A large industrial company was having problems with its air quality.Β Water was appearing as if at random at one of its most critical processes, causing instrumentation failures and contamination of the product.Β This issue was difficult to understand because it looked like the refrigerated air dryer was working fine β and dewpoint looked good […]
Air Preparation
How do you flow test an air compressor?
As compressors age, there can be internal wear or control problems that affect the flow output capacity. Often times, observing the amps of the compressor β and comparing that to the motor nameplate β can show if a compressor has problems. If the amps are low, that usually means the compressor flow capacity is lower […]
Compressed air fail: Two flow meters
There is an old saying about a man with two watches who never knows what time it is. One wonders if this applies to having two flow meters? Fig. 1 shows the comparison of two thermal mass flow meters measuring the same compressed air stream. We can see there is a disparity between the readings, […]
Compressed air fail: Air water cooling
Desperate times call for desperate measures β or at least that is what the maintenance personnel at a chemical plant thought when they had production outages caused by overheating of their water-cooled, lubricant free compressor. So, they rigged up some cooling using a compressed air powered ring jet nozzle (Fig. 1) and directed a flow […]
Compressed air fail: Dryer signature
A compressed air auditor placed data loggers on a single compressor system with a fixed cycle heatless desiccant dryer.Β The pressure at the compressor discharge and dry storage tank was also measured, along with the compressor input amps. On examination of the system profile, it was determined the compressor was rapid-cycling due to lower than […]
Compressed air fail: Drains importance?
Question:Β On our air compressor, we have a drain at the bottom of what looks like a filter, located after the air cooler.Β The drain failed so we turned it off … how important is it anyway? Answer: Here is the data you need to know about condensed water flow in compressed air systems (taken from […]
What is VSD cooling?
In the compressed air world, the hottest thing in the market lately has been the introduction of variable speed drive controlled compressors. Being hot (as in popular) is good β but being hot as in temperature is not so great. These units, if installed appropriately, can stabilize the air pressure, and save significant amounts of […]
Can electropneumatic regulators be used in hazardous locations?
When thinking of hazardous locations, oneβs mind conjures an oil/gas drilling rig, refinery, or underground coal mine β all these locations have in the past utilized traditional pneumatics as risk reduction because they do not have a spark risk, which a solenoidβs electrical actuation requires and creates. Expanding our view of hazardous locations, we should […]
Why is flow meter contamination important?
Thermal mass flow meters are excellent devices to use when measuring compressed air flow. These devices use a hot wire anemometer method of measuring the velocity of the compressed air in the pipe. Two probes are used, one heated and the other not, and are inserted into the compressed air pipe. The flow of air […]
Compressed air fail: Units conversion
Have you heard the story of the Gimli Glider? An Air Canada flight ran out of fuel on July 23, 1983, at an altitude of 41,000 feet, midway through the flight. The cause? It was a mix up of pounds and kilograms when calculating the weight of fuel to load for the flight. (Give it […]
