Did you know that there are criminals hiding in your plant wasting your energy and hard-earned dollars? In fact, they are nasty, terrible creatures who deserve to be tried and convicted. Be sure to hunt them down and arrest their wasteful ways. Remember that all it takes is a little effort — and it could […]

A medicinal products supply company installed a 600-cfm heatless desiccant dryer to condition their air, due to the nature of their business they wanted high air quality. They also wanted to save energy, so they upgraded this dryer to dew point dependent switching, a control mode that turns off the 90-cfm purge flow when output […]

Question: I have a 1,000 cfm VSD compressor, but due to motor and control problems it is producing only 560 cfm. I notice my compressors are fighting with each other. What new size of VSD do I need to fix this problem? Answer:  The basic rule in running with a VSD is that the variable […]

Years ago, in the North American compressed air market, it was a free-for-all when it came to compressor ratings. Some questionable efficiency numbers were published, leading customers to believe that they were making good choices in purchasing the most energy efficient compressors. However, as time went on, it was gradually discovered that some published numbers […]

A building products company had constantly overheating bearings on some large fans induced draft in their process and decided to use compressed air to provide some extra cooling. On one fan bearing they installed a spare air wand and tied it in position with wires, so the nozzle pointed directly at the hot bearing, this […]

A farm implement manufacturer had a system of three large 150-hp compressors that were air-cooled lubricant-injected screw compressors. To control these compressors — two of which were needed for peak duty on any given day — the compressors were set up in a cascaded pressure band arrangement, with each unit running in load/unload mode. In […]

A metal processor had a four-compressor system that was well controlled by a compressor sequencer. System operation was very well monitored by a system of pressure, power, and flow instruments that fed system operating characteristics back to the maintenance supervisor. One day before the Christmas holiday, the supervisor noticed that the variable speed drive (VSD) […]

Have you ever wandered through your plant on a down day and found that it sounded like a pit of vipers with noticeable compressed air leaks hissing away constantly?  Have you wondered how much money you are losing because of the leaks?  Now you can answer that question armed with a simple trash bag and […]