Bigging it up

17 August 2021



Kathy Bowry takes a look at some serious contenders in the heavyweight ranks of industrial dryers


SUSTAINABLE USE OF RESOURCES

Jensen has built around 4000 dryers so far, and counting. All of them have set industry benchmarks in productivity, safety, servicing, and most importantly in the use of resources, says the company.

Its WR dryers, says Jensen, are the most energy-efficient industrial dryers worldwide “Compared with the average values of conventional dryers, the evaporation capacity of the WR dryers is approximately 10% higher. At the same time, the energy consumption was lowered by up to 15%. Numerous tests were carried out in which an energy consumption of less than 1 kWh per litre of evaporated water could be measured. Its infinitely variable air recirculation guarantees a highly efficient, batch related drying process. The air flow is optimized thanks to frequency-controlled fan units. Its precise heat control and the reduced drying time add to sustainability and extends the lifetime of textiles. Each WR dryer will help the laundry save 31 tons of CO2, and this figure can climb up to 80 tons of CO2 savings per year when comparing with a steam-heated dryer. “

Jensen’s DT dryer is the company’s best seller. a highly efficient and compact dryer. Its proven technology was recently upgraded to the DTPlus series, with selected functions from the WR series while maintaining an outstanding price-performance ratio. One special feature is the airflow system. The automatically regulated recirculating-air flap continuously regulates the optimal ratio of fresh air to circulating air depending on the degree of dryness of the laundry and the individually specified program.

Perfect adaptation to different requirements

Various options are available for all jensen dryers in order to configure them according to the needs of almost any kind of application. They include fully integrable heat exchangers that can easily be accessed from the outside as well as an InfraCare control for further optimising the drying process, among others. Lint can be removed automatically, both in a decentralised version (LintEx Uno) with a separate container at each dryer and in a centralised version (LintEx Multi) with a large container for various dryers.

For spaces with architectural problems to overcome or where space is tight, mirror-image versions of the dryer have been designed in order to allow for a compact and space-saving installation with a pair of dryers directly side by side. Jensen, says the company, is indeed taking a holistic look at saving resources.

THREE TIERS FOR LAVATEC

Lavatec Laundry Technology has developed an innovative and patented solution that it says is a true model of efficiency, producing energy savings of at least 50%, says the company. LavaCascade is a fast and simple three-tiered marvel that generates additional payback with time and labour savings. The first phase introduces high heat to the laundry load. A middle stage recaptures waste heat to maintain a consistent temperature, followed by a final cooling stage. Each phase takes only a few minutes to complete.

“This is a significant industry advance in drying that was several years in the making. We applied the same engineering approach we use for our custom-built tunnel washers to design LavaCascade,” explains Mark Thrasher, president and co-owner of Lavatec.

“The end result is we designed an incredibly efficient system with a shorter drying time that has the capability to reduce energy consumption by as much as 75%. Last month we completed installation of the first machine with a customer in Germany. The initial results are outstanding.”

Lavatec Cascade technology is in alignment with recent developments on a worldwide scale to address climate change and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The California Energy Commission approved standards in December 2019 that pertain to commercial and industrial laundry operations. Short and long-term 1-5 year goals impact energy savings, emission reductions and electricity consumption.

In many ways the LavaCascade system addresses and supports a research finding from the Nuremburg Institute of Technology, one of the largest universities of applied sciences in Germany.

Citing a 2010 German Federal Statistical study that analysed the total energy consumption of 3,800 laundry and drycleaning businesses, it reported that 90% of the total amount of energy consumed was used for the heating of water. Although each business examined had systems to recover or re-use water, only one operation had installed a facility to re-use waste heat from laundry dryers – and of the 28 dryers, it applied to only four.

“In Europe and worldwide, the reduction of CO2 emissions is on the agenda of nearly every government,” acknowledges Thrasher. “With our customers looking to reduce costs and meet new coming regulatory mandates, the reduction of energy and emissions has the complete attention of commercial laundry operators.”

Lavatec management believes LavaCascade has the capability to improve nearly any type of commercial laundry operation and is the perfect complement for those with a high amount of full dry linen. This includes but is not limited to those washing towels for the hospitality, healthcare and uniform cleaning segments, as well as mats and mops used to clean floors at these facilities.

“These types of laundry operations have a very high quantity of similar items that requires a long drying time,” says Thrasher. “In this type of situation, the energy savings potential is enormous.”

LavaCascade’s first customer fits this profile. Coburger Handtuch is a regional service provider in Rödental, Germany, that specialises in handling towels, cleaning mops and dirt control mats. Company owner Joachim Krause is both a supporter and promoter of environmentally beneficial technology and equipment.

“Like any initial start-up, we had some interesting situations arise during the installation that we have learned from,” sums up Thrasher.

“It was mostly related to the placing of the machines and allowing for proper airflow. The key thing is the owner now understands that the drying time and energy consumption are lower than what he originally calculated and expected. We are in discussions with several operators in North America and hope to announce additional new orders soon.”

SUSTAINED PERFORMANCE

According to Kannegiesser, the application of technology and innovation make the difference when it comes to achieving sustainability in the drying line and believes it is a difference that customers should be able to see and feel first hand. In its transfer dryer PowerDry, the difference is called CareDy and Eco2Power.

CareDry is a special drying program that reliably preserves the quality of terry cloth. It prevents over-drying and thus scorching and greying of the textile fibres. CareDry meets the highest requirements for softness, whiteness or colour-retention.

Eco2Power is a process control that combines lowest energy consumption with maximum performance. Due to the optimal use of circulating air, less heat supply and thus energy is required. At the same time, the automatic control system reduces process times and allows greater performance.

Processing of terry cloth

Terry cloth, especially towels and bathrobes, are the items in the laundry which are most difficult to process. End customers have high expectations of terry cloth when they enter a hotel room, as their quality implies cleanliness and hygiene. Therefore, problems such as greying and missing softness of terry cloth are unpleasant complaints for laundries – and they are hard to handle. The PowerDry batch dryer provides a special drying program developed for high quality processing of terry cloth: the CareDry process.

To understand how it works, we have to look first at the special texture of terry as you can see in the picture below. Terry is built up from a firm ground fabric usually woven in warp and weft. This ground fabric holds the loop texture which forms the typical structure of the terry surface.

In the drying process, moisture has to be removed from the ground fabric as well as from the loop texture. It is easy to imagine that the top of the loops dry fastest as they are directly exposed to the drying air. When the loop tops are already dry, there is still moisture in the deeper sections of the terry cloth.

The loops are drying faster than the moisture can move up from the terry inside. This can lead to overdrying of the loops, with the danger of scorched loop tops and destroyed colors. Unfortunately it is mainly the outer loop texture which is responsible for the feel (haptics) and the visual impression of the entire terry cloth.

The laundry can resolve this problem by choosing the CareDry drying program in the PowerDry. The inlet air temperature as well as the drying temperature are significantly lower with the CareDry process. This gives more time for moving the moisture from the ground fabric up to the loop texture where it can evaporate to the drying air. The energy consumption decreases, however the total process time slightly increases. The CareDry process can be selected in the PowerDry program list.

However, it is not necessary to choose CareDry for all terry cloth, as the standard terry drying process is already optimised for this type of textiles. However, especially for very thick articles and those with special high demands on softness, whiteness or colour-retention, the CareDry process can lead to a significant higher quality in the drying process of terry cloth.

TUNNELING IN

ILE can offer a pass-through range of dryers which are designed for integration in to their tunnel systems but can equally be supplied as standalone machines loaded with conveyor systems.

Two machines with a 25: 1 loading ratio giving loading capacities of 100kg and 150kg are available in steam, gas or thermal oil options. The steam version uses two extra efficient vertical stainless steel heater batteries to reduce running costs and give more reliability. Intelligent moisture control is available to give flexibility and control over the drying process whilst improving drying quality and efficiency. These machines come with a forward tilting function and automatic air direction control to give fast and efficient unloading.

As with all of the ILE premium products the inner drum and filter all use stainless steel as standard. Transmission and fan motors are both inverter controlled and both the inlet and outlet air temperatures are measured to give an accurate efficient drying process. ILE dryers are in many sites across the UK and are allowing laundries of all sizes to process large quantities of towels/ mats in a quick and efficient manner.

In the UK, Jake Gordon at JLR Commercial Laundry has a GZZ100 (GZZ model pictured) and said: “I literally could not manage without this machine. Since installing it in March 2020 we have used it as our main dryer and even in the quieter periods, this is the go-to machine that is used all day, every day! The machine has proved to be exceptionally reliable and has cut down our times significantly”

Shane Weir of Tech2serv, one of the official UK dealers of ILE equipment says: “We chose to sell the OD range from the beginning as it fit with the needs of one of our customers. This 1st experience surprised us as the build quality and general features of these machines are fantastic. The large door and polished drum are great features to come as standard on a dryer and all of our customers love the machines.”



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