What's a Freeze Dryer or Lyophilizer?
Freeze dryers and lyophilizer machines are designed to freeze dry products under vacuum environment. In another word, freeze dryers or lyophilizers are the equipment to execute freeze drying process.
As known, freeze drying and lyophilization is the only method to deliver stable, biologically active products with a long shelf life. This because of its unique working process: Freezing the material first, then reduce its surrounding pressure, to allow the frozen water in the material to sublime directly from solid phase to gas, moisture removed and product being dried. During the process, most time, raw material temp. keep in minus. So it has less impact to raws.
Freeze Dryer/Lyophilizer Consists Of:
Drying Chamber
- Freeze drying chamber is the largest part of a freeze dryer. Is a Pressure Container that enable create vacuum environment. Typically, there are several plates installed in drying chamber, to allow products placing. The heating and cooling of drying chamber also through the plates.
Ice Condenser
- Sublimated vapors from products must go to somewhere, that is ice condenser. Inside of ice condenser, a group of coils are arranged and cooled by compressor system. When the vapors hit sub-cooled coils, they condense on coils surface, as ice type.
Vacuum Pump
- Vacuum pumps help create and maitain drying chamber vacuum environment, guarantee the stable sublimation.
Compressors
- Refrigeration system offers cooling energy to ice condenser, for vapors condensing. As well, it cools shelves, for product pre-freezing.
Shelves Heating and Fluid Circulating
- To ensure the plates temperature uniformity, the heating and cooling of shelves are indirectly. Through fluid circulates inside sandwich type plates, the fluid can be glycol or silicone oil.
Control System
- A modern freeze drying machine use PLC based controller box, couple with a touch screen or PC software, to control and monitor the freeze dry system.
