The Association of Independent Compressor Distributors (AICD) held its annual trade show in Orlando, FL, in April 2026. Participating distributor members and guests enjoyed the AICD trade show, guest speakers, golf tournament and networking.
“Each year, the relationships and synergies keep growing and growing. The AICD is very proud to celebrate our 40th year,” said Sal Calvo, AICD board member and Owner, Compressed AIR USA.
The 2026 AICD board includes Dave Nosal, Bob Coppell, Jeff Brennan, Kasey Gould, Brent Pifer, Bart Frush (AICD President), Chad Gooding, Mikella Reed and Dan Harrison (left to right).
This report presents a sampling of the trade show exhibits (by technology, alphabetically) to share company and technology news.
Air Compressors, Vacuum Pumps, Chillers
Bryan Ellis with ANEST IWATA Americas.
ANEST IWATA Americas added optional integrated refrigerant, membrane or desiccant compressed air dryers to its SLE enclosed, oil-less, rotary scroll air compressors. The SLE ranges from 2-60 horsepower (hp) and 4.5-172.5 cfm, with dual pressure options of 116 psi (8.0 barg) and 145 psi (10.0 barg). Noise levels are rated for 59-72 dB with low vibration and starting torque.
Chris Gibson and Engin Tujumet (left to right) of Alkin Compressor and Aykom Compressor.
Aykom Compressor unveiled its 290 psi (20.0 barg) variable-speed, rotary screw air compressor (ATUS DHP VS) in 25-100 hp (18-75 kW) models. Designed for optimized oil separation, models feature an ASME-approved smooth perimeter separator tank design, a full-port connection from airend to the separator tank with radiused entry and a baffled outlet design for air discharge.
Eric Phelps, Jason Pruss and Chris Kim (left to right) with BAUER COMPRESSORS.
BAUER COMPRESSORS launched its BLP 3 Series 125-175 psi (8.6-12.1 barg) oil-injected, rotary screw air compressors with ROTORCOMP EVO-NK+ airends in 15, 20 and 25 hp models. The system’s modular design can arrange the air compressor module, compressed air dryer module and horizontal tank module into a compact footprint. According to Eric Phelps, National Sales Manager, the range will extend to 40-75 hp models in the BLP 9 Series by mid-2026. Additional features include a high precision thermal valve for regulation of oil-injection temperatures above the pressure dewpoint, a B-DETECTION compressed air quality monitoring system and BAUER CONNECT IOT.
Michael Mousseau, Kyle Schafer, Neal Stephan and Patrick Jakeway (left to right) with Bobcat.
Bobcat displayed its flagship IA Series (10-200 hp) rotary screw air compressors with fixed-speed and variable-speed models. Its latest introduction is the EA Series two-stage rotary screw, also available in fixed-speed and variable-speed models.
Charlie Laughlin and Grant Hebert (left to right) of ELGi North America with a Demand=Match airend display.
By the end of the year, ELGi will introduce Demand=Match technology to its EG Series of rotary screw air compressors in North America. Demand=Match technology for fixed-speed air compressors recirculates airflow inside the air compressor to ensure delivery always equals demand. “Optimal operating range is 70-100% capacity, though meaningful energy-efficiency gains continue down to 40% capacity. We also anticipate improved reliability by reducing thrust loads, fewer load/unload cycles and extended bearing and motor life,” said Charlie Laughlin, Head of Sales and Channel Development.
Ryan Jarvis and Tony Montalto (left to right) of FS-Curtis.
FS-Curtis announced an updated design for its NX Series of oil-flooded, direct-drive, rotary screw air compressors. “We’ve seen substantial improvements to specific power and overall flow,” said Ryan Jarvis, National Sales Manager. Tony Montalto, Director of Oil-Free Sales, shared the ECO-Rotary twin-screw, single-stage, water-injected air compressor ranges from 20-150 hp, and has an integrated dryer to both treat the air and supply condensate back to the airend.
Eduardo Toledo and Mark McCarthy (left to right) of FS-Elliott.
Complementing FS-Elliott’s range of oil-free, centrifugal air and gas compressors is a suite of global services offered to channel partners and end-customers. To help extend the life of equipment, FS-Elliott offers remanufactured airends, airend overhauls, airend rerates/derates and replacement airends. The company opened a Rapid Response Service Center at its North American headquarters, as well as a Rapid Response Storage Center to offer partners a secure, climate-controlled environment to store critical parts as replacements.
Daniel LeViness with Hankison.
The latest Hankison FLEX Series cycling, refrigerant (R-513A) compressed air dryers are available in 12 air-cooled models from 75-2,000 scfm and five water-cooled models from 800-2,000 scfm. FLEX Series compressed air dryers are designed with a stainless steel brazed-plate 4-in-1 heat exchanger with a phase-change material reservoir, an up-flow aluminum air-cooled condenser, a semi-hermetic compressor and a no-loss demand drain.
Pitts and Clark Beal (left to right) with Hertz Kompressoren USA.
Hertz Kompressoren displayed its IMPETUS series of oil-injected, two-stage, variable-speed drive, rotary screw air compressors. Recently, fixed-speed models have been added to the IMPETUS range in 30-100 hp and 125-430 hp.
Scotty Shaw, Anna Kowalka, Don Joyce and Hamilton Terrell (left to right) with Industrial Water Chiller.
Industrial Water Chiller manufactures process water chillers up to 200 tons with up-to-date refrigerants. Sales Managers Don Joyce and Hamilton Terrell assist U.S. distributors with all sales, service and application training and installations. “Most air compressor distributors who start selling chillers never stop!” said Don Joyce. Scotty Shaw and Anna Kowalka recently joined the Industrial Water Chiller team.
James Freligh, J Howard, Rob Grizzle, Chris Downs and Weston Benton (left to right) with Kaishan Compressor USA.
Camilo Villalobos, Mehmet Ozen, Ibrahim Ozen, Bryan Andersen and Trey Weeks (left to right) of Ozen Air Technology.
Ozen displayed its Gen2 OASC oil-injected, rotary screw air compressor for 100-218 psi (6.9-15.0 barg). The OASC offering includes the OASC belt drive in 5-60 hp, OASC D Series variable-frequency drive in 50-335 hp, OASC U Series direct-coupled fixed-speed in 50-225 hp and tank-mounted configurations from 5-40 hp.
Chuck Westhofen, David Swartz, Skip Coleman and Jeff Swearingen (left to right) with Sauer Compressors.
Sauer Compressors displayed a cutaway of its HAUG oil-free, piston air compressor. The HAUG line of oil-free, dry-running, hermetically gas-tight air and gas compressors can achieve final pressures up to 6,540 psi (450.9 barg), and range from 0.5-40 hp. The HAUG Cygnus, Orion and Taurus are dedicated air compressor models, while the HAUG Mercure, Neptune, Pluto, Sirius and Sirius NanoLoc are dedicated gas compressor models.
Bob Groendyke and Bruce McFee (left to right) of Sullivan-Palatek.
Sullivan-Palatek is investing in its product sales training for distributors, Sullivan-Palatek Sales Academy. New and developing training modules include understanding value propositions, new distributor onboarding, product support and warranty and understanding lifecycle costs.
Roland Winterland and Allan Stitzer (left to right) with Vooner FloGard and AERZEN USA.
Vooner FloGard made its AICD debut to showcase its industrial vacuum solutions for distributor partners. Founded in Charlotte, NC, in 1983, and a member of the AERZEN Group since 2002, Vooner FloGard’s vacuum pump portfolio includes liquid ring, monoblock, wet rotary vane, dry claw, dry screw, booster and diaphragm technologies. Its engineering and manufacturing facility is in Greeneville, TN.
Compressed Air Purification, Piping and Instrumentation
Michael Buis, Nate Haley, Chad Hills, Carrie Heffernan, Harold Lowe, Darren Phillips and Cody Jordan (left to right) of AIRpipe USA.
AIRpipe USA rebranded its AquaPipe line to AP Stainless due to its flexibility with a wide range of chemicals, fluids and gases. In addition, AIRpipe is launching carbon steel fittings for schedule 40/80 off-the-shelf pipe, and economical stainless steel fittings in Summer 2026 for the U.S. market.
Jim DiMaiolo of Altec AIR.
Altec AIR displayed its HBS series single-tower, heat regenerative compressed air dryer. The company’s desiccant compressed air dryer offerings now include heatless dryers up to 5,000 scfm, low dew point heatless compressed air dryers, heat regenerative compressed air dryers and single-tower external blower purge compressed air dryers up to 6,000 scfm, as well as point-of-use compressed air dryers ranging from 0.4-50 scfm.
Jason Hobbs, Brian Speed, Russ Jones and Adrian Fernandez (left to right) of BEKO Technologies.
BEKO Technologies shared a few updates. First, BEKO is investing in additional personnel for its OEM accounts team. Next, BEKO refrigerant compressed air dryers are updated with R-513A. Also, the company’s CALMS acquisition brought a new level of expertise and auditing capability in-house. Lastly, new membrane fiber technology is launching this year for membrane compressed air dryers.
Chad Timmer, Scott Scheuerlein, Bill Peters and Molly Powers (left to right) with Clean Resources.
Clean Resources Super-Pak oil-water separators for 200-2,000 hp systems were redeveloped with a redundant auxiliary sump pump, audible and visual alarms and increased drum size. Chad Timmer, VP of Sales, reminded attendees that oil carryover does not equal oil-to-air ratio in condensate, and the EPA mandates condensate oil content should not exceed 50 ppm before draining.
Jahn Berger, RJ Bennett, Martin Zeller, Janet Goodwin and Emilio Zeller (left to right) of CS INSTRUMENTS USA.
CS INSTRUMENTS USA displayed an array of air and gas measurement solutions, including a Compressor Master Meter for air compressor validation and air-over-the-fence, in-line dew point sensors, portable dew point sensors for dryer validations and multiple measurement points, wet and dry flow meters, an IAC 500 air compressor room monitor and leak detectors.
Seth Bostaph and Marc Straub (left to right) with Donaldson.
Donaldson’s latest Ultrapac HL heatless, twin tower, desiccant compressed air dryers are available in five models from 90-500 cfm. Built at the company’s Anderson, IN, facility, the HL Series comes with a pre-/after-filter and zero-loss drain, Superplus ultraconomy dewpoint control and optional dew point sensor.
Great Lakes Air Products is developing a G2N2 version of its GN2 Series PSA nitrogen generators, launching in Q3 2026. A new concept design and molecular sieves will nearly double N2 output, while reducing feed air, thus reducing costs. Great Lakes N2 generators are available in XPO packages with stand-alone generators, XP1 packages with two air tanks, XP2 packages with air treatment and booster packages.
Chad Henline and Eddie Kaiser (left to right) with Keltec-Technolab.
“Lately, Keltec is improving the foundations of what we do well already – getting product out the door quickly, on time and at a good price,” said Eddie Kaiser, Sales Manager. Keltec recently consolidated manufacturing, shipping and office buildings into one facility, launched an ERP for order streamlining and added seven oil-water separator sizes to its offerings.
Mirko Krebs, Courtland Privateer and Lukas Moes (left to right) of KSI Technologies.
KSI Technologies is growing its team and distribution in North America for compressed air filtration, air treatment and monitoring solutions. Courtland Privateer was recently appointed as Sales Manager.
Jeff Crutchfield, Matt Smith and Allan Hoerner (left to right) of Mikropor.
Mikropor is rolling out its MVSD Series refrigerant (R-513A) compressed air dryer with DC Inverter+ in North America. According to Jeff Crutchfield, Area Manager, its DC inverter allows high-efficiency cycling and non-cycling operation, plus more reliable performance in undesirable ambient environments compared to an AC inverter. MVSD compressed air dryers will be priced between MKE non-cycling compressed air dryers and MCY thermal mass cycling compressed air dryers.
Gabe McLeod and Mike Bielek (left to right) with Parker Industrial Gas Filtration & Generation.
Parker is localizing production of its Nitrosource modular PSA nitrogen generators to improve lead times, as well as preparing to launch the next-generation Nitrosource design with industry-leading air-to-nitrogen ratios, according to Gabe McLeod, Sales Manager.
Clint Browning, Andy Spicer and Gunnar Solberg (left to right) with Solberg Filtration.
At the Solberg booth, Clint Browning, VP of Sales, shared its silencers for PSA equipment are designed to minimize back pressure while attenuating discharge noise to prevent failures and improve compressed air dryer performance. Solberg recently launched RQS/RQL Series multi-chambered silencers for positive displacement blower inlet and discharge in 2-6-inch connection sizes.
Raffay Ibrahim, Kelly Canipe and Ryan Dorant (left to right) with Trident.
Trident is expanding its TH heatless, twin tower, desiccant compressed air dryer range up to 1,000 cfm, with externally heated and blower purge options in development. Trident’s compact Dryspell Plus desiccant compressed air dryers are available in 13 models from 3-375 scfm.
Derrick Taylor, Aiden Taylor and Joe Burke (left to right) of Unipipe.
Unipipe Solutions was proud to announce a merger with its supplier, ECOFLUIDS, and a 65% increase in inventory. “We’re now the manufacturer,” said Derrick Taylor, General Manager.
AICD Conference
The AICD conference’s engaging agenda was aimed at helping independent air compressor sales and service companies grow their businesses. Presentations and speakers included:
- How to Build an Engaged, High-Retention Culture by Danny Goldberg
- Innovation Leadership and AI by Steve Lerch
- Celebrity guest Richard Rawlings, star of the TV Show “Fast N’ Loud” and owner of Gas Monkey Garage
“AICD is continuing to grow. We’ve had the most participants we’ve ever had this year, and I’m so grateful for our members and vendors that support the AICD,” said Kasey Gould, AICD Administrator.
Mark your calendars for next year’s show, April 25-27, 2027, at the Hyatt Regency in Denver, CO.
For more information, contact Kasey Gould, AICD Administrator, at [email protected] or visit https://www.aicd.org.
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