Why air dryers affect end product quality and your maintenance cost

Atlas Copco and other manufacturers offer a range of compressed air dryers, all tailored for particular applications to ensure that the air you get is as dry as you need it. Some compressor manufacturers offer “full feature” compressors, which contain integrated refrigerant air dryers inside the compressor canopy, saving on space, installation cost and lifecycle service costs. This way, you further mitigate the risk of free water and corrosion in your air distribution system and take one more step towards achieving certain ISO quality standards. As a rule of thumb, a refrigerant dryer is suitable for most industrial applications since it lowers the pressure dewpoint (commonly referred to as PDP, which is the point where you would begin to see condensation forming) of your compressed air to +3°C. That means you would not have to worry about condensation unless your pipework is exposed to freezing temperatures.

Some applications, however, require air with a much lower dewpoint, in which case you would need to look at desiccant air dryer technology, which can give you a dewpoint as low as -70°C. We recommend referring to the ISO 8573-1:2010 standard when specifying new air compressor installations and when reviewing your air system, but if you are stuck for ideas, our air experts are always happy to answer your questions.