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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: Steve Harpold on February 26, 2015, 11:44:56 PM
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Hey all,
I am Steve Harpold with Brown Manufacturing, I wanted to thank you all for the interest and conversation on the Fire Fly dryer. As with all new technology there is a lot of misinformation being passed around. I am always available and happy to answer any questions regarding the Fire Fly. Feel free to post your questions here and I will answer them based on physics and mechanics of the Fire Fly.
Or send questions to: steve@brownmfg.net
We will also have live demos at ISS Atlantic city in two weeks.
Again thanks and let me know how I can help.
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ok, what's wrong about the firefly? set us straight on why this is the best of the best. Not being sarcastic, I just want to know more.
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Was there any misinformation in this thread so far? If so please correct it.
I think that would be a good starting point as you don't want people to assume everything in this thread is correct if it isn't. As of right now, we are left to guess at what might or might not be correct.
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Hey,
Here is a quick list on a few of the capabilities of the Fire Fly:
General capabilities:
1. Fire fly is sold in one, two and three belt options. Keep in mind the belts are fully independent and can be made different lengths. Allowing for multiple press configurations. (Ie. Accesses to the center belt)
2. Each lane can run and independent time, temp, exhaust, cooling. (The elements are only 27" or 36" long, no fear of sagging)
3. If a lane is set to a temp say 320, thermal imagers will ensure each garment reaches 320 applying more energy to thicker garments or reducing the amount of energy to thinner materials. No scan is needed if the desired temp remains constant.
4. If a user wants a different temp and time a scanning device can change instantly. (Think digital) example:
Hoodie ( 340 for 3:30 minutes) poly tee (290 for 2 minutes)
Step 1 Place hoodie on belt scan program
Step 2 Poly on same belt scan poly
Step 3 Fire Fly software will take over drying the hoodie to 340 and 3:30 and the poly to 290 and 2 minutes. Even though they are on the same belt in the same chamber.
Why? It creates seamless digital printing allowing a user to change garments constantly without separating material types.
5. Efficiency:
The fire fly uses the exact amount of energy required to cure a shirt based on its material type. It will turn off in between shirts and during set-ups requiring zero energy usage. If you run poly the imagers will know and run and 50% using only the energy required to cure the garment.
6. Size:
A Fire fly with a 7' chamber is comparable to a gas dryer with a 21' chamber depending on ink type. (See ink types below for additional details)
Example: Discharge ink
Electric dryer - not recommended
Gas Dryer - 120 seconds
Fire fly- 40 seconds
A 7' Fire Fly will output the same amount of shirts as a 21' gas oven.
1. See ink types below for additional details
By ink type:
Plastisol
1. Eliminates dye migration on polyester fabrics without using barrier bases
2. Cures all garments in 25 seconds
Discharge
1. Fully discharge shirts in 40 seconds
Water base
1. Fully cure water base in 40 seconds
Silicone and polyurethane base
1. 15-25 second cure times
Kornit
1. Cure light shirts in 2:00 minutes
2. Cure dark shirts in 4:00 minutes
3. Eliminate/reduce vinegar smell
4. Controlling staining on troublesome fabrics
Direct to garment
1. Allow printers to use 70/30 and
50/50 garments, tri blends
2. Cure Dtg inks in 2:00
All of the above have been tested and are currently being used in production applications across the country.
just Many more applications are currently being independently tested, once approveI will update the application lists.
As I earlier introduced myself, Brown is third generation company founded by Wes Harpold in 1979 selling wooden presses to Mike Harpold in 1992 rebuilding the family brand, later joined by Gerri (Harpold) Rhien marketing/advertising.
The Brown team is currently armed with third generation thinkers, developers and researchers. The Fire Fly is merely a start to the capabilities of our young team.
A challenge to TCT, as a vocal and respected leader on this board I would be honored to give you a full demonstration of the Fire Fly. I will be in Minneapolis on the 17,18 and 19th of March. After a fair trial return back to the board and let them know what you think.
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Interesting.
FYI, you meant TCT I think.
Alex, you do need a new dryer. ;)
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A challenge to TWC, as a vocal and respected leader on this board I would be honored to give you a full demonstration of the Fire Fly. I will be in Minneapolis on the 17,18 and 19th of March. After a fair trial return back to the board and let them know what you think.
(http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Bill-Hader-Eating-Popcorn-Smiling-SNL.gif)
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Vocal yes, leader, ummmmm I guess I sort of saw myself as the comic relief at times...^-^
I'm assuming you mean you will be at the DAX show yes? I'll stop by. The woman that I talked to about it at SGIA simply said it was a "smart dryer".
So, you are running your hoodie at 330 or whatever then your poly shirt is up and needs 250, does it go in right away or does the belt sit stagnant for a while as the chamber cools?
How is it able to discharge so quickly? How is it different in regards to discharge, than a regular electric dryer?
Is there still a higher chance of scorching with this unit vs. a gas unit?
I had asked my local rep that actually sells Brown some of these questions, but it sounds like you guys cut a deal with other distribution just for this dryer, is that accurate?
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Sorry about the name confusion TCT. The dryer will be set up an demonstrated at SPSI open house.
The hoodie, poly question:
The shirt travels into the chamber right away. The method of energy transfer is not air related so there is very little residual heat in the chamber. Almost all of the heat (energy is absorbed by the shirt)
Side note: the fire fly gives off nearly zero residual heat, those of you running air conditioned shops will benefit greatly.
How it able to discharge so quickly?
Keep in mind the following answer is simplified, science majors don't take it to heart
Typical IR dryer (including traditional brown models)
The shirt goes into the dryer, the dryer begins to heat the shirt, the area that has discharge is protected from the IR. The plain area of the short has no such protection. The area with no protection quickly absorbs heat and eventually burns scortches. The discharge area does not heat up as fast as the reaction is taking place that area is not fully discharged before the outer area burns up.
Fire Fly
Uses the area without discharge protection as a measuring tool. Applying the most amount of energy to the discharge area without letting the unprotected area rise above the selected degree.
Scortching:
In a perfect world there is zero chance of scorching on the Fire Fly (there is always a possibility)
The Fire Fly watches the shirt the entire time through the tunnel never allowing any part of the shirt to exceed the requested value.
A gas dryer has a much higher chance of scorching as the premise of the gas dryer is to run a cath all scenario. It does not require the same amount of energy to dry a white shirt as it does a black hoodie. If you try to dry those items simultaneously the black hoodie will call for more energy the white shirt will request less. The dryer most react to one or the other. The fire fly reacts to each one independently.
(Again a very basic answer but should help explain) Gas also depend on air flow the larger the area the harder it is to heat air from a central source (the burner) and send it long distances without energy loss, (this is part of the reason high air flow is thought to be important, yes I know there is other scientific reasons however this is part of that equation)
Distribution opportunities were placed in front of many distributors starting with our Dragon Air line, a novel concept for DTG printing. SPSI was the first in there particular region to invest in the Dragon Air line. The Fire Fly was passed to them as a partner on the Dragon Air line. They are a stocking distributor of both products.
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Im far from the most informed here and a novice when it comes to this kind of technology, but it doesnt make any sense to me that a dryer which is controlling temp across an entire garment would cure a discharge shirt faster than any other dryer with dialed in settings. Discharge cures based on evaporation, and more than the surface temp of the garment is at play in determining the speed of the reaction. Care to explain in more detail than just giving a generic time?
Can you address the massive amperage requirements as well? I don't think I've even been in a shop that could handle those requirements...
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Our old Maxi-Cure was a 120A 3PH...our bills were $1200 most months, especially in the summer. And that is when power was cheaper.
That being said, the 150A is it's max output with overamperage more than likely. I wonder what it pulls after the motors start(since those are higher amps to get started) and the chamber is warmed up a bit.
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Our old Maxi-Cure was a 120A 3PH...our bills were $1200 most months, especially in the summer. And that is when power was cheaper.
That being said, the 150A is it's max output with overamperage more than likely. I wonder what it pulls after the motors start(since those are higher amps to get started) and the chamber is warmed up a bit.
Wow, 120 amps ain't. No joke.
From what he is saying, I can see it hitting max amperage when it needs to but typically not running hardly any amps. Since it monitors the garment, it's almost idle with nothing in the tunnel. Then as the garment enters it goes ~100% for I moment getting that garment to target, then it cuts way back maintaining that temp. Repeating that process on every garment.
Your typical dryer, like that maxicure, was running those elements at 100% for the entire duty cycle. I think I have tested my radicure and I think it was on like 80% of the time. Though that was at 1050* and I haven't checked it since I lowered it per Rich's suggestion. So even at 75% that's gonna be over 80 amps steady on that maxicure. The firefly SHOULD pull less than that with its "smart" technology.
It's all interesting, I'd like to know more about how it monitors the garment.
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The heating process:
Step 1. The shirt is room temp bring the shirt up to temp
Standard electric dryer uses a constant energy as it cannot change instantly when shirt hits appropriate temp
Fire fly uses unlimited energy to get the shirt up to temp, as shirt approached temp fire fly can switch intensities instantly as not to burn the shirt. The shirt under this scenario comes up significantly faster
Step 2
Evaporate carrier
Physics will prevent the area from climbing in temp that is covered with the carrier. This area most evaporate fully before the shirt will climb in temp.
Standard electric dryer will burn the area where the shirt does not have a carrier layer. This is why many put the shirt in the dryer let it pass through once, let it cool a second than repeat
Fire fly will use the most amount of energy to remove the carrier while watching the area without the carrier. It will use the most amount of energy possible based on the characteristics of the shirt. Evaporating the carrier significantly faster.
Power requirements:
Next up (thanks to Gilligan for starting the explanation, as soon as I finish the post it will be a detailed version off Gilligan's explanation)
After that:
Explanation on how it handles monitor garments
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this was split from the original thread as most of what was going there were speculations and guesses. My fear was that anybody looking for the correct information would find the two pages of rants and never make it to the details provided by Steve. Starting with his post will make it more visible when needed.
pierre
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Power questions:
The comment 150 amps three phase is not logical for small or large shops.
I am not sure why this is the case?
Consider current equipment
(2) Flash dryer Quartz 22"x24"- 50 amps 3 phase (avg from multiple sources)
Air compressor to run equipment - 60 amps/ phase
Automatic press 8/10 - 20 amps, 3 phase
Standard electric dryer recommended to handle this combination of equipment - 100 amps 3 phase.
The above is a common automatic shop seen all over the U.S.
Total amperage- 280 amps 3 phase
(Yes, I know you could get a smaller compressor or smaller flash units or a smaller dryer but the items listed are recommended and standard across several different manufactures)
I am assuming the comment was about not using 150 amps 3 phase on one line. We all can agree on this. The Fire Fly was built as modules, we will never require a line large than 125 amps. The unit that requires 150 amps would be broken into:
(2) 75 amp drops. Less power than (2) flash dryers on one automatic press.
Like most equipment 480 is available for smaller cable sizes. (I will correct the info listed on our site to clearly show the correct power configuration)
Power part 2:
Will explain how the Fire Fly manages power, similar to Gilligan's explanation. The power management is quite remarkable and will require a detailed explanation.
(Ps. Sorry for getting banished to a thread with just facts and figures, kinda makes it boring)
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Boring = Interesting sometimes.
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(Ps. Sorry for getting banished to a thread with just facts and figures, kinda makes it boring)
Like Giligan said, this is interesting. I'm following along the thread and am very intrigued/impressed by everything. Also, Steve, I'd like to give my thanks for taking the time to contribute this information! Keep it coming!
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So, in simple terms, the dryer heats up instantly and starts off hot as Hell (hence the big power required), way too hot for what we would run a conventional dryer at, more like a quartz flash-cure, but because it senses the garments surface temperature, as soon as the garment is up to temp (in a couple of seconds) it cuts the power to a lower setting and just holds the garment at the optimal temp for the cure cycle.
Good idea.
A couple of questions:
How does it handle multiple items in the tunnel at the same time?
Cure times look great, but how does that relate to throughput, ie: parts per hour?
Can you run shirts overlapping with nothing but the print showing and still achieve the quick cure times?
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I got a question to ask, the firefly can heat up quick then cools correct, so would that not lead to a high electric bill with all the spiking going on. From what I thought I was told at one time that turning you AC/Heat on and off will cause a spike in the electric, but leaving it set at one temp would be better, I'm thinking the same with our electric dryers.
darryl
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It's all about duty cycle Darryl.
An electric dryer isn't all that insulated to keep the heat in. So the duty cycle is still high. I need to time my Radicure but even the Radicure (flag ship M&R electric dryer) probably cycles on and off at like 75%. So, staying on just means you will pull 75% of your amp draw 100% of the time. If with the Firefly it only runs full out 50% of the time, it will likely be better. If it only has to run 100% for the first 5 seconds and then drops to 50% for the rest of the time then it will be doing better.
Obviously Steve will have better insight to this particular dryer than that, but that is why the home AC/Heating analogy doesn't exactly fit when looking at an electric dryer.
Also, I'm sure Steve will tell us, but I'm guessing the quartz bulbs are setup like:
|||||||||| and the shirt passes through like this:
- so it only runs the bulbs above where the shirt is at whatever it needs to be at.
I'm sure it's more complicated and can be better explained by Steve bu this is how I've understood it to be.
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Power and how it relates to Electric Dryers:
Traditional IR dryer (Including dryers made by Brown Mfg) works as follows: (Again not complete with scientific terms but concepts explained)
1. A traditional IR dryer say with 4 heating elements, has a probe (Thermal-Couple) that measure a temperature directly below the heating element. In many cases the measuring instrument is in the heating element. Many times the dryer only has one probe and all elements react to the same reading.
2. This device records a number say 700 degrees. The dryer than turns on and off based on that number, keeping the intensity of energy delivered to the belt at the same value. The user than adjusts the belt speed in order to get a desired result. A traditional electric dryer is not capable of holding temperature on an item as the item will continue to climb until it reaches the same degree as the energy source.
3. The dryer continues to cycle on an off maintaining this value regardless of what is passing trough. A white shirt, a dark shirt or simply nothing. Resulting in a dryer using between 70% - 80% utilization at all times.
The Fire Fly:
1. During down times (Break, Lunch, Set-ups, tear downs) The Fire Fly uses 1% utilization (Sleep mode) In some cases take manual printing, it will shut down in between shirts.
2. Every element in the Fire Fly has it owns measuring device, Like Stated by a few the first element will fire a 100% to bring the shirt up to temp, once the shirt is up to temp the back 5 elements will fire to 70%,50%,30%.... and so on, using the readings off the shirt to determine the amount of energy needed.
3. A White shirt only requires, 10-20% where a Dark Hoodie would require a larger %.
4. The software is also capable of halving the power of the Fire Fly instantly as polys, silks an other light items would only use (20% of the 50%) or 10% of the value available.
5. Customer Rating (Actual On Site Test)
Machine: 3 Belt Fire Fly
Application: 3 automatic machines
Print Type: Polyester, Cotton and Tri Blend
Length: One week trial period, constant monitoring (Include down times, set-ups and breaks)
Utilization: 25%
Quickly to address Darryl's question:
You are correct as it regards Air Heat,
How Air Heat works (Quickly)
1. A central heating source (burner or flame) heats a carrier (Air). The air travels through Duct Work and passes the energy to the garment, or (House in Darryl case). So if the dryer is well insulated and the air is recirculated than it takes less energy to heat the air.
2. How this relates to an IR dryer. IR is the heating source and the shirt is the carrier. It is a direct transfer, so the heating up of the surrounding air and the machine itself for the most part is a waste of energy. A small amount of residual heat is needed (The Fire Fly will run a quick pre-warm if needed (10 seconds or so)
Power as it relates to the rest of the shop:
1. The Fire Fly uses the majority of the energy being created and passes it directly to the substrate. This results in the outside of the dryer and the surrounding air to be cool. In air conditioned environment or DTG environment there is a significant power savings as related to keeping the climate in the shop cool.
Let me know which question you would like addressed next, thanks
Video and Literature to some of these items can be found at: http://brownmfgdigital.com/FireFly (http://brownmfgdigital.com/FireFly)
A Fire Fly on Kornit machines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SqYeFtVt3E (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SqYeFtVt3E)
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Got any data on electric costs for a single auto shop running one? Id be curious.
My shop is run by Gas Heaters out in the poorly insulated warehouse, gas heat inside our well insulated offices, and gas water heater......all this in addition to the M&R Gas dryer and our gas bill on its worse winter months is only around $400. Do you suspect this firefly would be similar on the worst of months? In summer our gas bill is near nothing.
The concept sounds cool though.
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Here is quick example for the single auto question: (And the rest of components necessary to get to an end result)
Location: Johnson City, Tennessee
KW/H rate Industrial: .08
Btu Them Rate: .96/ 100,000 Btu therm
Weather Pattern: Mild
Shop Location air conditioned where dryer is located: No
Size of dryer: Unknown, I will use a average based on a few websites
Shifts: 1
Avg day: 8 hrs
Belt width: 38"
Chamber Length: 96"
Intended Capacity as listed by manufacturer:
Plastisol: 340
Discharge, Waterbase: 150
Blower: 208/3phase/10 amps
Burner: 200 Btu
Utlilization: 65%
Cost pr/hr: $1.65
Cost pr/shift: $13.18
Cost pr/mnth: $276.86
Cost pr Year, $3,322.27
All numbers are based of listed rates by equipment manufacturers and Johnson City Tennessee power and gas rates. (These are different country wide)
Fire Fly
Belt width: 36"
Chamber Length: 45"
Intended Capacity as listed by manufacturer:
Plastisol: 360
Discharge, Waterbase: 200
Blower:n/a
Burner: n/a
Heat Source: 208/3phase/ 41 amps
Utlilization: 35%
Cost pr/hr: $ .47
Cost pr/shift: $3.72
Cost pr/mnth: $78.22
Cost pr Year: $938.60
Electric rates in Johnson city, Tennesse are very inexpensive, the gas rate was tougher to find if you have a more accurate one let me know.
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If those numbers are real, thats pretty impressive.
My gas for the year in 2013 was around $1800 total. I haven't went back and looked at the total for 2014 for the year, but we had some high months of around $400 I know, which is for sure up from 2013. Keep in mind that includes the complete building heat in and out and the water heater (8k sqft).
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The numbers are hard to estimate as I don't have the complete stats from your Gas Dryer. I also don't know your work schedule or habits.
One thing that is commonly left out of the calculations is the electricity your gas dryer uses. In the above example I used a high efficiency blower and exhaust. On your dryer these items run all the time. Assuming the above calculations, you use $.40 cents pr hour of electricity on your gas dryer and $1.25 pr/hr gas. Once you factor the electricity cost of the gas dryer back in our numbers will be very close.
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I applaud you on your honesty in your numbers.
Your example uses a low electric rate (.08 cents) as does our area, so I can relate... AND you stated these are low, not trying to dazzle ppl with numbers and not tell them the scope of where they fit.
The math looks sound to me. I know in our shop, the cost of electric vs gas isn't the great equalizer it is in other ppl's shops. I would love to say, "time to get a gas dryer because the math just makes sense." But our electric bill is under $200/month and that's heating/cooling and water... And our building's insulation sucks.
A firefly seems like an awesome concept, I just need to see this thing actually working. Conceptually it makes sense, just one of those seeing is believing things. Like the Baby Joe 2000 when he first came here... I was one of the first naysayers... But now LED is all the rage and ppl can't wait to get them. We just had to see it with our own eyes.
So, Mr. Steve... How does the firefly monitor the garment and/or print all the way through?
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This is the thinking and development that will push our industry further. I can't wait to see this thing run.
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A simple version of how the monitor system works:
1. Brown uses a proprietary/patent digital imaging system. We are capable of photographing substrates through the oven during the heating process.
2. The imaging system photographs the substrate 3 times per second.
3. The information is delivered to the software which converts the data into temperatures and are sent to the heating mechanisms.
4. The software turns the heat on/off depending on the information in real time. The software will also prepare the next bulb for the incoming substrate.
5. The Fire Fly is the first drying system with inline feedback controls.
Some of the software screens can be seen at www.brownmfgdigital.com (http://www.brownmfgdigital.com)
The dryer itself will be at Atlantic CIty ISS, unvailing the Answer to Dye Migration uses many different ink forms!
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The software will also prepare the next bulb for the incoming substrate.
Whoa - Ya don't say!
Never thought I'd hear something like this for a dryer, or I should say a "smart dryer"?
Neat!!
Go Brown! :)
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While I think this particular dryer isn't practical for most shops for a variety of reasons, and I would never buy v1 of anything, it's great to see someone moving forward with dryer technology.
We have smart presses, smart flashes, shops being run on tablets in the "cloud", etc, and yet the dryer is still in the 1980's. A smart dryer is way over due! This effort has the potential to change the minds of those mfgs that might currently suggest that this is just a "gimmick" dryer.
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I've been silently following along, but I have to say this is pretty cool... especially for smaller shops that do a lot of different work.
just taking the guess factor out for 'new' employees would be huge...
For us 250-300pcs/hr would be too slow.
now, 150a/3phase electrical requirements... that's WAY steep, most 3000sq foot and less units in our area only have 100a/3phase coming in, and if you want to go to 200a service, you have to go to 'Demand' based pricing... which can triple or quadruple your power bill.
I'm looking forward to seeing a pic of the inside of one of these...
a few questions:
does the camera run down the entire length of inside of the dryer? or are there multiple cameras?
What happens when the print is off to the side (left or right crest)?
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Well I have to say my ASSumptions of the machine were quite off and I did indeed make myself look like a ass....
Inkworks asked and I am a bit curious also, how does the dryer handle garments that overlap? I know when we really get going, we can have 3 shirts folded across the belt and and touching each other on all sides. I'm ASSuming again that may be hard to monitor?
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To answer the generation 1 question:
Generation #1 was released to a few test facilities in March of last year
Generation #2 was released to 5 more facilities in August
Generation # 3 is know commercially available
It was important to Brown Mfg to keep the original machines out of the public eye until we were able to produce a reliable production version
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Power Requirements (Part 3)
150 Amps 3 phase is steep (See Reply #13) I am not sure where this number is coming from. I will check my literature and numbers and apologize for the confusion
250-300 pcs pr hour (It is possible that posters are getting confused by the power required and output associated with that value. I think a poster might have pulled the largest unit we make and combined it with the smallest output.
Fire Fly Models and how they relate to power req and capacity.
FF1x36x30 - 50 Amps/3 phase
Plastisol- 360 pr/hr
Water Base/discharge - 225 pr/hr
44w x 12.5l
Model
FF2x36x30 - (100 amps/3 phase)
Plastisol - 720
Waterbase/discharge- 450
96wx 12.5l
FF2x27x30 - (83 amps/3 phase)
Plastisol - 720
Waterbase/Discharge- 450
84w x 12.5'
Just for fun As the Fire Fly and power is a linear equation below is the capacity with 150 amps 3 phase
1. It would be 2 75 amp 3 phase lines totaling 150 amps
FF3x27x60 - (2) 75 amps 3 phase
Plastisol - 1,440
Waterbase/discharge - 900
Dryer Size" 84"w x 14.5'
I hope this clarifies how the power input relates to production output.
thanks
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those numbers seem a lot more reasonable.
have you guys added kw/hr metering in the unit/software? Seems like with the rest of the automation you're doing, it would be trivial to add a few inductance probes on the incoming power lines, and then record it.
you could then actually have an accurate # of how much power the unit has consumed over the course of a job/day/whatever.
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Power meters:
The power meter measurements are part of the TRX software. We introduced those features on the dragon air series dryers. The Fire Fly runs the TRX software package with a few tweaks to incorporate the imaging system and additional feature.
www.brownmfgdigital.com (http://www.brownmfgdigital.com) (see TRX software hi-lights) The power stats are in real time and allow the user to input the KWH for there particular region. The software will display power rates as a function of:
Hours
Day
Months
Yearly
And Life Time average
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way cool ... that is certainly leading the industry!
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Nice
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Well I have to say my ASSumptions of the machine were quite off and I did indeed make myself look like a ass....
Inkworks asked and I am a bit curious also, how does the dryer handle garments that overlap? I know when we really get going, we can have 3 shirts folded across the belt and and touching each other on all sides. I'm ASSuming again that may be hard to monitor?
This one next! This one next! ;D
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Yeah, I can see this being a non issue with similar garments as it will just read the temp and respond accordingly regardless if it knows it's a different shirt or not... it knows hot spots and cold spots (linearly). Now, if you bar code scan and switch to polys or are mixing the different types from two different autos... you might need to force a gap for the machine to know something changed.
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Garments that overlap:
Using a constant temp:
Example: Desired temp for all items to be 320.
The Fire Fly imaging looks at the belt in pixels 1" x 1". Each pixel is assigned a value, that value is being reported back independently. The Fire Fly with adjust intensity to the value represented in that pixel. The Fire Fly will ensure that no pixel on the same line exceeds the accepted 320 input. Keep in mind that the Fire Fly does not require air to transfer energy. In an air dryer when you overlap garments from side to side the air is choked off making it harder to maintains a constant temperature. (In this case you need a larger dryer)
Example desired temp differ: (Kornit, DTG, or change over in garments on a screen printing press)
Garment A: 340 Garment B: 310
The user should leave a 4" gap between garments.
The Fire Fly is designed to handle one Automatic in full production on each belt. The Fire Fly in the picture is a three belt design two modules deep. Each belt will handle a auto in full production 18 fpm. Each belt can run at a different time and temp simultaneously.
Belt A: Automatic 1:
Temp: 340 Time: 25 seconds
18fpm
Belt B: Automatic:2
Temp: 290 Time: 30s
15 fpm
This configuration is no problem at the same time.
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So in reality, you couldn't overlap and swap garment types at the same time.
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Overlap Swap Garments:
Yes, you can overlap or swap garments assuming 320 is an acceptable temp for all garments, if you want two different temps you need to leave a 4" gap.
However in order to have the need to overlay garments you would need to print more than 720 pieces per hour/ per belt. A total of 1,440 pieces per hour. If you choose to put the garments side by side on a 36" belt you would need to print 1,440 pieces pr/hr pr/belt or 2,880 pcs pr/hr.
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saw this at th AC show...pretty darn sweet.
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I have not seen it run in a shop, but what I have seen is impressive and deserves at a minimum our respect! It is the most forward thinking in the drying technology on the market. Steve's participation here has also been exemplary and very forward. There few things he is not in a position to disclose and after having a conversation at the show, I understand why (and can't blame him).
Anybody with an opportunity to check the dryer out really should!
pierre