Moisture control for sports goods is critical to preserving the quality and longevity of items such as leather balls, footballs, cricket bats, gloves, wickets, hockey sticks, carrom and chess boards, and golf balls. These goods are made from hygroscopic materials like leather and wood, which have a natural tendency to absorb moisture when exposed to high relative humidity. This can lead to shrinking, increased microbial activity, and defects in the finished product. Therefore, controlling humidity in both manufacturing and storage environments is essential to ensure the durability and quality of finished sports goods.
Cricket Bats and Wickets
Cricket bats are made from willow which is by nature a soft fibrous wood. Because of its hygroscopic nature, wood tends to absorb moisture from the air when the relative humidity is high. Moisture imbibed into the cell walls causes the wood to shrink as the moisture content changes with the relative humidity of the surrounding air. This creates problems during the manufacturing and storage process and ultimately affects wickets and the ball striking qualities of the bats.
Leather Balls
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
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 areas.
Footballs
Uncontrolled humidity in the football production and storage rooms causes growth of fungus, mould and mildew. This leads to decomposition of the footballs, thus spoiling the sheen of the finished product. In order to prevent this spoilage, it is necessary to maintain RH at less than 40% in the football production and storage rooms.
Sports Protective Equipment
Sports protective equipment like gloves, shin pads and shoulder pads are made of polyurethane which absorbs and reacts with moisture very rapidly. This causes degradation of the material, which results in defects in the finished products.
Moisture Can Hamper your End Product
The ideal way to maintain the required conditions for manufacturing and storage of sports equipment is through Desiccant Dehumidification.
Desiccant Dehumidifiers control humidity by removing moisture from the ambient air through a process of direct physical adsorption.
Moisture Control for Drying of Sports Goods
Bry-Air Dehumidifiers remove 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. They offer the most simple and cost effective solution for humidity control. The dehumidifiers ensure that the required humidity level is maintained at a specified temperature in the production and storage areas, irrespective of the weather conditions.
Bry-Air Dehumidifiers are CE certified and incorporate the high performance EcoDry desiccant rotor. The EcoDry rotor is bacteria static, non-toxic and thus ideal to meet the GMP requirements of the sports goods industry.
Bry-Air Dehumidifiers are backed by the BryCare service. The BryCare program offers a highly cost effective after sales service.
Case Study: M/S. Mayor & Co., Jalandhar, Punjab
Established in 1961, Mayor & Co. is a prestigious manufacturing and export company of various kinds of sports goods, cricket bats, wickets, sports balls, golf and rugby balls, practice balls, volley balls, junior training balls. etc. with over 50 years of excellent track.
Being a reputed company committed to quality, Mayor & Co. was concerned about the problem of fungal growth in their footballs when they were being shipped to European countries. Mayor & Co. were making panels of the PU sheets with latex as adhesive for pasting cotton. These panels were being sent outside the factory for sewing of footballs. During the monsoon period, the footballs were affected by fungal growth by the time they reached the clients, which led to rejection of the footballs.
Bry-Air discovered that the fungal growth was being developed through the seams of the football, and advised them to install the Bry-Air FFB 600 Compact Dehumidifier to maintain RH below 40% at a temperature of 27°C. AC unit could also be installed for people working in the final packaging room.
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