[AT] More on Air Lines

[kgw]

I have no idea as to the capacity, but I have seen refrigeration air 
dries at Harbor freight for (relatively) little.
-- 
Gene

Gene Waugh
Elgin, Illinois 60123 USAGreg Hass wrote:
> This information may not be practical for anyone on the list, but I 
> would just like to show that there is vast array of solutions to the 
> various problems that we may run into.
> 
> Our area has long been known for growing white edible beans.  The 
> quality of the beans being completely dependent on the weather, bad 
> weather can cause many off-color beans to be harvested.  To sort the 
> beans, they use machines that around here are commonly called "the 
> eyes".    Although I know little of the more modern ones used in the 
> last 15 years, the ones used before that were approximately 2' x 2' x 5' 
> high.  Each machine had a small belt that would drop one single file row 
> of beans down a one-ft. square opening.  On one side was an electric 
> eye, and when it saw a "bad bean", an electric coil would open a little 
> needle valve and a puff of air would blow that bean out of the stream 
> and onto the "reject" conveyor.  The way the eye worked was that for 
> each grade, 3 of the side panels would be changed to matched the color 
> of bean that was being processed, according to grade.  The electric eye 
> would then pick up any bean that did not match the backdrop color.  
> Because the beans were processed single file, each machine was able to 
> process only 400 lbs. per hour.  Therefore, there were approximately 40 
> machines in one room.  The air was supplied by two 10-HP compressors.
> 
> The problem that they ran into was that water from the air lines would 
> get into the electric coils that opened the needle valves and burn them 
> out.  According to people that worked there it was quite a problem.  The 
> answer was a machine about the size of an 8-cu.ft. chest freezer.  I am 
> not sure of the inner workings of it, however it had a refrigeration 
> compressor on it and cooled the compressed air as it went through, 
> similar to a dehumidifier.  Beside it were a couple of 5-gal. pails.  
> They said they took out about 5-gal. of water per shift.  However, in 
> the 4 years they had had the machine, they had not burned out a single 
> coil on the electric eyes.
> 
> The reason I said at the beginning that this may not be practical is 
> that, if I remember right....(CRS is in play here)... the price was 
> $5000 for the air dryer.  Still, an interesting solution to a nagging 
> problem.
> 
> Greg Hass
> 
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