Removing water from factory air and lowering the dew point protects automation equipment. One of the foremost causes of costly downtime and emergency maintenance in industrial automation systems is not oil or contaminants, which are easily removed with proper filtration, but water vapor and the resulting condensed water that is trapped in factory compressed air. […]
Air Preparation
How do you improve air powered ventilation?
A compressed air assessment was done at an aircraft maintenance facility. Part of the study was identification of inappropriate compressed air uses. The study identified some compressed air powered ring jets used for ventilation of aircraft fuel tanks while the internals were being inspected. The study concluded that these ring jets were using about one-third […]
Oil-free scroll compressors delivers Class 0 air for small uses
Ingersoll Rand has introduced the W-Series of oil-free scroll rotary air compressors, offering whisper-quiet operation. Scroll compressors meet a broad spectrum of oil-free needs for commercial applications that require contamination-free air, low maintenance and a smaller footprint. βIngersoll Rand now offers a true, complete oil-free solution that guarantees reliable, pure air while reducing waste, inefficiencies […]
Compressed air fail: The danger of assumptions
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 […]
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 β 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 β 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 β 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.Β 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 β […]
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.Β 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 […]
