A wood products manufacturer had a problem — it was running out of compressed air capacity. Many times a day, the plant pressure would drop and the workers would lose their most critical production line. Faced with this problem, the Maintenance Manager did a search of the company inventory and found a spare 200-hp compressor. […]
Air Preparation
Compressed air fail: Dryer freeze
A large home products manufacturer had its compressed air system pressure hooked up to their building management system. System pressure was continuously monitored and alarms would be sent to facility management if the levels dropped below a set low pressure threshold. The facility was suffering an ongoing problem. Many times a day, low pressure alarms […]
Compressed air success: Agitation
A printing plant used intrinsically safe compressed air powered barrel mixers in its ink storage room to ensure the consistency of the color of the company’s products. These vane type air motors ran continuously day and night to keep the ink from separating. A compressed air auditor measured the agitator load and calculated that the […]
What is compressed air ionization?
A compressed air leakage and end use study was completed by an auditor at a printing plant. A number of leakage points were identified, and during the course of the ultrasound survey a few inappropriate end uses were identified because they, too, produce an ultrasonic signal. One compressed air consumer that was identified as inappropriate […]
Compressed air fail: Ventilation
A metal products processor installed a new 75-kW VSD controlled air-cooled compressor in its plant — located in a separate compressor room. The environment in the plant is full of aerosols produced by the process machinery cutting and milling process, so the ventilation system is the compressor room was updated to bring in 100% outside […]
ControlAir achieves SIL 3 certification for volume boosters
ControlAir LLC is pleased to announce that its Type 6100 aluminum and Type 6200 stainless steel large flow capacity volume boosters were awarded a Certificate of Compliance to IEC 61508 for a SIL 3 safety rating. This is in addition to the larger Type 6500 aluminum and Type 6600 stainless steel volume booster family. SIL […]
What are air leak best practices?
Leaks waste compressed air energy. Typically, 15% to 30% of all the compressed air produced by the air compressor never gets to the final use. A key part of managing system energy is also managing leakage. To properly manage leaks, it is important to have a management champion overseeing the leakage levels in the plant […]
Regenerative dryer reduces costs, increases performance of dust collector system
Dust collector systems play a critical role in maintaining compressed air cleanliness for manufacturers. Plant operators are always looking for any incremental advantage to improve pulse jet cleaning in bag (sock) or reverse flow cartridge systems. This is because even the slightest improvement in dust cake contaminate removal can create a cost-improving ripple effect throughout […]
Compressed air knowledge Lacking? Throw the book at it!
By Ron Marshall If you want to learn a lot about compressed air, you need to be prepared to read. There are very few comprehensive training courses covering the full subject of compressed air from inlet air, through the compressors, filters, piping and to the end uses. One “must have” document is the Compressed Air […]
Compressed air fail: When unloaded is loaded
A compressed air auditor placed data loggers on a 100 psi system, measuring pressure, power and flow. He downloaded the data and started scanning through it only to find a surprise. Instead of finding a system running between its 90 to 100 psi setpoint, the system, during low load times reached as high as 150 […]
