Industrial Process Heating
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Knit Fabrics Printer Adds IR Pre-dryer to Bleach Drying Process Background Intex Corporation textiles and apparel runs a knit fabric bleaching, printing, and finishing operation in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina. In the first phase of their production line, they had been using two different kinds of dryers on their freshly bleached fabric, one drum style, the other relaxation. Using these two different kinds of dryers was causing problems with uniform conditioning of the fabric and overall product consistency. They wanted to switch their whole line to the relaxation type drier, but could see that alone, it couldn’t carry the load. Plant Perspective “We were already running the relaxation drier 24 hours a day,” says Jim Bruce, plant manager and vice president of…for…“Since we couldn’t run it more hours, we needed to speed up the process. We were drying at 10 to 11 yards a minute, and we needed to raise that rate up to 15 to 16 yards.” A number of measures were tried to accomplish this goal. “We tried squeezing excess moisture out using a system of rollers,” says Bruce. “But, past a certain point, the moisture simply flows back into the area just squeezed, especially in the case of the tubular knit fabrics we process.” “We considered adding a series of vacuum slot bars to suck some of the moisture out. But, we run a multi-strand system, where several strands of fabric run through the system at once. Most of the air would flow into the slots in the gaps in between strands, thus cutting down on the desired reduction in moisture.” Enter Duke Energy and IR Technology Bruce and his staff laid out their dilemma to the customer service team of their local utility, Duke Energy. Duke put them in touch with some dealers in infrared (IR) technology. The idea was to install an IR pre-dryer in front of the relaxation drier, one that could sufficiently decrease the moisture content of the fabric to achieve the necessary drying process speed. IR technology heats only the surface area of a product, making it an ideal choice for such an application. “We surveyed another textile plant where an IR pre-dryer was already in use,” says Jerry Hiatt, plant engineer for the Pilot Mountain plant. “This gave us a better idea of what we would need and the benefits it could provide.” Intex went to work with Bruce Falk of Textile Technology Exchange. The two-paneled unit was installed during the Christamas holiday break and started up in January. Results “From day one, it worked right and gave us the speed increase we needed,” says Bruce. “It’s been maintenance free and easy to operate. The simplicity of the install was very appealing and the smoothness of its operation has been right on time. We accomplished what we set out to do.” “It’s been easy for our workers to learn how to operate,” says Hiatt. “After 2 or 3 days, they got completely used to it.” “We’ve been able to mothball our old drum dryer,” says Bruce. “Now, all of our product comes out more uniform.” Associated Benefits The consistency of Intex’s product has been greatly improved due to achieving the ability to run all of it through the one relaxation dryer. Now, all of their fabrics go through a dryer designed for maximizing the pre-shrinking, bulking, and stitch recovery vital to their knit fabrics’ quality. Uniform conditioning means a uniform product. In addition, Intex has realized a variety of other benefits, including major savings in labor and maintenance costs. “We spent $35,000 last year on the drum drier in maintenance alone,” says Bruce. “Plus, now, we require one less operator 10 to 11 hours a day.” Other benefits include freed up floor space for product and material storage, energy savings and production increases due to the quick heat up time of IR, and the potential for further increases in system efficiency due to highly flexible technology. Teaming for Success Intex’s experience marks a successful interchange between manufacturer, utility, and vendor. “Duke Energy was involved with us through the whole process, finding out what we needed, making the contacts, and following things up, right through completion,” says Bruce. “Through them, we found the vendor and system best suited to our needs.” For More Information Contact Mark Gentry at (336) 679-4020 or mgentry@advancedenergy.org.
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