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At Athena, we understand your unique hot runner system needs. That's why we engineer products like our BEDROS ™ and RMB/X series. Compact; Robust; and With superior functionality. With a standard BEDROS, you have up to 64 zones of control with 15 amps/zone and expanded mold storage capabilities. And Athena still off ers world-class modules and mainframes. Get all our products from your local distributor or online. Find your hot runner controllers at www.AthenaControls.com controllers at www.AthenaControls.com from your local distributor or online. Compressed-Air Dryer Recovers Heat from Compressor The CARD L and CARD M compressed-air dryer series from Austria's FarragTech GmbH (U.S. office in Glendale, Ill.) can save 70% of compressed air compared with other compressed-air dryers, according to the company. The new CARD R system uses the CARD L and CARD M units as a base and then can save even more energy by recycling the heat produced by the compressor. It was introduced at the Fakuma show in Germany in October. FarragTech says the CARD R system is customized based on process needs, with customers providing FarragTech their material throughput requirements and resin drying time. With this information, FarragTech can supply a properly sized dryer and compressor. The heat produced by the compressor is recycled via a heat exchanger and used to preheat the air used for drying. With this design, the resin to be dried is preheated in the upper part of the hopper via heated ambient air, while the actual drying process takes place in parallel to the lower part, using only about 30% of the compressed air required by "pure" compressed-air dryers at the same material throughput, according to FarragTech. Waste heat from the compressor at up to 80-90 C (176-194 F) is recovered via oil or air heat exchangers, which are integrated directly into the compressor's housing. FarragTech points outs that if drying takes place at 80 C (176 F), which is the drying temperature for nylon and ABS, then no additional heat input is required. 630-547-4447 • farragtech.com DRYING Vertical Centrifugal Dryer Gently Removes Moisture A vertical rotor shaft in a new series of centrifugal dryers reportedly ensures longer dwell time in the drying chamber with a significantly smaller footprint than horizontal systems. The HVT series from Herbold USA, N. Smithfield, R.I., offers gentle, energy-saving drying of scrap and regrind, especially hollow bodies, PET bottles, polyolefins, and other plastics. Herbold notes that the HVT's distin- guishing feature is its vertical rotor shaft. The dryer's rotor and housing design has been refined to minimize fines and increase yield. Material is accelerated against a screened stator surface and is simul- taneously transported from bottom to top by rotor paddles. Feeding is via a horizontal drainage screw, reportedly eliminating most of the surface moisture before material enters the dryer. Herbold says energy savings are achieved through a reduced motor size. It says a typical one- or two-stage drying system for PET flakes with a 150-hp motor would yield a throughput of 2.5-3 tons/hr, whereas an HVT system can equal that performance with a drive motor of only 75 hp. 401-597-5500 • herboldusa.com Energy Saver Software Minimizes Power Usage Maguire Products, Inc., Aston, Pa., has devel- oped new software for its VBD vacuum dryers that constantly monitors the dryer operation and automatically adjusts to ensure that power consumption is reduced to only what is needed. Standard on new Maguire VBD dryers, the new software can be retrofitted to existing units. Maguire notes that vacuum dryers' energy efficiency is greatest when they are operated at or near their throughput capacity. In actual processing, however, throughput varies, reacting to the demands of a molding machine or extrusion line. Without the new energy-saver software, Maguire says a vacuum dryer uses increasing amounts of energy as throughput decreases, unless the unit has been set up for the lower throughput. At throughputs that are 10% of capacity, for example, energy consump- tion could be 10 times greater than at full capacity if the dryer was not set up correctly. The company says the new software elimi- nates the penalty for low-throughput operation by using data acquired from previous heating cycles to make adjustments to the current cycle. In addition, all controllers for VBD dryers now include a standard onboard energy-consump- tion display and logging capability, showing both real-time and time-averaged values in the industry standard of watts/kg/hr. 888-459-2412 • maguire.com DRYING DRYING 66 JANUARY 2018 Plastics Technology PTonline.com Keeping Up W it h Technolog y