Part of a good compressed air assessment is the measurement of the plant pressure gradient. This can be accomplished by placing data loggers at various points in the plant along the distribution piping. If this is done, a time-based plot of the data can show where the biggest pressure loss occurs. Often times, loggers might […]
Air Preparation
Compressed air fail: Filter change
Plant management at the paper products plant were always on their guys to save money. Therefore, when it came time to do the maintenance on their desiccant air dryer, the replacement of their dryer filters was delayed. This was not thought to be a problem because the differential gauge on the filter was showing in […]
Customer turns it off — and saves!
By Ron Marshall A leakage assessment was done at a small industrial shop and a constant flow was found in a CNC machine. This machine was very rarely used, perhaps running less than 1% of the time — however, it was consuming a significant flow for internal purging. While testing this flow, a duty cycle […]
Compressed air fail: Storage receivers
Having a large air receiver in your compressed air system is always a good thing — in fact, if the tank does not surprise visitors to your compressor room with its size, it is probably not big enough. Storage receivers slow down pressure fluctuations and allow your compressors to better control the system pressure while […]
Compressed air fail: Header piping
By Ron Marshall A grain processor was experiencing random dew point alarms on its air dryer. An air auditor called to investigate viewed the compressor room header piping and found an immediate problem. The piping installer had connected the discharge of each of their three compressors to the bottom of the compressor room header — […]
What’s so important about leakage testing?
One of the best ways to save compressed air system energy is to reduce the load on the compressor by fixing leaks. The table shown at right calculates the approximate cost of leaks by orifice size for a typical 100 psi system. The average compressed air system wastes about 15% to 30% of all the […]
How do you avoid condensate pollution in compressed air systems?
If you have an oil-lubricated air compressor, you should consider the environmental considerations of your condensate disposal. All lubricated compressors have oil carryover, and when the compressed air produced by the compression element is cooled in the aftercooler, some condensate forms. And floating on top of this water is a film of compressor lubricant. Past […]
How do you buy a compressor using the right numbers?
When you are looking to buy a compressor, remember that numbers matter. Most people just look at the sticker price when comparing brands of compressors, and often choose the lowest cost. They will also look at the compressed air flow output rating and tend to like the models with the highest output per nominal horsepower. […]
A look at “compressor gas mileage”
If you’re like most people, you monitor or calculate your gas mileage for your car in order to make sure it is running efficiently. This same thing can be done for an air compressor or even a complete air compressor system. For most compressed air systems running around 100 psi, the specific power in kilowatts […]
How do you use storage receivers to ride out peaks?
It’s possible to use compressed air storage like a bank account to ride out deficits in compressed air capacity that might ordinarily cause the plant pressure to fall to unacceptable levels. Consider the pressure/amp profile shown at the right. The compressed air demand exceeds the capacity of the compressor on two occasions causing the compressor […]