International vacuum manufacturer Italvacuum has designed and realised the new Planex System, which offers the highest levels of quality and productivity while minimising energy consumption.
The multi-patented machine is conquering the most demanding operators from all around the world, by guaranteeing results that were unthinkable until now with conventional dryers, both horizontal and vertical.
Planex System recently won the Dry Trophy Innovation Award 2016, organized by NWGD (Dutch Working Group on Drying) and sponsored by the Dutch government, which promotes drying innovation.
Planex System is a paddle dryer with eccentric agitator featuring two independent movements, allowing it to simultaneously revolve around its own axis and to rotate tangentially to the drying chamber.
The combined rotations of the agitator and its small size ensure perfect mixing, and allows for the consumption of at least three times less energy than conventional paddle dryers.
This means a threefold reduction in mechanical and thermal stresses on the dried batch. As a result, even the most delicate and temperature-sensitive products are treated with maximum care.
The Planex System control software also facilitates automatic command of the agitator movements with the Stop & Swing program.
In this way, the agitator swings back and forth, thus remaining all the time immersed in the product, and guaranteeing its continuous mixing. This approach is particularly effective when processing small batches.
Planex System, thanks to its agitator’s ZeroFriction planetary movement, also prevents the product from being rubbed against the drying chamber walls and thus heating up due to friction.
In addition, the rotation of the paddles tangentially to the chamber walls conveys the product into the small clearance between the agitator and the chamber surface.
This prevents the formation of lumps, and guarantees an even more effective drying and a controlled final particle size distribution, which is impossible to achieve with conventional dryers.