• Vacuum Tray dryer is the most commonly used
batch dryer. They are box-shaped and loaded
and unloaded via a door. Inside are several
heating plates mounted one above the other
on which the product is placed in trays.
• The bottoms of both heating plates and
trays
should be as smooth as possible to permit
optimal heat transfer between plates and
product.
• The medium flowing through the heating
plates
is water, steam or thermal oil.
• The distance between the heating plates is
determined primarily by the surface loading
and the foaming of the product.
• To avoid retrograde condensation, the
cabinet
walls are indirectly preheated by the
heating plates. Next, the product is
introduced and heated at atmospheric
pressure. Only after all individual product
trays reach the same temperature, the
cabinet is evacuated and drying can start.
• The preheating phase is very important in
order that the drying curve and the foaming
of the product is identical throughout the
cabinet.
• During the main drying phase, the vacuum is
in the range of 40 to 80 mbar abs and in the
final drying phase vacuums of only a few
mbar abs are reached.
• Heating temperatures are normally in the
range between 80°C and 110°C. Depending on
product and surface load, drying takes from
a few hours to 1 to 2 days.
• For some products, the vacuum and
temperature
profiles are automatically controlled in
order to prevent a pass over of the critical
product temperature.
• The dimensioning of the vacuum system is an
important factor in the design of drying
cabinet systems. If, for example, vigorous
foaming of the product is desired,
evacuation to the operational vacuum level
must take place very quickly.
• Vapours produced during drying are taken
out
directly, or via a steam jet compressor to a
surface condenser in which the vapours
condense. The non-condensable vapours are
extracted by the vacuum system.
• On completion of the drying, the product
can
be cooled by circulating cooling water
through the heating plates.
• Hot & cold-water generator.