Drying Files: Big Air

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Using Our Equipment Understanding a Psychrometric Chart
Overview Ross Mixing
The past series has dealt with various instruments used in the acquisition of system parameters. ForEquipment
the
data collected to have some value requires understanding and manipulation of the data, ultimately resulting
in a model of your system. The next few "Drying Files" will deal with the interpretation and manipulation
Mixers, Blenders &
of this data so that a better understanding of the operation can be gleaned. Dispersers for the
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I have been careful over the years to ensure that I refer to the heat carrier in convection dryers as a gas.
Editorial Archives This inference has not been as opposed to a liquid or a solid, but rather to be nonspecific as to the www.mixers.com
composition of the carrier gas. Some dryers use an inert gas such as nitrogen or work in a modified
Zoning by
environment such as an oxygen-depleted environment; hence, they do not use "air" as the carrier. However,
most of the dryers in service today are atmospheric and use air as the carrier gas. Air demonstrates Jackson
properties that are unique because it is composed of numerous gaseous elements, some solid contaminants Systems
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and some liquid vapors. It is fundamental to understand the properties of the "gas" in drying systems, and
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none more than the air in convective dryers. Residential Zoning,
Energy Notes Stats, IAQ,
Drying Files Psychrometrics involves the thermodynamic (heat and mass) properties of moist air. PsychrometricCommercial
charts Controls
Heating Highlights are the graphical representations of the properties and are very useful tools in understanding dryingwww.jacksonsystems
systems. This file will explain how to read and use a psychrometric chart. .com
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Before I get carried away, some basics. Air is not air! Atmospheric air is the stuff we deal with on a day-to-
Product Picks day basis. It has all the necessary gaseous elements plus some water vapor and contaminants. Dry air is
Free Literature pure air -- if such an animal exists in today's polluted environment. To make dry air, you remove the water
Advertiser Index vapor and contaminants from atmospheric air. Moist air is a two-part mixture of dry air and infinite
different levels water vapor. How moist the moist air is is a function of how much water vapor there is in
Calendar of Events the mixture. For all intent and purpose, atmospheric air and moist air are the same critters for our
Industry News applications.
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Buyers Guide I do need to clarify that although I will be referring to a generic psychrometric chart in this series (one that
I have created and has no reference use), the psychrometric chart used for a specific application must be for
the local atmospheric pressure and obviously needs to cover the desired temperature range. Getting your
hands on some of these can be a challenge. Because most dryers do not operate at atmospheric pressures or
specified pressure increments, adjustment for barometric pressures differences will be required to obtain
Market Research precise information. For our purposes, a chart in the general atmospheric pressure range is sufficient.
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Subscribe Online Also, charts are published with different coordinate systems. For this series, I will be using the standard
NEW! Bookstore ASHRAE practice of a uniform but slanted enthalpy scale on rectangular coordinates of humidity ratio vs.
dry bulb temperature. This will all make sense as we progress.
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To most. a psychrometric chart looks complicated and foreboding. In actuality, it is a simple chart made up
List Rental of (an infinite number of) lines, each of which defines one property. If you know any two of the properties
of the air, you can read off the chart a tremendous amount of additional data about that same air.

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Drying Files: Big Air

Let's Begin

Figure 1. Constant dry bulb temperature is the reading on your

thermometer when placed into a duct on your dryer and is made
up of vertical lines on the chart.

The first few terms may be a review for regular readers of "Drying Files."

The dry bulb temperature scale is listed on the bottom of the chart, or the X-axis (figure 1). Remember, the
dry bulb temperature is the temperature of the air, the day's highs and lows, or the reading on your
thermometer when placed into a duct on your dryer. This is the simplest property to measure and certainly
will be one of the two needed to use a psychrometric chart. Constant dry bulb temperatures are made up of
vertical lines on the chart.

Next month, I'll continue with more terms, including wet bulb temperature, dewpoint temperature and
relative humidity.

Need more information about drying? Check out Drying Files archives.

Darren A. Traub is executive vice president of Drytech Engineering, Irvine, CA, a company
specializing in thermal drying and related system technologies. He has engineered and managed the
project execution of numerous drying and bulk materials-handling systems in the United States,
Africa, the Middle East and China. He can be reached at (949) 262-1222 or e-mail
darren@drytecheng.com.

Want to learn more about thermal drying and related system technologies?
Check out our Drying Files archives.

Copyright © 2005 by BNP Media.

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