Most sports goods like gloves, wickets, hockey sticks, carom boards, chess boards and various types of balls e.g. golf, cricket, hockey and of course, the football, etc. are made of hygroscopic material like wood and leather.
When exposed to high relative humidity, these materials absorb moisture which leads to shrinkage or “bloating” of the product as well as increased microbial activity resulting in defective finished product. Thus, it is essential to keep humidity under control in the area where finished sports goods are manufactured as well as stored.
Cricket bats are made from willow, which is a soft fibrous wood and is highly hygroscopic and tends to absorb moisture from the surrounding air during manufacturing and storage. The moisture tends to make the wood shrink/ contract and expand when the moisture content changes with the relative humidity of the surrounding air, thus affecting the final quality of the bat.
Protective gears like gloves, shin pads and shoulder pads are made of polyurethane, which absorbs and reacts with moisture very rapidly. This degrades the material, which results in defects in the finished products.
Leather, being hygroscopic, absorbs moisture during processing, packaging and storage which results in increased microbial activity. This results in the leather balls losing their gloss and ending up with a dull finish, leading to rejection of the final product.
Golf balls are made of thermoplastic ionomers or thermoset polyurethane.
These materials are susceptible to moisture intake during the manufacturing process and must be kept in humidity-controlled area.
Uncontrolled humidity in the football production and storage rooms causes
growth of fungus, mold and mildew. This leads to decomposition of the footballs, thus spoiling the sheen of the finished product. To prevent this spoilage. It is necessary to maintain RH at less than 40% in the football production and storage rooms.
The ideal way to maintain the required conditions for manufacturing and storage of sports equipment is to maintain humidity levels at less than 40%RH during the manufacturing process and storage.
The simplest and most cost-effective way of controlling humidity is through Desiccant Dehumidification. Bry-Air Dehumidifiers ensures removal of excess moisture from the air inside the storage and packaging areas by continuously circulating dry air, thus maintaining relative humidity at less than 40%.
This prevents the material from regaining moisture, thereby arresting fungal growth and ensuring perfect quality of the finished goods.
Case Study: M/s Mayor & Co. (Established in 1961) Location: Jalandhar, Punjab Industry: Sports Goods
Mayor & Co. is one of the prestigious manufacturers and exporters of sports goods with a history of over 50 years. One of their major concerns was fungal growth on their footballs while shipping them to European countries. The football panels are made of PU and latex is used as an adhesive for pasting the cotton on the panels. The sewing of the panels was outsourced. During monsoon, the footballs were affected by fungal growth by the time they reached the clients, which led to rejection of the consignments.
Called in to provide a solution the Airgineers from Bry-Air, discovered that there was fungal growth in the seams of the footballs due to uncontrolled levels of humidity during packaging. Mayor was advised to install a Bry-Air Compact Dehumidifier to maintain RH below 40% at a temperature of 27°C. It was also recommended an AC be installed for the comfort of the people working in the final packaging room. Mayor has been able to get rid of the fungal growth problem effectively.
Indoor swimming pools are very unique in their requirement of humidity control.
Most people associate indoor pools with high humidity, stuffy air and steamy windows and walls. Condensation not only creates an aesthetic, comfort and health problem but also results in structural damage to the building in the long term.
Relative humidity levels in an indoor swimming pool is likely to be much higher than normal as water evaporates from the surface of the pool.
Additionally, moisture is also drawn into the room from outdoor make-up air and from pool users or spectators. Also, as the water in swimming pools is laden with chlorine or bromine disinfectants, when the water evaporates, the moisture is laden equally if not more with the chlorine or bromine. This highly corrosive moisture attacks almost everything it comes in contact with.
The dehumidifying equipment installed not only needs to remove the evaporated moisture, but also the moisture from the fresh air as well as the people.
The problems in an indoor pool humidity control arise, when there is a single system to control temperature and humidity. Once the temperature in the pool area is maintained, the cooling system stops as it is driven by a thermostat.
With the switching off of the cooling equipment, the moisture removal also stops and the humidity levels starts rising due to the constant evaporation from the pool surface.
The Airgineers from Bry-Air have been able % to solve the problem of excess moisture by installing Bry-Air Desiccant Dehumidifiers which ensures
