Commercial Food Dehydrator & Industrial Drying Machine
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:
The Rexmoi®’s uses aren’t limited to food groups. It can extend to include things like timber, leather, and other materials.
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.
INSTALLATION
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 DRYING PROCESS
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.
CONTROLLING THE DRYER
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.
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.