Drying is energy intensive
Dryer energy is a major cost for heatset-web printers, recently worsened by the huge energy price rises. Costs for electricity consumption can however be cut significantly without reducing drying quality by installing our Electrical Power Reduction enhancement.
Once the costs of the EPR enhancement have been recouped (on average, payback is around two years) annual savings can exceed € 50,000 per year.
Electrical Power Reduction
The power of a motor is proportional to the cube of the speed, so for example reducing the speed from 100% to 80% halves the power. However, a dryer’s circulation fans (eight for a four-section dryer) can usually only be run at either 50% or 100% nominal speed. To reduce energy consumption efficiently, it is better to match the demand from the web offset printer – and that depends on web speed and paper density.
The EPR enhancement varies the drive speed and dryer circulation continuously between 0 and 100%. Speed increases with increasing section temperature until, at maximum temperature, the dryer runs at 100% so there is never a lack of drying capacity. Operation is fully automatic, controlled by section temperature. Consumption and savings can be monitored via Contiweb’s Remote Monitoring and Diagnostics.
