Champion CMD Series Membrane Air Dryer - Point-of-Use, No Electricity Required (1.39 to 138 SCFM)

The Champion CMD Series is a point-of-use hollow-fiber membrane air dryer offered in nine capacities from 1.39 to 138.1 SCFM. It has no electrical connection, no refrigerant, no desiccant and no moving parts. Compressed air enters a spiral-wrapped bundle of tube-shaped membrane fibers, water vapor permeates out through the fiber walls, and dry air continues down the line. Nothing cycles, nothing switches, nothing makes noise.

Because the membrane removes water as a vapor rather than condensing it, the CMD does not reduce the oxygen content of your air and needs no drain on the dryer itself. Every configuration listed here ships with a factory pre-filter package, which Champion requires and which extends the warranty from one year to three.

Select your model and pre-filter package from the dropdowns above.

When a Membrane Dryer Is the Right Answer

Membrane dryers are not a replacement for a plant-wide dryer. They are the right tool at the point of use, where you need genuinely dry air at one machine, one lab bench, one paint booth or one outdoor drop, and where running power and mounting a refrigerated or desiccant dryer would cost more than the problem is worth.

They shine in three situations. First, no power available: a remote instrument panel, a trailer, a ship, a field skid. Second, noise and vibration matter: a laboratory, a dental operatory, a clean assembly area, an office-adjacent shop. Third, intermittent duty: a membrane dryer is working the instant air flows through it, with no warm-up, no cycle timer and no standby power, so a machine that runs two hours a week is dried exactly as well as one that runs three shifts.

What they are not is cheap per SCFM at high flow. Above roughly 140 SCFM the economics move decisively to a refrigerated or regenerative desiccant machine, which is why Champion caps the CMD range where it does.

What Sets the CMD Apart

• Zero electricity: no power connection, no controller, no heater, no compressor. Mount it and pipe it.
• No moving parts: nothing to wear, nothing to fail on a cycle, nothing to service but the filter elements and eventually the membrane bundle.
• Silent operation: no fan, no blower, no solenoid banging over every few minutes.
• Instant on: full dew point performance from the first cubic foot, with no pull-down time.
• Oxygen content unchanged: the membrane selectively permeates water vapor, so this is a dryer, not a nitrogen generator.
• Compact and mountable in any orientation: the largest model in the range is 41 inches long and weighs 40 pounds.
• Three-year warranty when installed with a pre-filter package and serviced on schedule.
• Champion Pneumatic quality: a Gardner Denver brand with more than a century of compressed-air engineering behind it, built in the USA.

Choosing Your Pre-Filter Package

Champion does not sell the membrane module by itself, and neither do we. A membrane fiber bundle is destroyed by oil and by liquid water carryover, and once it is fouled it does not come back. The pre-filter package is what makes the dryer an asset instead of a consumable. Both packages include mounting brackets, interconnecting piping, automatic drains and differential pressure indicators.

Package	What You Get	Best For
One Pre-Filter (F1)	A single Grade E high efficiency oil removal coalescing filter ahead of the membrane. Maximum inlet liquid content 1000 ppm, maximum outlet oil content 0.008 ppm.	Normal operation downstream of a well-maintained compressor with a working aftercooler, separator and drain. This is the standard selection and covers most installations.
Two Pre-Filters (F2)	A Grade C air line filter followed by a Grade F maximum efficiency oil removal filter. Grade C handles up to 2000 ppm inlet liquid to 1 ppm out; Grade F then takes 100 ppm inlet liquid down to 0.0008 ppm outlet oil.	Heavily contaminated systems, older oil-flooded rotary screws, long wet runs of steel pipe, or any application where the highest purity is required and the cost of a fouled membrane is measured in downtime.

A note on pricing: in Champion's current August 2026 list the two-filter package happens to price below the one-filter package on the CMD1 and CMD6 models. That is how the factory publishes it and that is how we sell it, so on those two sizes the heavier filtration is the better buy. On every other model the F2 package prices above F1 as you would expect.

Model Selection Chart

Model	Flow at +40°F PDP	Flow at 0°F PDP	Dimensions (L x W)	Weight
CMD1	1.39 SCFM	0.85 SCFM	11 x 4 in	5 lb
CMD2	4.55 SCFM	2.89 SCFM	15 x 4 in	6 lb
CMD3	9.47 SCFM	5.69 SCFM	19 x 4 in	7 lb
CMD4	13.69 SCFM	8.86 SCFM	27 x 4 in	8 lb
CMD5	24.3 SCFM	14.2 SCFM	20 x 5 in	11 lb
CMD6	49.6 SCFM	26.6 SCFM	27 x 5 in	14 lb
CMD7	66.6 SCFM	36.2 SCFM	29 x 6 in	17 lb
CMD8	106.3 SCFM	61.4 SCFM	35 x 8 in	35 lb
CMD9	138.1 SCFM	81.4 SCFM	41 x 8 in	40 lb

Flow capacities are at 100 psig and 100°F saturated inlet, established per CAGI Standard ADF 700 for membrane compressed air dryers. Note how sharply capacity falls as you ask for a lower dew point: that is the defining characteristic of membrane drying and the single most common sizing mistake. Size on the dew point you actually need at the flow you actually have. Weights and dimensions above are for the membrane dryer itself and do not include the pre-filter package, so add filter weight and mounting length when you plan the installation.

Shared Technical Specifications

Specification	Value
Dryer Type	Hollow-fiber membrane, spiral-wrapped bundle
Rated Flow Range	1.39 to 138.1 SCFM at +40°F pressure dew point
Pressure Dew Point	Rated at +40°F and 0°F; lower dew points are achievable at reduced flow by increasing sweep
Maximum Operating Pressure	200 psig (membrane dryer alone)
Maximum Inlet Temperature	150°F (66°C)
Electrical Requirement	None
Moving Parts	None
Connections	NPT standard; BSP available, add B to the model number
Pre-Filtration	Required. F1 Grade E, or F2 Grade C plus Grade F, factory mounted and piped
Warranty	One year standard, extended to three years with a pre-filter package and six-month element changes
Shipping Point	F.O.B. Ocala, FL 34474

Ideal Applications

Powder coating and spray finishing where a single drop of water ruins a part; laboratory and analytical instruments; dental and medical air; food packaging machinery with pneumatic controls; pneumatic instrumentation and control cabinets; outdoor and unheated air lines that would otherwise freeze; remote wellheads, pump stations and telemetry enclosures with no electrical service; marine and mobile equipment; CNC machine tool air; blow-off and air-gauging stations; and any critical machine that needs its own dry air island downstream of a plant system that cannot quite keep up.

Sizing and Installation

Size on actual SCFM at the point of use and on the dew point you need, using the chart above rather than the model number. Install the dryer downstream of an aftercooler and a drained receiver, not directly off a hot compressor discharge, and keep inlet temperature inside the 150°F limit. Mount it where the filter bowls can be reached and the drains can discharge. The dryer needs no power, no drain connection of its own and no clearance for airflow, which is why it fits in places nothing else will.

A membrane dryer vents a small continuous sweep of dry air to carry permeated moisture away, so plan for that flow in your compressor sizing. Champion does not publish a separate sweep figure in the current price list; ask us and we will get the number for your model from the factory before you size a compressor around it.

Service and Replacement Parts

Service on a CMD is short. Change the pre-filter elements every six months, which the three-year warranty requires, verify the filter drains are actually discharging, and keep oil out of the air. Done properly the membrane bundle lasts for years.

When the bundle does reach the end of its life, the genuine Champion replacement is the CMDB series, sized to your dryer. We list all nine: Champion CMD Series Replacement Membrane Bundle (CMDB1 to CMDB9). Champion references CMD maintenance kits in the current price list but does not publish kit part numbers or prices for them, so call or email us with your model and we will quote the correct elements and kit from the factory.

Why Buy from Air Compressor Store

Air Compressor Store is an authorized Champion Pneumatic distributor. Every CMD Series dryer ships with full factory warranty, factory-direct freight from Ocala, and lifetime application support from our compressed-air engineers. Tell us your flow, your pressure and the dew point you need, and we will size it properly the first time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a membrane dryer actually work?

Compressed air passes through a bundle of hollow polymer fibers. The fiber wall is far more permeable to water vapor than to oxygen and nitrogen, so water molecules migrate through the wall and are swept away by a small stream of dry product air on the outside of the fibers. The air that exits the bundle has had its moisture removed as vapor, never condensed, so there is nothing to drain.

Does it need electricity?

No. That is the whole point. There is no power connection, no controller and no standby draw. It works on the pressure differential in your air line and nothing else.

What dew point will I get?

Champion rates the CMD Series at +40°F and at 0°F pressure dew point, and the chart above gives the flow at each. On a membrane dryer dew point and capacity trade directly against each other, because a lower dew point means allowing more sweep air. Lower dew points are achievable at reduced flow. Tell us the dew point you need and the flow you have and we will tell you which model covers it.

Can I buy the membrane dryer without a filter package?

Champion instructs that the CMD is not to be sold without a pre-filter, so we list only the complete filtered packages. If you already have Grade E coalescing filtration installed immediately upstream and want the module alone, call us and we will go through it with you rather than sell you something that will foul.

F1 or F2?

F1, the single Grade E coalescing filter, is the standard choice and is correct for most systems fed by a properly maintained compressor. Step up to F2 if your air is dirty, your piping is old wet steel, your compressor is an oil-flooded screw with a tired separator, or the cost of losing the membrane is high. On CMD1 and CMD6 the F2 package currently lists lower than F1, so on those two models there is no reason not to take it.

How often do I change the filter elements?

Every six months. It is not a suggestion: the three-year warranty is conditional on six-month element replacement and a working drain mechanism. At one year the standard warranty applies instead.

Membrane, refrigerated or desiccant?

A refrigerated dryer gives roughly a +38°F dew point at low operating cost and needs power, and is the default for a whole plant. A regenerative desiccant dryer gives -40°F or lower and consumes purge air or energy to regenerate. A membrane dryer gives you dry air at a point of use with no power, no noise and no maintenance beyond filters, at a higher cost per SCFM. If you are drying one machine or one drop, this is usually the cheapest total answer. If you are drying a header, look at our refrigerated and desiccant dryers instead.

How does it compare with the CDS single tower desiccant dryer?

The Champion CDS Series covers a similar small-flow point-of-use niche from 5 to 30 SCFM and reaches a much lower dew point, but it consumes purge air and its desiccant charge is a recurring consumable you have to change. The CMD costs more up front and then asks almost nothing of you. Choose CDS when you need a deep dew point, CMD when you need low maintenance and silence.

What about BSP connections?

Available. Champion adds a B to the model number for BSP threads. The listing here is NPT, which is what almost every North American installation wants. If you need BSP, send us the model and we will quote the B part number.

What is the lead time?

These are built to order in Ocala, Florida. Call or email us with your model and pre-filter package and we will confirm the current factory schedule before you place the order.