Wilkerson DE2 - Manual (Page 3)

Instruction Manual / DE0, DE1 and DE2
Wilkerson Compact Heatless Air Dryers
Wilkerson DE series compact heatless air dryers employ the principles of pressure swing
adsorption (PSA). The operation is fully automatic and relatively little maintenance is required.
The dryers utilize two identical desiccant towers, metering orifices, two 3-way DC operated
solenoid valves controlled by a solid state electronic timer. Wet air at line pressure enters and
flows through one of the towers where nearly all the water vapor is adsorbed while the other tower
is being regenerated. Every 30 seconds, the process is reversed, providing a continuous flow of
dry air.
In the flow schematic shown below, Valve A (energized) directs the inlet air to flow into Tower A
(drying). A portion of the dry outlet air is allowed to flow through an orifice into Tower B. This dry
purge air expands to nearly atmospheric pressure, sweeping the water out of the desiccant as it
flows through Tower B (regenerating) and out of the Valve B (de-energized) exhaust port. The
timer controls the cycling of normally closed solenoid valves.
The orifices are fixed and are sized by the factory based on flow, pressure and dew point required.
Flow Schematic
Figure 2
CHECK
VALVES
A
PURGE
ORIFICE
PURGE
ORIFICE
B
DESICCANT
TOWER A
DRY AIR
TO APPLICATION
SOLENOID
VALVE A
SOLENOID
VALVE B
DESICCANT
TOWER B
PURGE AIR
EXHAUST
WET AIR IN
DEO, DE1 and DE2
DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION