Tri-Pass Dryer
Drying is an essential step in extruded snack food production. Accurate and even drying is paramount to ensure efficient and repeatable results.
The CABE Tri-Pass Dryer is designed with the needs of modern snack food production in mind, encompassing key features for ease of operation, cleaning & maintenance.
This series is available in different sizes to suit the particular line capacity
Full 304 stainless steel construction, and sloped floor as standard.
Our unique approach brings:
- Large dryer airflow management on a small scale
- The ‘Box within a Box’
Energy & Efficiency are top of most agendas, which is where ‘Box within a Box’ comes in. Traditionally a dryer has an insulated housing which serves many purposes, namely, providing structure, guiding and sealing the process air path and containing thermal insulation.
The Tri-Pass housing contains an ‘inner box’ which takes on some of the above tasks. Conveyor & conveyor shaft support is handled by the inner box. No more hot shafts protruding outside the housing causing undesirable leakage or rotating snag points.
The process air path is guided and primarily sealed by the inner box, while the outer housing of the dryer provides thermal insulation and secondary sealing.
Sounds complex? Not really. Access is from the side doors, with ‘inner box elements’ being easily removed for access and cleaning. No complex air guides, just open space. No more struggling to remove components via end doors.
Want to do a deep clean? Easy. Open the side doors, pull out upper and lower plenum sheets and unfasten the conveyor side guides. We’ve even permanently numbered each part to make re-assembly easy and repeatable.
Need to replace a shaft? Easy. Opening a side door reveals generous access to the shafts and bearings. All shafts can be removed from the side.
Need to replace door seals? Easy. The seal is a push fit onto the door edge. No silicone sealant, no messy removal or re-fitting. No more putting off replacing tired door seals, that cause inefficiency.
Process
The Tri-Pass Dryer consist of three conveyors that carry product through the dryer housing. A packaged heating system manages the airflow through the dryer.
Product is presented onto the top conveyor. The product passes along the top conveyor and cascades by gravity down onto the middle conveyor before passing back along through the dryer housing. The product passes onto the lower conveyor for it’s final pass through the dryer housing before being discharged at the end of the conveyor.
Process air is heated in the upper chamber of the dryer, before being drawn into the circulating air fan. The air is then delivered to the lower plenum where it is evenly distributed before passing up through the product on the conveyors.
As the air passes through the product it imparts heat to the product and picks up moisture from the product, before being drawn into the upper plenum chamber. From the upper plenum a controlled proportion of moisture laden air is drawn into the exhaust fan, and the balance passes to the heating chamber where it mixes with fresh air and is heated to setpoint before starting the cycle once more.
Accessories
- Infeed vibrating conveyor (scarfed)
- Discharge conveyors
- Flavouring Systems
- Cutters
Applications
- Direct extruded snack foods
- Rice cakes
Cleaning & Maintenance
Any piece of equipment on the factory floor has to be easy to operate and maintain. At CABE these features are core to our designs.
- Superior access from sides for cleaning all areas of housing
- Removable upper and lower plenums
- Sloped floor
Conveyor System
A robust conveyor system is provided to reliably transport the product through the process.
- Stainless steel spiral weave conveyor belt
- High temperature sealed bearing units carry the conveyor shafts.
- Herring bone support with built-in thermal expansion allowance
- Shaft mounted gearmotor
Controls & Wiring
Each Tri-Pass dryer is pre-wired at the factory, with integrated controls supplied as standard using Siemens as the basis. Alternatives are available on request.
The PLC controls provide an up to date approach to operation with user defined recipes to ensure consistent, repeatable and safe processing, with intuitive HMI and the option of different languages.
Professional control software with multi-level access:
- Operator
- Engineer
- Technician
Heat Source
The Tri-Pass Dryer can be specified with different options for heating:
- Direct heating – Gas burner
- Indirect heating – Electric heating or Thermal Hot Oil