What is the biggest single phase IR dryer?

[Inkworks]

But each don't only pull from the leg by itself... it takes two to tango.

So, it will have be connected 1-2 2-3 and 3-1... basically all of them share the load.

Are you sure those panels are 50 amps each?  That would be a 10kw panel.

That was just an example. The big dryer we did was a Hix 4816 and started as a 90 amp 3-phase. In Single phase I believe we basically ended up with a 200 amp service just for it.

I get what you're saying about each leg carrying 1/2 the load for two different circuits though. You're right The math probably works out to just less than double, but when you throw in a phase generator/converter for the belt & blower motors you're going to get some parasitic loss and I thought I'd say triple just to be on the safe side... 

I think for most shops that don't have access to 3-phase, a really big single phase circuit is probably not available either, or you may need to put an additional service in from the street just for the dryer. My two quartz flash-cures that we converted are now on 80 amp and 60 amp 220 circuits for the 20 x 32" and 20 x 24" respectively. The copper, junctions, breakers and Captire alone were over $1000 for the two runs, and my breaker box is right beside my press so it isn't a long run. I am lucky enough to have a good electrician friend who doesn't mind pulling circuits in an evening if I supply the pizza and beer. or I'm sure it would have cost another big chunk of change.

Mark, I'd probably suggest talking to Rich at M&R, or Winston. I run an old non-air Hix 24" belt with a 10' tunnel. (14' total length) It gets the job done and with small-medium sized images and careful folding we can do 40-45doz./hr through it without too much trouble. On big images or if we try to go faster it is the bottle neck. As a band-aid, we have an IR flash-cure that we can put over the belt at the in or outfeed which "sort-of" effectively gives us another 18" of tunnel and lets us speed up the belt a little bit. I run a 1.5 minute tunnel-dwell for plastisol and a 2 minute for WB/DC. both at 325F We could go faster with a higher temp, but you start potentially flirting with cure issues then. I have 400 amps of single phase in the shop and we're pretty much maxed out with all the equipment we have. The dryer pulls only 40 amps, the upgrade will be gas as we already have gas in the shop.

 I had the same problem finding a big auto with all the features I wanted that wasn't 3-phase, and didn't need a big 3-phase air compressor, besides we wanted servo index AC heads. At first I thought we would need a big 3-phase convertor for the flash cures, but once my electrician and I looked into them and how they work, we realized with a couple of cheap parts and an hour or so of re-wiring we could convert them to single phase easily, so we did.

I've run a lot of Hix dryers, but I'm sure some of the other name brands have larger single phase units available, the biggest Hix does right now is a 3616 with an 8' tunnel at 50 amps 3-phase or 88 amps single.

A quick look at M&R shows their biggest is the Radicure 36/6-4 (10') with a 6'tunnel at 53 amps 3-P and 89 amps 1-P. I'm betting there are larger units out there, just not a stock item, and as you can see, you're going to be well over 100 amps as soon as you go any bigger.

Sorry for the long winded reply, squeezing big equipment into a single phase shop is a subject dear to me  My quote from the city to get 3-phase into the shop was $27,000.00, just less than the cost of my used 12/14.

[Inkworks]

Used Hix 3616 with air here:

http://spresource.blogspot.ca/search/label/electric%20dryers

Not sure if it's single or 3-P....

[TCT]

Mark, have you given any thought to a gas dryer? I am just saying that because they typically use very little electricity, and it is easy to get them in single phase.  May solve a couple of your problems in one shot.  They are more expensive,  but if you are faced with upgrading your panel (even for more single phase AMPs) you may come out ahead with a gas unit. 
Just a thought.

[Gilligan]

Ink, I still wonder if there are using 3ph motors for blowers and belts on a dryer.  Typically they aren't that big of a motor so I am not even sure that they make them in 3ph at that size.

But that is PURE speculation and guess.  I only know that my  controller, blower and belt work off a single 120v line even when running it in 3ph.

[GaryG]

We had our Interchange MD-8 gas dryer created with single phase
when most are 3Ph. Pretty sure the 3Ph allows the blower to be more
efficient, but belt only needs single. It would of took $10-12K to get 3Ph
in our shop. Stinks.

In the long haul, say 10 years, a super large IR like asked about in topic
would be much more expensive than gas even with larger initial cash outlay.
Just like house heat, gas is always cheaper. Think long run and cost out on
paper before making any large purchase like this.

[Inkworks]

Ink, I still wonder if there are using 3ph motors for blowers and belts on a dryer.  Typically they aren't that big of a motor so I am not even sure that they make them in 3ph at that size.

But that is PURE speculation and guess.  I only know that my  controller, blower and belt work off a single 120v line even when running it in 3ph.

I'm not sure, the few I've looked at close enough have used 3-phase motors. If you found one that was using single phase motors you could probably convert the whole thing for next to nothing in parts cost and just a few hours of re-wiring. You still are only going to get a medium sized dryer if all you have is 100 amps to play with though.

[IntegrityShirts]

Ink, I still wonder if there are using 3ph motors for blowers and belts on a dryer.  Typically they aren't that big of a motor so I am not even sure that they make them in 3ph at that size.

But that is PURE speculation and guess.  I only know that my  controller, blower and belt work off a single 120v line even when running it in 3ph.

I'm not sure, the few I've looked at close enough have used 3-phase motors. If you found one that was using single phase motors you could probably convert the whole thing for next to nothing in parts cost and just a few hours of re-wiring. You still are only going to get a medium sized dryer if all you have is 100 amps to play with though.

Belt drives are almost, if not always, DC motors.  If the dryer is built for 3 phase and has a blower motor, there's no reason NOT to use a 3 phase motor, they are cheaper and more efficient.

I converted my circa 1989 precision vortex over to single phase by swapping only the blower motor (and wiring it).  Single phase motors 3hp+ are NOT cheap.

Once you get up near 100amps draw single phase, your options for feed wiring from the panel to the dryer also get limited. Aluminum is cheaper at that point than copper but you'd need a bigger diameter lugged connection (the 3 phase connection in there is probably tiny in comparison) at the dryer to properly fit the larger diameter aluminum. That also doesn't take into consideration the gauge of the wiring running to the panels which may or may not be ok going from 208v to 240v.