A 200 kW air compressor when operating 24/7/365 will cost R1,3 million a year for power and service costs; and manufacturing plants that are over 10 years old will on average waste 30% of the air produced to air leaks. The pressure is on to reduce power costs and increase efficiencies. So how does air audit and leak detection audit help?
“Air users need to know the facts when considering issues such as the purchase of new compressed air compressors,” says Allen Cockfield, CEO of air treatment specialist, Artic Driers. “These include identification and reduction of compressed leak losses; reducing system pressure drops; designing new pipeline systems; and evaluating current air compressors and air treatment equipment efficiencies. Compressed air auditing equipment in skilled hands provides all the information required for a compressed air station or air system.”
Measurement of air flow, including dry vacuum lines, allows sound decisions to be made based on facts. With average leak losses running at 30% of compressor capacity, leak detection and rectification programmes are essential. Air leak reports can list all leaks and estimate the actual leak flow, as well as the cost per leak. Leaks are also categorised by severity, photographed, tagged and geographically positioned. Various parts of a plant may be audited to gain insight on air consumption in order to control costs, or for benchmarking air wastage.
Undersized pipes waste electrical energy, and air velocity measurements can identify undersized air lines and compressor room headers. Air pressure measurements identify equipment or lines that impose pressure drops. Every 14 kPa pressure loss represents a 1% energy loss. Compressors that are set at higher pressures than needed are wasting energy and money.
Monitoring of flow and power on compressors is essential to ensure that m² to kW efficiencies are maintained. Dryers eventually will break. Performance monitoring is vital to ensure that dryers work effectively. This is especially true for chemical adsorption dryers. It is also essential to monitor differential pressure on filters or systems to ensure that elements are not left in too long, thus creating expensive pressure drops.
“In today’s environment it’s essential to maintain the lowest operating cost, conserve profits and reduce staff time involvement to a minimum. An investment in compressed air auditing equipment is the fastest way to achieve these power reduction targets and achieve a more efficient compressed air system. Artic Driers has the capacity in its comprehensive range of air quality and power air auditing and monitoring equipment, and can provide simultaneous logging on multiple stations at realistic rates,” concludes Cockfield.
Artic Driers is the sole southern African distributor for air treatment products manufactured by SPX Jemaco Dehydration, Pusan S. Korea, BEA Filtration – manufacturer of high quality inline filtration, CS Itec – suppliers of quality air monitoring and leak detection instruments, as well as Sepura oily water waste condensate management systems.
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