Industrial Microwave Dryer

INTRODUCTION
Industrial microwave latex foam dryer is an innovative drying system designed for removing moisture in the natural rubber latex foams.

In natural latex foam products manufacturing plants, water is used to wash away the residual chemicals used during molding of products. High-pressure wringers or hydro-extractors are then used to squeeze or spin out a large proportion of water from the products, to bring them to a semi-dry state. The remaining moisture is usually low. Because of the low moisture levels and poor thermal conductivity of foam, to drive the remaining moisture from the center to the surfaces with conventional drying techniques, such as steam or fossil fuel burning dryers, is usually a slow process with inherent problems of product degradation.

Our microwave latex foam dryer is specially designed to address these problems. Instead of transferring heat from the surfaces inwards, microwave penetrates into latex foams electro-magnetically and causes the whole volume of product to heat up rapidly. The end result is an evenly dried, natural-coloured, high quality product. 

KEY FEATURES & BENEFITS

¨      Expandable capacity – modular design enables the throughput of dryer to be expanded to suit various production capacities. This provides a low cost solution to drying bottlenecks when demand for output increases.

¨      Conveyerized design – enable continuous flow of manufacturing processes. It can be retrofitted into the existing facilities, such as roll foam sheeting facilities, etc. to form a complete production line.

¨      Precise control – microwave exposure time of the products can be adjusted to suit various moisture contents and product characteristics, resulting in less energy wastage.

¨      Faster response – dryer can be instantly turned on and off, eliminating the need for warm-up and cool-down. Heating times required to evaporate the moisture in the products is often less than 1% of that required by the conventional heating methods.  

¨      Energy efficient – microwave heats only the polar molecules like water in the products, not the surrounding air nor the walls of dryer. Furthermore, our uniquely designed system takes full advantage of the hot air by-product from the magnetrons in enhancing its drying efficiency. This translates into more efficient energy usage and higher processing speed.

¨      Economical   

• Less labour cost – The dryer needs only two men to operate.  

• Lower capital investment – no steam boilers and associated piping are required.  

• Smaller footprint – because microwave systems are more compact, it normally occupies a smaller floor space than the conventional dryers of similar capacity.  

• Less power consumption – due to efficient energy conversion and faster processing and response speeds, energy consumption is far less than most conventional techniques.

¨      Easy to operate and simple to maintain – No heavy trays needed for placing the products. Simply arrange the products on the moving conveyor at the feed end and then unload them from the belt when they are discharged. Apart from periodic examination for wear on conveyor belt, the only part that requires maintenance is the magnetron tubes. Typical operating life of these tubes is above 5,000 hours. 

¨      Users and environmentally friendly – no combustion by-products, low noise level, cooler surrounding and thus eliminating the need for environmental permits and improving working conditions for the operators.

¨      Improved product quality – uniquely designed applicators ensure that products conveyed through them are volumetrically heated up and are uniformly dried. Because of lower drying temperature in the microwave system, the inherent weaknesses associated with the conventional dryers, such as foam yellowing and scorching is greatly reduced.  Shrinkage in the microwave-dried product is also uniform with no unsightly markings left on the surface of the products.             

¨      Proven results – our microwave latex foam dryer is presently used by established manufacturers to produce world-renowned brands of latex foam mattresses. Negotiations are currently underway for further expansions. The valuable experience we gained from the installations will undoubtedly assure you of an unprecedented advantage over other drying alternatives.

¨      Comply with international safety standard – uniquely designed leakage prevention system reduces microwave leakage to no more than 10mW/cm² measuring at 5cm from accessible surfaces of the system under normal operation conditions with sufficient load. All control systems are equipped with safety interlocks that shut off microwave power instantaneously in the event of improper operation.

¨       Turnkey solution – we offer a single source of solution by providing a full range of services from design, installation, and commission to the training of your operators and technicians.

¨      Excellent service – we strive for complete customer satisfaction.  

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