A common complaint from those who troubleshoot compressed air problems is the lack of information. A machine will be going down, caused by low compressed air pressure, but nobody knows what went wrong, why or even when. The first thing a compressed air assessor will do in solving the problems is go look at measurement […]
Compressed air fail: Clog prevention blow
Rather than skill and experience, sometimes serendipity comes into play when optimizing a compressed air system. An auditor was just finishing up a system assessment and was ready to leave the site when he spotted a previously installed flow meter. He had located it on a previous audit a few years before. The device […]
Vacuum-based soft gripper handles delicate objects
Piab has introduced the new soft gripping tool piSOFTGRIP, developed especially with food industry automation in mind. The vacuum-based soft gripper will grip sensitive and lightweight objects of odd geometries and/or an unusual surface. Bin-picking of small irregularly shaped objects, such as toys, is another potential application. piSOFTGRIP has three gripping fingers and a vacuum […]
Compressed air fail: Dust collectors
It is common to see reverse pulse filters applied to any process that creates dust in an industrial plant. Collecting the dust is sometimes part of the industrial process, or it could be applied for pollution control, preventing the dust from contaminating the neighborhood. Within these dust collectors are an array of filter elements, sometimes […]
What are some clues to compressed air leaks?
Sometimes you don’t need an expensive leak detector to find leaks. There are often clues scattered around the facilities that show you where costly compressed air is escaping from your system. Consider an automotive manufacturer where a variety of common leaks were found during a recent compressed air audit: Various leaking regulators were found […]
Five supply side improvements for compressed air systems
By Ron Marshall Here are five common ways to improve your compressed air system efficiency and save electrical costs: Choose an efficient compressor — Air compressors have come a long way over the years, with many design improvements implemented. Chances are that a new compressor will be more efficient than your old unit, and if […]
Compressed air fail: Poor maintenance disaster
A food products company used lubricated screw compressors to produce its compressed air for the plant. Due to tight budgets, the plant maintenance manager decided to stretch the maintenance intervals on the compressors as long as he could, but this led to unexpected disaster. Within each lubricated screw compressor is an oil separator filter. This […]
Take the compressed air systems approach
By Ron Marshall One key recommendation of the Compressed Air Challenge’s Fundamentals of Compressed Air Systems training is to take the systems approach. Improving a compressed air system is much more than just looking at just replacing an air compressor. Sometimes system problems are caused by a variety of things. When looking at system improvement […]
Compressed air fail: Dryer spitting ice?
By Ron Marshall Recently, a reader wrote in with this question … I’m the sole maintenance technician for a distribution facility. We have a compressed air system that involves two reciprocating compressors (20 years old), alternated in use every three months, with the other kept in reserve for emergency backup. Both are connected to a […]
Compressed air fail: Why dry to -40°?
A manufacturer of industrial coatings used a heatless desiccant air dryer to process and condition the compressed air for their complete production process. This 1,500 cfm dryer consumed about 225 cfm of compressed air for its purge flow, which costs about $40,000 per year in equivalent electrical costs, and further had a 10 psi pressure […]
