Many industrial processes rely on finely tuned humidity. Dave Mortimer from Vapac Humidity Control describes the latest system that provides continuous steam output using raw mains water
AS WELL as providing a comfortable environment for a building’s occupants, humidification is an important part of the manufacturing process for many industries.
An uninterrupted production of humidity is critical for a vast number of manufacturing, testing and experimental processes from package labelling to the conquest of space.
It is required for maintaining the correct environment for drug production and printing and ensuring reliable operation of plant and equipment.
Its increasing usage stems from a need to control environments.
Dry air can not only be troublesome but in some cases dangerous when it promotes the generation of static electricity, very damaging in explosive environments, or where health issues are prevalent.
As more stringent air quality standards come into play, meeting them often requires bringing more outside air into a plant.
In winter, the cold humid air needs to be heated and this will result in much lower humidity levels that, depending on the manufacturing process, can have a detrimental effect.
Where mechanical cooling is required, the latent removal will result in dehumidification, the extent dependant on the sensible heat ratio.
Scaling
Traditional electrode steam boilers rely on the conductivity of the water inside the cylinder to boil. After a period, contaminants present in the water will build up and cause scaling. Some of the mineral deposits can be pumped out via a controlled drainage sequence. It is the length of this drain period that affects the level of control.
The installation of the wrong solution can prove a costly mistake in a discipline as demanding as humidification.
There are many applications and laboratory environments in particular where even small fluctuations in humidity levels and time spent on drain cycles are not acceptable.
As a result, there is now a range of humidifiers that can provide continuous steam output using raw mains water.
LEC humidifier
The recently launched LEC humidifier is currently the only system available that can deliver quantity and quality of steam without relying on a combination of reverse osmosis (RO) units and softened water. Five models are available offering 5-45kg/hr of continuous steam.
Each unit comprises a twin cylinder system that delivers and maintains humidification levels by instantly modulating to match changes in demand and controlled by the VapaNet LEC system. This special Pulsed Energy routine uses solid-state relays together with additional features that control the system enabling both cylinders to deliver 50% of the duty all the time.
When one cylinder enters a drain routine, the other automatically ramps up in capacity to cope with the increased demand. The result is a modulating close tolerance uninterrupted steam supply.
For users concerned with energy consumption there is a pre-select option that reduces the number of drain cycles thus saving on water and electricity.
If a longer cylinder life is critical to the application, there is also an option available so that cylinders drain more frequently flushing out any detritus thus increasing their longevity.
The market for humidification is benefiting from tighter building regulations, the demands for close controlled environments and its increasing usage in manufacturing and industrial processes all providing plenty of scope for greater market penetration.
Vapac Humidity Control
01732 863447