By Ron Marshall The compressor was an old unit made by an excellent manufacturer — it had run without trouble for decades, but times had changed. In recent months, the staff had trouble stemming the air and lubricant leaks that seemed to spring up within hours of a repair. What was worse, over the years […]
What is a pneumatic muffler?
Pneumatic mufflers, also called silencers, safely and quietly vent pressurized air to atmosphere. They are commonly installed on air valves, cylinders, manifolds and fittings. Without a muffler, air exhausting from many types of pneumatic-powered equipment can be so loud as to be detrimental to the surrounding environment and potentially harm workers. Noise results when fast-moving, […]
Can you use air knives to cut compressed air costs?
It is very common to see pipes — or pipe plugs with holes drilled in them — fashioned into a blowing device in industrial plants. These are quick to build, and easy to install, but come at a price on the energy bill, due to the high energy intensity of producing compressed air. These applications […]
Save money by giving your system a checkup
By Ron Marshall A building products manufacturer was running out of air pressure during their production shift and were wanting to upgrade their compressor capacity. Before spending any money on equipment, they called in a compressed air auditor to give an opinion on the size they need. As part of the study the auditor placed […]
Don’t keep leaks a secret!
A leakage test at a mattress making facility was done over one weekend. The facility had no main flow meter, so the testing was done using a flow meter made from a set of calibrated orifices when there was no production. The compressed air auditor did the test, and tallied up the orifices — and […]
New high flow gas pressure regulators
ControlAir LLC has announced the introduction of the Type 1227 and Type 1230 High Flow Gas Pressure Regulators to its gas regulator product offering. The Type 1227 and Type 1230 Gas Pressure Regulators are direct-operated, pressure-reducing regulators suitable for use with compressed air, natural gas, or an assortment of other inert gases. These gas pressure regulators help maintain consistent […]
Why is pressure vessel safety important?
By Ron Marshall The pressure vessel authorities in your state or province have set rules for the installation of pressure vessels. Like most regulations these rules have been put in place because someone has been killed or badly injured in the past by an unplanned explosion caused by a failed pressurized device. Sometimes plants install […]
Compressed air fail: Pressure regulators
By Ron Marshall A newly constructed manufacturing plant had a policy to always install high quality pressure regulators for each one of their thousands of production machines. Each regulator was adjusted to the machine input requirements — and the pressure gauge marked it indicate the allowable range of adjustment. Despite this effort, some production machines […]
Plant shut down? Try repairing some leaks!
Unplanned plant shutdowns are a killer on the bottom line, requiring lots of patience and the use of scarce reserve funds. As with anything, the pain is rarely permanent, and the most we can do is grin and bear it — and also try to keep ourselves productive. It is a time for future planning […]
Compressed air fail: Compressor response
By Ron Marshall A food processing plant invited a compressor vendor in, to conduct a compressed air assessment. The goal here was to determine the plant’s system efficiency for a possible compressed air improvement project. The vendor placed data loggers on the compressed air system to measure the plant pressure and power. The data logging […]
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