Air compressor(s), Dryer, Tank plumbing setup

[86turbodsl]

Throwing this out there in case anyone has strong opinions on it.

I am setting up my air compression system very soon, and the following are what i have to setup

QTY 2 Quincy 325 Pumps / 5HP motors (packaged units, not on tanks)
QTY 1 Aftercooler sized for a 10HP compressor (came on a tank i bought)
QTY 2 120 Gallon tanks (one was on a screw compressor)
QTY 1 Refrigerated dryer - sized for a 5HP compressor 3/4 pipe, about 19 cfm capacity when run on a normal system

I'm trying to figure out the best placement of these components to maximize dry air capability.

I haven't decided on how the 325 pumps are going to operate yet, either VFD or RPC, i'm leaning towards a VFD for control capability and not running an RPC all the time.
Since these are packaged units, i'm likely going to throw the tanks outside under my lean-to on pallet racking or something like that. I'll probably keep the compressors inside because it gets cold out.

I was thinking if i dumped the discharge air from the heads into the aftercooler, then dryer after that, i may be able to get capacity of the dryer up to support both compressor heads, but i'm not sure how all that works. I do want to have potentially both compressor capacity at some point to support sandblasting, but that may be a ways off. It would be nice not to have to reconfigure later if possible.

Thoughts?

 

[MacMcMacmac]

The dryer is only good for one of your machines. No amount of fiddling will change that. More flow than it's designed for will overwhelm the heat removal capacity of the dryer and will prevent proper cooling of the air to condense out the moisture. You need a bigger dryer with more heat exchanger capability to do both machines at once. You might try installing a vortex separator in the line just after the aftercooler to knock out the majority of the water. These need sufficient air velocity to work properly, so take the time to size it right.

Outside tanks are a problem if the condensate freezes. You will have to heat it somehow.

 

[86turbodsl]

The dryer is sized to provide a certain amount of cooling for the air flowing through it. My thought was that since the aftercooler and whatever i do to reduce the incoming air temp, would raise the cooling available to the air through the dryer. If the air flowing through the dryer has less time because of flow rate, it would cool less. Maybe i'm over thinking it.

Maybe another discussion would be should the dryer go before or after the tanks? I'm sure there has to be pro/con here.