By Ron Marshall A building products company had a compressed air system that featured one large 1,500-cfm compressor and three smaller ones. The compressed air flow had grown to a point where the large compressor could only be turned off during shutdown periods; when it was turned off, the plant pressure would collapse. The large […]
How can you use compressed air storage to reduce peaks?
A press operation used a pulse of compressed air for cleaning operations for 10 seconds, once every 10 minutes. The compressed air flow to the press during the cleaning was 400 cfm, a quite significant flow, and data logger measurements of the air compressors found that each time the blow happened, a 150-hp compressor would […]
Compressed air fail: Sensor eye blowing
The operators at a lumber mill were having production problems in two of their machines. Annoyingly, critical sensing eyes were getting blocked by occasional pieces of bark as the logs went by. After enduring this for quite a while the maintenance department finally took matters into their own hands. The plant had a welding department, […]
A look at misfit compressed air tools
Are you still using open ended compressed air blowing? Are these blowers simply controlled by a ball valve? Did you know these tools can turn into dangerous uncontrolled projectiles if accidently dropped when the valve is wide open? They cause noise pollution and present a risk of eye injury when chips of debris are sent […]
How do you measure your compressed air’s air quality?
Many industrial sites measure their compressed air quality, or think they do. When asked to show the dew point of a system with refrigerated air dryers, the compressor operators will typically point to the air dryer display, not knowing that the reading is not really dew point, but the temperature within the air dryer itself. […]
Compressed air fail: Load sharing
A large foundry had four large 200-hp air compressors that were water-cooled and were having overheating problems. The units were capable of inlet modulation control, where the inlet valve of the compressor closes off the intake to control the output flow. Use of this control mode reduces the flow output of the compressors and the […]
Compressed air fail: Dryer overload
A building products company purchased a compressor with 1,520 cfm capacity to help with the increased load after a plant expansion. Various dryer sizes were available, but one sized at 1,600 cfm was selected, rather than choosing the next size up, to save purchase costs. Shortly after installation, the production machine operators started complaining about […]
Edwards offers vacuum pump control and connectivity
Edwards has introduced EJGO, a next-generation vacuum pump controller with cloud connectivity and control for industrial vacuum pumps and systems. EJGO intelligently manages, commands, directs, and regulates the operation of Edwards vacuum pumps and offers flexible accessibility and outstanding control functionality. The Edwards EJGO vacuum controller is a one‐stop solution with all the necessary pump information […]
Compressed air fail: Safety hazard
During a compressed air assessment, a service provider was reviewing the total capacity of the storage receivers for his report. Having adequate capacity helps make the compressors run more efficiently and saves energy. During his checks, he spotted a strange color on one receiver safety valve. On closer inspection, he noticed that the pressure relief […]
The magic of compressed air heat recovery
A facilities manager at a building products plant attended a compressed air efficiency seminar sponsored by his local utility. He learned about optimizing air compressors, filters, dryers, and piping. He discovered how to arrange to have a baseline taken of his compressed air system to assess its efficiency. He discovered the excellent savings he could […]
