ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï systems are the backbone of modern industrial automation, providing reliable and efficient power for a wide range of applications, from packaging and assembly to heavy material handling. However, the very energy that makes these systems so effective also introduces significant workplace hazards if not managed correctly.

Understanding and implementing safety protocols is essential to protecting personnel while preventing costly equipment damage. Before discussing safety measures, it is critical to recognize the specific dangers associated with compressed air systems, such as stored energy risks. When you take a cubic yard of air and squish it down to just give cubic feet, you must understand how that stored energy wants nothing more than to return to its original volume, and will do so violently if given the chance.

Even when a system is shut down, air can remain trapped in cylinders, reservoirs, filter bowls, and plumbing. This residual pressure can cause sudden, unexpected movement of machine components, leading to severe crush or pinch hazards if not addressed through a thoughtful pneumatic safety program.

Another significant hazard is the , such as if a pressurized line detaches or bursts, leading to uncontrolled whipping that can strike machine operators or maintenance mechanics, causing severe injury. Furthermore, escaping compressed air, particularly at high pressures, can potentially penetrate human skin, leading to life-threatening air embolisms in the bloodstream if it enters through a puncture wound.

Excessive noise is also a concern, as the exhaust of pneumatic systems without proper muffling can generate sound pressure levels exceeding that which can cause hearing damage over time. Recognizing these risks is the first step toward building a safer facility, as it allows maintenance and operations teams to anticipate potential failures and implement safe operational and maintenance procedures.

In fact, pneumatic maintenance activities are, ironically enough, one of the major windows for injury to occur. The most important step in pneumatic safety is isolating energy sources through strict lockout and tagout procedures. Before performing any maintenance, the air supply must be shut off, and the downstream residual air must be safely bled off or vented.

ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï safety valves with lockout devices ensure that valves cannot be inadvertently opened while workers are servicing the equipment. Such lockable valves may simply shut off air supply, while others bleed any and all air to atmosphere as well. Each maintenance person working on a machine should have their own lock installed, and shouldn’t rely on the responsibility of others. It’s not uncommon to see a half-dozen padlocks installed by the various personnel working on the machine, preventing startups under false assumption of safety.

Installing soft-start and electric dump valves is another vital protective measure. These components allow for the gradual pressurization of the system upon startup, preventing violent and unpredictable cylinder strokes. In the event of an emergency stop, these valves quickly exhaust downstream pressure, bringing the system to a safe, zero-energy state.

Regular inspection and maintenance are also critical to safety because hoses, fittings, and valves wear are inevitable in industrial environments. Maintenance managers should establish a routine inspection schedule to check for leaks, cracks, and corrosion. Air treatment units, specifically filters, regulators, and lubricators, play a major role in safety as well. Contaminated or wet air can cause internal corrosion and sticky valves, which may lead to unpredictable operation, so maintaining clean, dry air ensures consistent, predictable operation.

Additionally, personnel working near pneumatic systems should always wear appropriate PPE, such as safety glasses with side shields to protect against flying debris or sudden air blasts, and hearing protection to prevent hearing damage from noisy pneumatic machinery. Employee safety training is the most important step to ensure they take pneumatic safety seriously, which is an aspect of culture that starts from the top down. When that culture of safety is part of the industrial workplace, everyone is responsible for safety in pneumatics.

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TESEO designs and manufactures entirely in Italy. It was founded by a family with a long-standing engineering tradition. With a strong ecological focus, TESEO’s 100% aluminum systems are fully recyclable and, even more importantly, reusable. Every component can be disassembled and reused without waste, thanks to a no-weld design, ensuring both environmental sustainability and cost savings on materials and installation labor. This feature is especially valued by manufacturers with seasonal production lines or businesses that relocate. They can bring their compressed air distribution system with them, as the modular design allows it to be dismantled and reinstalled with ease. To support this flexibility, TESEO offers consulting services to help adapt and reconfigure existing systems to fit new facilities.

Backed by its in-house technical and engineering department, TESEO delivers tailor-made solutions to meet specific customer needs, wherever they may be. At the heart of this approach is a keen focus on analyzing key factors to select not only the most suitable TESEO products but also to design efficient layouts. This includes performing flow rate and sizing calculations, optimizing line routing to minimize pressure drops and installation costs, and strategically planning distribution loops and isolation points. All of this is done with a clear understanding of how crucial it is to ensure system accessibility for maintenance, future modifications, and expansions.

TESEO supports its customers at every stage — from the compressor room to the last point of use. TESEO’s systems can be delivered with optimal sizing and efficient routing geometry to ensure the correct flow rate to every machine. This considers peak demand as well as future expansions of the lines, which can grow alongside the company they are installed in. With TESEO products, this becomes even easier: lines can be extended in just a few steps, and new drops can be added at any time — without shutting down the entire system.

Every system must be properly secured to prevent vibration, mechanical damage, and long-term failure, while also considering the operating environment. TESEO’s mounting brackets and support systems are available as standard or custom-designed to meet the most diverse requirements.

A unique feature of TESEO piping is its round, ultra-smooth internal bore combined with a square external profile — derived from structural extrusion designs. This makes the pipes significantly easier and faster to install, while also providing enhanced strength and durability. Moreover, these characteristics allow for structural applications that would be unthinkable with traditional round pipes. The result is a system that is easy and quick to install, robust over time, and dynamic in its ability to adapt.

TESEO was the first to address the issue of air quality. Previously, only iron piping systems were available, but iron can rust, causing damage to filters and machinery, and leading to higher costs and unplanned downtime. Other systems may be less durable and prone to air leakage, reducing efficiency, while low-grade aluminum pipes (painted or with plastic components) can negatively impact airflow and air quality. TESEO’s piping systems feature a very smooth interior surface, ensuring optimal airflow and air quality. This delivers clean air to filters and equipment, extending their lifespan and reducing the risk of malfunction.

Another key factor in ensuring a leak-free system is the quality of the joints. TESEO fittings are designed to eliminate leakage, thanks to their patented locking and sealing system that features a double O-ring on both sides.

Over time, TESEO has expanded its range of piping systems. It began with HBS – Hollow Bar System, the first 100% aluminum modular piping system that integrates structural profile concepts. This was followed by APS, a simplified and bendable 100% aluminum modular pipe with a streamlined external profile. Then came MPS – Multifluid Piping System, engineered to transport compressed air and incompressible fluids at pressures up to 25 bar.

TESEO has also developed a complete range of drop column systems with 100% custom drop terminals — ergonomic, durable, fully accessorized, and pre-assembled for fast, cost-effective installation. This complements its range of fully customizable 100% aluminum modular manifolds.

Additional ergonomic solutions combine the structural properties of an aluminum profile with the full-bore functionality of a pipe, all in a single product — delivering energy from above to improve operator safety and ergonomics, while optimizing movement in line with lean manufacturing principles. TESEO’s solutions include WBA (Workbench for Assembly, pressurized inside), SAB (Swinging Arm Bracket), ATS (Air Track Supply), and MTS (Modular Trolley System).

Complementing this technology is its newest product, a wind-propelled air compressor, ALYSEO. Compressed air can be ten times more expensive than electricity. ALYSEO helps offset compressed air losses without relying on an electrical power supply. This machine is powered by clean, free renewable energy and boasts a simple, economical design that isn’t limited by wind direction. Its new wing profile allows air compression to begin even with a light breeze, and the energy can be stored as compressed air in receivers. The entire structure is built from aluminum, a material that is 90% recyclable, further underscoring its commitment to sustainability.

TESEO SRL

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By Steve Bain, Industry Segment Manager, Food and Packaging, Festo

Original equipment manufacturers reduce packaging machine air consumption by more than 30% while increasing the speed of their packaging machines by designing those machines with valve terminals close to cylinders and by making other design changes. Savings and performance benefits over the lifecycle of the machine dwarf the incremental cost of new enabling technology.

Wasted energy in compressed air tubing

between the valve and cylinder does no work and wastes the energy needed to compress it. How much energy is wasted? Consider, for example, an ISO cylinder connected to a valve via 20 ft of tubing. Fully 75% of the total compressed air in the system is used to only fill the tubing, while 25% of the compressed air is in the cylinder doing work, as seen in Figure 1.

Decreasing the distance between valve and cylinder not only lowers compressed air usage, but it also increases the rate of cylinder response by speeding pressurization time. In other words, the shorter the tube, the faster the pressurization.

The solution for this tubing problem has been to mount a valve terminal on the machine as close to cylinders as possible while still making the terminal easily serviceable by maintenance technicians. A machine-mounted valve terminal provides for a median-tubing-length solution that balances distance with serviceability. Figure 3 shows a base machine with a centrally placed valve terminal, 12 cylinders, and tubing lengths of 10 ft.

Up until recently, it has not been cost effective to mount an optimum number of valve terminals closer to cylinders due to valve terminal size, the hardware cost of terminals, and networking nodes (i.e. EtherNet/IP) for the terminal. Furthermore, with more networking nodes, the PLC may also need to be upgraded to accommodate them, which is added cost to the machine.

Remote and decentralized I/O opens the door for energy savings

Recent advances in remote and decentralized I/O, including IO-Link and the Festo AP network, have led to the development of small, rugged, and lower-cost valve terminals that don’t each require an EtherNet/IP node. With this new generation of valve terminals all under a single EtherNet/IP node, additional terminals can be cost effectively spread throughout the machine as shown in Figure 4. Figure 5 shows how this new plug-and-play architecture shortens the distance between valve terminal and cylinder.

Separate, zoned valve manifolds reduce tubing lengths

There is a hardware cost to distributing valve terminals throughout the machine. But does that cost outweigh the benefits? The base machine shown in Figure 3 had a single valve terminal serving 12 cylinders with tubing length of 10 ft. By separating the valves and adding a second terminal, the 12 cylinders can be served by tubing of 8 ft and 4 ft, respectively, as seen in Figure 6.

The cost of adding a new generation smaller valve terminal to the base machine is 7%. This machine improves speed by 3% and lowers energy consumption by 14%. Over the machine’s lifecycle, the energy saved plus the speed improvements will provide a positive return for the 7% hardware investment.

Adding a third terminal to the base machine makes the longest tubing length 4 ft, as compared to 10 ft with the single valve terminal and 8 ft for the two-terminal machine. There is a 15% cost increase for the three-terminal solution compared to the base case. Bringing valves closer to cylinders in this scenario would lower compressed air energy cost by 26% and boost speed by 14%, as Figure 7 shows.

Lower pressure on the return stroke of the cylinder

All the work of the cylinder is typically with the extend stroke, where the maximum pressure must be exerted. Nearly every packaging machine uses the same pressure on the return stroke, which wastes energy because high pressure is not needed. A simple change to lower compressed air consumption is to reduce pressure into a valve’s Port 5 for the return stroke. Many valve terminals offer this reversal capability, where air is routed backwards through the terminal. A cylinder, for example, which uses 6 bar for the extending cycle may only need 4 bar on the return. A single regulator and a couple of fittings are all that is needed to achieve the savings.

Continuing from the previous three-valve-terminal example, lowering pressure from 6 bar to 4 bar on the return stroke increases energy savings from 26% to 36% while cost and speed remain unchanged, as indicated in Figure 8. Not every application can use less pressure, but it is incumbent on the designer to explore the possibility through proper sizing.

What pressure does the machine require?

Every pneumatics application encourages design engineers to add a little more compressed air than needed for the application because the extra force can compensate for changing conditions as the machine ages.

This doesn’t necessarily mean 6 bar is better than 4 bar or that 8 bar is better than 6. It does mean that an accurate design of the pneumatic system requires optimum sizing of cylinders and tubing for the job at hand and too much pressure than the application needs is not necessarily better.

Festo, for example, offers a free online engineering tool, Festo ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï Sizing, where designers input the key application requirements of stroke, payload, and position time and the tool gives back component solutions in terms of eco-mode, adequate size, and performance design. The point of the three solutions is that there are no absolutes. The best solution is dependent on the OEM’s and end user’s goals and the environment the machine will inhabit.

With this flexibility in mind — no absolutes, but options — what energy savings can be had by using a pressure regulator to lower pressure, for example, from 6 bar to 4 bar without affecting performance?

Clean versus ultra-clean compressed air

ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï manufacturers design their products to function at a company-standard air purity as measured in microns (µm). The minimum required air quality for pneumatic components can impact energy savings. Say, for example one supplier’s company standard for the recommended air purity of its cylinders is 5 µm while another is 40 µm (the Festo company standard). Systems operating at 5 µm require 8% higher pressure than one with 40 µm air purity. Over the life of the machine, an 8% savings by using components designed for 40 µm air purity level rather than 5 µm can be considerable, and there would be no disadvantage in terms of cylinder life.

The most exciting factor about the benefits of shortening tubing between valve and cylinder, reducing the air pressure in the system, lowering pressure on the return stroke, and finding an optimum air purity level is that these changes are relatively easy and cost effective to make when designing a machine. End users can play a role by specifying these design features. Using these design tips means that the higher the number of cylinders on a packaging machine, the greater the relative savings.

Festo

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