Industrial Utility Efficiency

Auto

Hyster-Yale Sustainability Recognized by North Carolina DEQ

By Stephen Kelly, Senior EHS Manager, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling

Hyster-Yale’s Greenville, North Carolina, plant reduced compressed air waste through employee-driven leak detection and system optimization, achieving $177,000 in annual energy savings. The initiative also avoided 858 tons of CO2 emissions and earned the facility Environmental Steward recognition from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

Read Full Story

Networked Air Compressors Operate in Harmony at Automotive Manufacturer

By Stephen Parry, Bay Controls

When an automotive company added a new 200-horsepower (hp) rotary screw air compressor and accompanying dryer to a satellite building at its Chicago-area assembly plant, it needed a cost-effective way to integrate the equipment into its existing compressed air network. Doing so would allow plant personnel to easily monitor the air compressor’s performance and ensure it operates in harmony with the plant’s centrifugal air compressors. Importantly, it would contribute to efficient and reliable air compressor operation at all times.
[ Read Full Story ]

Compressed Air System Assessment at Douglas Autotech Bolsters Reliability and Energy Savings

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

Products manufactured at the 100,000-square-foot plant in Kentucky include columns, I-shafts, covers, keylocks, and other dressings, along with shifter applications, such as straight, tap-up/tap-down and gated shifters. In all, the facility supplies automakers with products used in more than 100 different applications, all of which are designed keep vehicles operating safely, smoothly and reliably.
[ Read Full Story ]

Ford Motor Company’s Kentucky Truck Plant Helps Paint a Bright Energy Future

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

The Ford Motor Company Kentucky Truck Plant (KTP) not only manufactures upscale SUVs and pickup trucks painted in wide variety of stellar, high-quality colors and finishes –  it does so cost-effectively by conserving annual compressed air energy of approximately 9.2 GWh thanks to a major overhaul of the plant’s compressed air system.
[ Read Full Story ]

Tier 1 Automotive Supplier Saves Energy Upgrading Centrifugal Air Compressor Controls

By Stephen Parry, Bay Controls

A Tier 1 automotive supplier was concerned its compressed air system was not operating as efficiently as it could be. The situation called for a site visit and metering and evaluation of the company’s air compressors to generate a representative data sample that accurately captured the compressed air needs during typical production and non-production periods.
[ Read Full Story ]

Fifteen Years of Compressed Air Best Practices Support Gentex Business and Production Goals

By John Bilsky, MWS, CCAS, Gentex Corporation

While many businesses strive to plan, install and maintain a compressed air system that fulfils the company’s specific needs, I’ve found that implementing compressed air best practices not only accomplishes specific goals, but also results in time-tested advantages that aid in the overall business and production goals of the organization.
[ Read Full Story ]

SumiRiko Tennessee Saves Energy & Boosts Sustainability with Compressed Air System Upgrade

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

In a strategic approach to improving its management of compressed air, the company initiated an upgrade of its compressed air system at its Midway plant. In so doing, SumiRiko Tennessee saves 2.1 million kWh and \$100,000 in energy costs per year at the plant.  Additionally, lower energy use resulted in the reduction in CO2 of 800 tons per year. With a utility rebate, the project paid for itself within two years.
[ Read Full Story ]

Automaker Saves $600,000 Yearly In Energy Costs & Improves Compressed Air System Reliability

By Pascal van Putten, VPInstruments, and Tyler Costa, ALD, Inc.

The project, which also involved the addition of a booster air compressor and receiver tank – along with the installation of an important pressure control valve – gives the automaker the ability to run fewer centrifugal air compressors during peak production. In so doing, the plant saves nearly 6.1 million kWh and more than \$600,000 per year in energy costs. The project also qualified for a \$369,374 rebate from the local utility, resulting in a six-month project payback – all while improving system reliability.
[ Read Full Story ]

Profile: Case Controls and Centrifugal Air Compressor Management

Compressed Air Best Practices® interviewed Lou York (Director), Devin Sullivan (Vice President of Engineering) of Case Controls.

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

Often, multiple centrifugal air compressors are set up to simply react to air demand, which requires the system to not only meet the new demand, but also make up for air depleted in the main header. This typically results in too much supply, which results in bypassing the air to atmosphere. The result is wasted energy use.
[ Read Full Story ]

Missed Demand-Side Opportunities Part 4 - Utilizing Air- Driven Venturi Vacuum Generators Efficiently

By Hank van Ormer, Contributing Editor

When the 18th Century Italian physicist Giovanni Venturi discovered when air is forced through a conical nozzle its velocity increases as the pressure decreases, neither he nor anyone could conceive it would ultimately spawn one of the most used and most highly controversial products in the industry today- the Venturi vacuum generator (aka, ejector).
[ Read Full Story ]