Sizing of two roll rotary ironer and through-put of flatwork
by Paul Gerling
(USA)
Please advise:
1. Expected (a) sheet production and (b)pillow case production in pieces per hour from a 2 roll 800mm steam heated flatwork ironer with folder/crossfolder.
2. how to determine the size of a laundry for doing hotel type work. Rather than sq ft per kg of work to be processed, being that I will be starting this new laundry with this 2 roll 800 mm ironer and folder, I need to calculate the space requirements backwards based on the capacity of the ironer system.
3. advise what you normallly would suggest for sizeing based on sq. ft. per pound of line to be processed.
Thanks. Paul Gerling
My Reply to Paul Is....
Hi Paul thanks for your interesting question,
With regards to the through-put of your prospective rotary iron you will have to check with the specifications of the machine with your local supplier or manual that came with the machine. Otherwise measure the number of rotations and work out the circumference of the roller to give ft per minute of pass through.
Roller Speed will give you the number of ft/metres per minute of linen you can pass through the machine.
Then depending on the width of the roller and the width of the pillow cases/sheets and and length of same you can come up with the total maximum number of pieces possible per hour.
A 2 x 800mm by 3000mm rotary iron normally copes with about 1000 single sheets per hour in a single pass without to much sweat, and with a good team and a fair wind you could increase it in an emergency but to keep it up 8/16/24 hours a day is difficult to achieve.
Are they polycotton or pure cotton this will make a difference to the amount of water retained in the fabric.
Then it would depend on the speed and capability of the team/s feeding the iron either manually or via auto feeding with a team on each side, and off course the speed at which the folder can work in keeping up with the iron.
This work is normally carried out by workers working peice work or paid by the number of pieces processed in a day /hour.
The amount of moisture that the iron can remove normally up to about 50% with a two roll with heated table in the middle. ie straight from the washer extractor high speed spin 450g approx
An hotel will know how much linen it uses per week/month from their laundry bills and occupancy rates and the star rating of the hotel, ( A 5* Hotel high quality cotton sheets and pillow cases, terry towelling bath, hand, face, bath mat and robes plus flat work from the dining room table, slip cloths, and napkins, the chefs whites waiters cloths kitchen towels etc.)
My spread sheets will help you work out the totals and give you a good idea of the amount of work and labour involved in doing your task.
The steam generator will have to be big enough to heat the washing machines, tumble dryers and rotary irons and even a dry cleaning machine if you intend to do soft furnishings and offer a laundry and cleaning service to your guests.
If you add up the total consumption for each machine and then a percentage for diversity you will come up with the quantity of steam in llbs/kg per hour required to be generated by your boiler.
So, it is a big subject and a project of this size will cost a lot of money to do right and you will need to deal with one or more local suppliers and go through the whole thing with your architect/engineer to dot the i's and cross the t's before you lay a brick or dig a footing.
I am retired from the business now and happily do not have to take responsibility for such dramas these days so the best of luck.
With all the information on my website and with the spread sheets you will be well armed to keep you suppliers under control and not let them get away with anything.
best regards brian
ps Remember Access Access, check the machines can get into the building
Then, power supplies, gas oil electricity water drainage and sewage, ventillation air supply and removal of steam and hot air recovery to be put back into the system. have I said enough for now?
B
