Historical documents such as documentary archives, photographs and films are hygroscopic, and often made from organic materials.
When humidity is absorbed, microorganisms multiply and can cause serious damage.
Dehumidifiers are employed to create environments with low relative humidity levels to prevent attacks from microbes and avoid a need for heating, since they are only sensitive to the humidity content of the air.
Companies specialized in industrial painting processes applied to the automotive sector, aeronautics and other demanding fields, have placed their trust in FISAIR as the designer and manufacturer of units for controlling the humidity of the air during these processes.
More and more companies are opting for water-based painting, which requires high quality humidity controls for impregnation and drying.
The production of beer involves the growth of yeast in an environment suited to microbes that are harmful to the process.
Air dehumidifiers prevent product contamination.
Chemical industry requests many different and complex processes in which air humidity control is crucial. Low temperature drying, hygroscopic material processing, etc.
Fisair has the expertise of co-operating with many important firms of this sector.
Humidity control is especially important in cold storage chambers. The temperatures in these spaces can be as low as -30ºC.
Chambers are often covered by a large quantity of frost, which reduces the quality of the process and increases energy consumption.
Our desiccant rotor air dehumidifiers are designed to solve this problem. For milder temperatures in smaller rooms, adiabatic humidification is usually the solution required to prevent weight loss in the stored products.
Relative humidity values for the air of between 40% and 60% are recommended in commercial and cultural buildings (cinemas, theatres, etc.), hotels, schools and colleges, and offices, etc.
A large number of studies have recommended these limits in the interests of the health and comfort of users, to avoid static electricity and to increase the durability of the buildings.
Another sort of building typically requiring air humidity controls is ice-skating rinks.
The use of desiccant rotor air dehumidifiers in this kind of building prevents problematic mists and condensations from forming. These can turn into a kind of light drizzle falling on audiences, a consequence of the temperature of the ice being lower than the dew point of the ventilation air.
The units also play an important role in preventing the corrosion of the building and reduce the energy consumption of the facilities.
A great many products derived from agriculture are also stored in unrefrigerated areas that do require humidity controls to prevent weight loss and a fall in quality resulting from very humid or very dry environments. Foodstuffs commonly stored with controlled humidity are coffee, dried fruits and nuts, drinks in hygroscopic wooden barrels, etc.
A specific example of these uses is the tobacco industry, in which the goal is for this hygroscopic material not to lose its aroma by keeping it in a dry environment throughout the production and storage process. A medium humidity also prevents it from losing its elasticity during production.
Many different crops are grown in controlled humidity environments.
Examples of crops grown with controlled humidity are flowers, mushrooms, and certain types of fruits and vegetables grown in greenhouses.
Delicate foodstuffs are very sensitive to heat and must be dried at low temperatures to prevent the growth of bacteria and the breaking down of proteins.
Desiccant dehumidifiers are used to dry ham, fish, cheese, and dried meat products in general. Low temperature drying times would otherwise be too long to be economically viable.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning the drying out of building processes.
Desiccant rotor air dehumidifiers that can be transported easily from one room to another, can be used to speed up concrete and paint drying processes and thereby increase the productivity of processes, and in many cases reduce the end cost of buildings.
Many factors affect the air conditions of the film archive air humidity content: Length of the storage time, type of the films, type of image and their value. An excess of humidity could damage the film and their base in both black and white or color images. The film manufacturing process is also very demanding in air humidity conditions.
The humidity content of the air must be controlled in the food industry for refrigeration, curing and fermentation processes, etc.
The objective is to lengthen the life of food items, to conserve their quality and aroma, and to prevent weight loss and decomposition.
Transport and storage of hygroscopic granulated material could be a serious problem if air humidity is not controlled. Either in the compressed air / worm gears or in silos, the air desiccant rotor dehumidifiers mean a standard for many companies specialized on advanced technology for solids transport.
Life on a modern ship requires HVAC suited to the levels of comfort required by the people aboard, the products stored, and the ship’s own complex machinery and facilities.
FISAIR designs and supplies units for controlling humidity for ships of all sizes with a wide range of different needs.
The manufacture of this kind of glass benefits greatly from the use of desiccant rotor air dehumidifiers.
There is a film of highly hygroscopic transparent plastic, which works as an adhesive, between each layer of glass.
In humid environments, the film can boil during the process and create steam bubbles which are trapped inside the laminated glass.
Several coats of paint must be applied to exterior steel to protect it from corrosion in the naval industry and in large storage tanks for chemical products.
To apply the paint to the most vulnerable parts without leaving any kind of corrosion, the painting process requires the prior elimination of corrosion and cleaning, which makes the metal very vulnerable to corrosion until the protective paint is applied.
The humidity of the air surrounding the steel at this point must be controlled to ensure the manufacturer responsible for the coating can guarantee its useful life. FISAIR has developed its DFRC series for these processes, which it has supplied to large shipyards and prestigious firms working in this field.
The manufacture of microcircuits is another sector that requires the use of precision clean rooms. Light sensitive resins are employed to conceal circuit lines and protect them from chemical attack. These polymers are hygroscopic. If they absorb humidity, the microscopic lines of the circuits can be cut or bridged, causing short circuits.
The use of desiccant rotor air dehumidifiers in these processes increases the quality of products and the efficiency of the process.
Worthy of special mention as places in which people work and circulate in large numbers, are museums, galleries and exhibition centres, which exhibit works of art. These works are commonly made of organic materials.
Without quality humidity control, highly valued works of art can become cracked or fade. Wooden parts of works can, in extreme cases, break as a result of contraction caused by the differences between the humidity of the place in which they are made and the humidity where they are exhibited.
Precise humidity control is essential in the pharmaceutical industry, with highly hygroscopic components in the form of powder. Some production processes need the air to be thoroughly dried with specific units. Humidity control must be precise to prevent a loss in quality and durability of the products.
For more than fifteen years, FISAIR has been supplying and installing tailor-made units in the most prestigious firms to ensure environmental humidity controls in production, storage and transport processes.
The plastics industry requires dry environments to prevent product imperfections making them unusable at humid times of year. Injection moulds commonly contain cooled water circuits to speed up the cooling of the pieces of plastic. If humidity condenses on the mould, the plastic pieces are not acceptable and the surface of the mould can suffer thermal shocks.
FISAIR has worked with the most demanding industrial companies in the field of plastics to supply dry air over the surface of moulds. The mould temperature is therefore reduced and the productivity of the bottling industry or plastic pieces manufacturer is increased.
Hard sweets contain hygroscopic components that turn the product sticky in the presence of high humidity levels. This change can slow up the industrial process and cause hygiene problems.
Desiccant rotor dehumidifiers are able to create controlled environments that increase productivity.
The productivity of the process of producing coated sweets is increased in a controlled dry environment.
High quality coated sweets and chocolates with a shiny finish are nearly always produced in this way.
The security and armed forces of the country undertake tasks requiring complex equipment and ammunitions ready for use at any moment.
Desiccant rotor air dehumidifiers guarantee the usability of this material and the correct storage of the ammunition used by the equipment. It also serves to prevent corrosion in the equipment and reduces electronic faults in control systems.
Chemical reactions that could have harmful effects are also prevented in the ammunition.
Seeds are one of the organic materials most sensitive to microbial attack. When humidity levels are high, microbes multiply and destroy important nutrients contained in the seeds.
Desiccant rotor air dehumidifiers can be used in research laboratories and for commercial uses, to greatly increase crop performance.
During thermal power station stoppages due to excess energy supply, or compulsory servicing, desiccant rotor air dehumidifiers can be installed to guarantee the protection of turbines and other parts of the circuit. This is an alternative to the method involving the flooding of the circuit with protective liquid containing corrosion inhibitors.
The dry method means the power station can be rebooted quicker than with the wet method. The current situation of excess supply from renewable energies and combined-cycle plants tends to make the dry air method more successful in terms of cost savings and ease of use by the maintenance team of the power station.
Similarly, in water treatment plants, it is possible for underground water and temperatures of lakes to be lower than the dew point of the air, which can cause condensation on the outside of pipes, valves and controls of the plant. Supplying the plant with dry air prevents condensation leading to the growth of mould, and reduces costs such as painting pipes and regular replacement of controls and valves.
In addition, the health benefits of eliminating the mould and bacteria are increasingly important as consumers become ever-more sensitive to water quality problems.
The wind energy industry is faced with a range of challenges in which climatic conditions and environmental factors have a direct impact on the quality and performance of wind turbines.
Worthy of special mention are environments and conditions with excessive humidity levels, over and above the resistance levels of the materials employed.
The challenges resulting from excess humidity in the wind energy industry have an impact at every stage of the value chain:
Quality at the manufacturing, and storage and transport stages, and following installation.
Wine is stored in wooden casks during the production process. Wood is a hygroscopic material that emits humidity if the relative humidity of the air in the surrounding environment is low. The container takes this humidity from its contents, that is to say, the wine. That is why, if the barrels containing the wine are stored in environments without any kind of humidity control, a major reduction in the quantity of product can occur, which leads directly to a fall in the quantity that can be sold.
The vast majority of wineries have adiabatic humidification systems. FISAIR has worked with a large number of them.