Industrial Heat Pump Dryer
A closed-loop heat pump moves moisture out at 10–75°C — drying that keeps color, aroma, and actives intact while cutting energy use to a fraction of open hot-air systems. Typical range, configurable per recipe.
Feature
- Closed-loop drying at 10–75°C — gentle on color, aroma, and actives.
- Energy drawn from ambient air: a fraction of open hot-air systems’ consumption.
- Three frame sizes — pilot chamber to multi-trolley production chambers.
- Recipe curves per product; repeatable moisture batch to batch.
- Dehumidification by condensation — no moisture exhausted to the room.
- Runs on standard three-phase power; no boiler, no steam line needed.
Sample
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The HPD series heat pump dryer removes water from food using a closed refrigeration loop instead of an open heating element. Air circulates through the drying chamber, picks up moisture, then passes over a cold evaporator coil where the water condenses out and drains. The dried, reheated air re-enters the chamber. Nothing is vented to the room; no energy leaves with exhaust air.
The result: a drying process that runs at 10–75°C, holds uniform temperature across every tray, and typically consumes 50–70% less energy per kilogram of water removed than straight electric heating. For heat-sensitive products — fruit slices, herbs, mushrooms, fish, and anything where color and aroma carry the price — low-temperature drying is not a luxury; it is what keeps the product out of the commodity bin.
Where Heat Pump Drying Beats the Alternatives
Esper builds three drying technologies — plus a fourth for premium sublimation work, the FDL freeze dryer. This page is honest about which one fits which job.
| HPD heat pump | HAD hot air | MFD/MVD microwave | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drying temperature | 10–75°C | 50–120°C | bulk-heated, fast |
| Energy per kg water removed | lowest (COP 3–4) | medium | high power draw |
| Product color/aroma retention | best | fair at high temp | risk of hot spots |
| Best for | fruit, herbs, mushrooms, fish, sea cucumber | root crops, starch products, pre-drying | finishing, sterilization, short cycles |
| Capital cost per m² tray | medium | lowest | highest |
| Typical batch time | 6–20 h | 4–10 h | 0.5–2 h |
If your product sells on appearance and retains volatile aromatics — mango, banana, jackfruit, chili, medicinal herbs, seafood — the HPD series pays for itself in both energy and grade recovery. If you dry potato, cassava, or grain at high volume and low margin, the HAD hot-air line is the cheaper machine. Many plants run both: hot air for bulk reduction, heat pump for finish drying, and microwave sterilization for the final kill step.
What the Chamber Looks Like
- Tray area: 20–200 m² per chamber, configured in 1–10 trolley modules
- Trays: food-grade stainless or plastic mesh, removable for washing
- Heat pump unit: side- or roof-mounted; one unit serves 30–80 m² of tray area depending on climate
- Controls: PLC with programmable temperature/humidity curves — up to 10 staged recipes
- Data: optional temperature/moisture logging for HACCP files
- Drain: condensed water piped out of the loop with a flow meter option for yield accounting
Chambers are insulated SUS304 panel rooms built around trolley-and-tray handling. Feed-side preparation — washing, peeling, cutting — pairs with our washing-peeling line and bubble vegetable washer; the whole drying family sits on the fruit & vegetable processing hub.
Typical Specification Ranges
Values below are typical ranges; exact figures are set per chamber size and your ambient climate (hot/humid sites need larger condenser capacity — we size against your weather data).
| Parameter | HPD-101 compact | HPD-001 standard | HPD-201 industrial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tray area | 20–40 m² | 50–100 m² | 100–200 m² |
| Water removal | 30–60 kg/batch | 80–200 kg/batch | 200–450 kg/batch |
| Installed power | 5–9 kW | 12–20 kW | 25–45 kW |
| Temperature range | 10–75°C | 10–75°C | 10–75°C |
| Trolleys | 2–4 | 5–10 | 10–20 |
| Batch time (typical) | 6–16 h | 8–20 h | 10–20 h |
| Chamber footprint | 8–15 m² | 18–35 m² | 40–80 m² |
Energy Math, in Plain Numbers
A heat pump moves 3–4 units of heat per unit of electricity (COP 3–4). Electric element heating moves 1:1. On a 100 kg water-removal batch at US$0.10 per kWh, that difference is roughly 100 kWh versus 350–400 kWh per batch — the gap compounds daily on multi-shift plants. Against diesel or LPG heating the saving is wider where fuel is imported.
Because the loop is closed, the HPD also recovers the latent heat of condensation — the energy released when moisture condenses on the evaporator is what re-heats the air. This is the physical reason a well-built heat pump dryer cannot be matched on energy by any vented design.
Materials We Dry (Reference List)
Fruit: mango, banana, jackfruit, pineapple, apple, kiwi, dragon fruit ｜ Vegetables: chili, okra, mushroom, onion, garlic, leafy greens ｜ Herbs & medicinal: moringa, ginseng, herbal powders ｜ Marine: fish, shrimp, sea cucumber, shellfish ｜ Meat: jerky, sausage (semi-dried), pet treats
Send your raw material, entry moisture, and target exit moisture — we return a tested recipe curve, batch time, and throughput calculation before you commit. More category context in the dry-food application overview.
FAQ
Loading is 4–8 kg fresh product per m² of tray area depending on piece size. A 60 m² standard chamber holds 300–450 kg fresh; at a 4:1 drying ratio that is 75–110 kg dried product per batch.
Yes. The PLC starts staged recipes on a timer. Batch times of 8–20 h line up well with off-peak windows.
Coil cleaning (monthly), fan bearing checks (quarterly), refrigerant circuit inspection (annual). Sealed compressors are pre-charged at the factory; field re-gassing is not part of normal operation.
Yes — the loop dehumidifies regardless of ambient humidity. Humid sites need the next condenser size up; we size against your site’s wet-bulb data at quotation.
Sun drying is free but weather-dependent, exposes product to dust, insects, and livestock, and gives no temperature record for buyers. HPD drying produces a consistent, documented, export-grade product year-round — the price premium on dried fruit exports routinely covers the machine within 1–2 seasons.
50–100 mm PU panel walls are standard; heated-climate and cold-climate panel specs differ — specify your site at order.
CE on the electrical/refrigeration package, material certificates for food-contact stainless, and English manuals with wiring diagrams. Third-party inspection on request.
25–40 days for standard chambers; trolleys and trays ship knocked-down inside the chamber to cut freight. The HPD-001 standard chamber packs into one 20-ft container.
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