BLOWER PURGE DRYER WITH COOLING APPARATUS AND METHODOLOGY

摘要

A multi-tower blower purge dryer system for use with a compressed air stream provided from a compressor is disclosed. In one form the system includes two dryers that can be alternated to dry the compressed air stream. The tower used to dry the compressed air stream can be referred to as the drying tower, and the tower being regenerated can be referred to as the regenerated tower. A number of valves and passages are used to connect the towers to one another and/or to an intake passage from the compressor. A blower purge heater is provided to regenerate the dryers. After a regeneration step in which a tower may be relatively warm, the valves can be actuated to place the warm regenerated tower in fluid communication with the intake passage from the compressor, which can then provide air to the drying tower. In this manner the regenerated tower is cooled.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising:
a multi-tower regenerative dryer system having a first drying tower and a second drying tower and structured to remove moisture from a compressed air stream provided through an intake passage from a compressor; a controller configured to selectively place the first drying tower, second drying tower, and intake passage in fluid communication with each other during a regeneration cycle to conduct a cooling flow period in response to a signal associated with a temperature of the first drying tower, the controller structured to configure the multi-tower regenerative dryer system to:
route the compressed air stream from the intake passage to the first drying tower to cool down a drying element of the first drying tower as a result of the drying element having been heated during regeneration thereby creating a first tower outlet air stream; andconvey the first tower outlet air stream from the first drying tower to the second drying tower to absorb moisture in the first tower outlet air stream that has traversed from the intake passage to the first drying tower and then to the second drying tower.