The SAHARA Model CS, closed system air dryer, does not use ambient air during regeneration, nor does it exhaust any of the inlet gas to atmosphere. The Model CS may be used to dry gases such as methane, propane oxygen, hydrogen, and argon; basically any gas may be dried in the Model CS.

Additionally, the closed system design has the ability to deliver extremely low dew points with very little fluctuation during the drying cycle. Sahara’s closed system dryers have been installed in very stringent applications, such as ozone generators and electronic chip blanketing where constant dew points of -120ºF are required.

The Model CS is designed to dry large volumes of compressed air or other gases economically. There is no inlet air or gas lost to atmosphere, nor is atmospheric air used during regeneration. Wet air enters the dryer and is directed into the drying tower by non-lubricated switching valves. Coming in contact with dry desiccant, the wet air is dried to dew points as low as -120ºF. The dry air is directed through the switching valves to the dryer outlet.

The Model CS regenerates it’s desiccant using a captive stream of gas or air recirculated by a blower, through the heater, regenerating tower, cooler, separator, and finally back into the blower. Since there is no purge air loss, valuable compressor capacity is not reduced.

The operating cost of the closed system is determined by the HP of the booster blower, heater KW, and GPM of cooling water. For more about determining the operating cost of the CS, reference Part 9 of our “Economics of Air Drying” article.