‘Smart,’ Moisture-Based Drying Technology Enhanced

Novatec has reengineered it’s DryerGenie, a system that used sensors to measure resin moisture and coupled it with new features in its drying hopper to make the process of drying hygroscopic materials more efficient and less dependent on time-based recipes.

In the new, more rugged design, the resin-moisture analyzer is situated below the receiver and directly above the drying hopper. The moisture analyzer uses the capacitance of the resin to determine the starting moisture level entering the drying hopper.    

Novatec has also placed a Drying Process Scanner within the hopper. A series of sensors within the drying hopper measure — and adjust as needed — air flow, temperature and dewpoint.  Throwing away the resin company cookbook and instead relying on real-time moisture readings and dryer adjustments could very well result in increased capacity utilization of molding machines, Novatec argues.

At its lab in Baltimore, Novatec ran the same PC/ABS blend with and without the DryerGenie. The drying time recommended by the supplier to reach 200 ppm, from an unknown starting moisture level, was 4 hours. However, with a known starting moisture level recognized by the DryerGenie at 2,520 ppm, reaching the target of 200 rpm took only two hours. In addition to overdrying the material in the first scenario (which can result in brittle parts that fail over time), drying the material without a known starting moisture level at the start resulted in a machine that would be making parts to otherwise sit idle for two hours.