Brown Firefly FACTS

[TCT]

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?

[Steve Harpold]

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

[Steve Harpold]

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

[jvanick]

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.

[Steve Harpold]

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 (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

[jvanick]

way cool ... that is certainly leading the industry!

[Gilligan]

Nice

[TCT]

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! 

[Gilligan]

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.

[Steve Harpold]

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.

[Gilligan]

So in reality, you couldn't overlap and swap garment types at the same time.

[Steve Harpold]

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.

[whitewater]

saw this at th AC show...pretty darn sweet.

[blue moon]

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