BOARD DRYER TECHNOLOGY

The following features are incorporated into WESTMILL’s equipment and explain what differentiates our offering from those of our competitors.

We have recently developed a Spring Tensioned Packing Gland to permanently and effectively solve the common problem of emissions leaking through roof panels at the fan shaft. This area has long been recognized as a maintenance nightmare due to the difficulty accessing the packing gland below the lower shaft bearing and heat slinger.

This solution has greatly reduced the number of the bottom bearing failures caused by high heat and bearing contamination. We have this installed and successfully operating in hundreds of dryer fans in North America.

To eliminate any potential risk of ‘strike-hazard’ for an unsuspecting dryer tender when opening a dryer door, Westmill has incorporated a new load-dampening-cell into our Patented Articulating dryer door hardware to provide complete control of the door handle throughout the opening and closing process.

The Electrically Actuated Tipple Feeder incorporates electric linear actuators and high-speed motion control for fast, silent tipple actuation with exact, repeatable positioning accuracy This design is very energy efficient vs. hydraulic and only uses the power required while indexing vs. having a full-time pump running.  The energy-savings alone are considerable.

We have recently been contracted to incorporate real-time monitoring of Fan Bearing Vibration on two new Westmill 6-Deck Jet dryers for progressive customers. This real-time monitoring directs maintenance personnel to out-of-tolerance areas before they become failures.

This is a proven and effective method of eliminating dryer corrosion. It has been used extensively for over many years to protect national structures, pipelines, ships hulls, oil rigs, underground pipelines, and storage tanks together with many more structures. Westmill has now taken this concept and adapted it to board dryers.

Designed to virtually eliminate metal-to-metal contact between the inner and outer walls of the dryer’s roof and siding. Not only does this greatly reduce energy costs with thermal efficiency, but it also reduces pitch build-up inside the dryer – a primary ingredient causing dryer fires. Unlike any other dryer housing available today, WESTMILL’s dryer housing is actually ‘cool to the touch’.

Combining multiple WESTMILL innovations and improvements such as our 1-2-3 Door Seal System, our innovative roll baffle design, the WestVac and the 2-PEx Humidity and Emission Control systems, the spring fan-shaft seal system, and our fully seal-welded dryer floor, and Westmill can boast having the Best-sealed Dryer on the market today.

Compared to conventional flat dryer roofs and side walls, Westmill’s Channel Vented roof design allows the dryer housing to ‘breathe’ preventing any condensation from being trapped under the housing. This simple design element greatly extends the life of the dryer housing by virtually eliminating upper-housing corrosion.  The Channel Vented design also allows the roof to expand and contract effortlessly as the dryer heats and cools.

Combine the wet and dry-end WestVAC Seal sections with our 2-PEx Dryer Exhaust & Emission Control system, together with our industry leading dryer control system, and you have the most versatile, intuitive and easily controllable dryer available today. Optional Humidity Sensors can also be provided as a tool for dryer set-up, testing and ongoing diagnostics, although we do-not recommend using these as a day-to-day control point.

This is achieved using adjustable air distribution baffles at the entrance to jet tubes. This Westmill exclusive feature allows users to fine-tune a dryer’s individual decks for optimal performance. Westmill jet tubes are also manufactured using 16-gauge sheet metal (while others typically use 18-19 GA). We feature high-velocity “Weyco” style jet-orifice’s, the industry standard. Westmill has also incorporated a heavy 12 GA. flange around the high-pressure opening of the tube to prevent the usual bending and damage caused during handling and thereby maximizing airflow into the jet tube opening.

Greatly reduces the risk of dryer fires caused by fuel build-up on the dryer floor. Metered water spray within the dryer increases the interior dryer humidity level which raises the “flash point” significantly. What’s unique about Westmill system design is that the spray lines and delivery piping are located under the insulated dryer floor to prevent the evaporation of water and the resultant plugging of the piping. The operator selected Interval & Duration settings within the dryer control to ensure an immediate and dependable supply of water-on-demand.

Our advanced cooling design benefits from years of multiple iterations and improvements.  As compared to other vendors, Westmill’s cooling sections include vane axial fans on both the intake and exhaust stacks.  We incorporate VFD’s in our cooler system to provide complete control over your cooling requirements while saving energy during non-peak cooling periods. Non-contact temperature sensors are used to monitor the exiting sheet temperatures, with this feedback used to the control the cooler fan speeds according to a control set-point.

The functionality, ease-of-use, and reliability of the Westmill dryer control system are so highly regarded that we have customer engineering & electrical teams that have standardized on this system across their operations in multiple locations.