downloaded for use in product-quality verification. The SCADA system also enables the dryer to be remotely monitored for correct operation and to diagnose the cause of any problems that may arise.
These are the standard trays for the trolleys allowing the air flow to go down through the product. There are 12 trays per trolley of approximately 970mm long by 590mm wide by 90mm deep (three trolleys).
These trays are flatter allowing the air flow to go over the product, rather than through it. There are up to 40 trays per trolley slightly larger than the standard trays but only approximately 25mm deep.
Each time we build a new unit, new ideas are incorporated allowing for more flexible use. From every trial we take ideas to improve the units and incorporate these in the next model. We are always developing and improving the units.
We have built a manual tray loader. This assists with loading of trays and emptying the trays into a bag.
We are currently developing an automatic tray loading and unloading machine, which will also load the trays into the trolleys.