Industrial Utility Efficiency

Compressor Controls

Hitting the Gas on Efficient Compressed Air Delivery at Hitachi Astemo

By Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

Hitachi Astemo’s efficiency gains will turn into significant cost savings. In this article we outline the savings reported by the client since the changeover was complete. It shows a sizeable reduction in energy costs, air compressor energy costs and maintenance costs to the tune of 21.95%, 24.14% and 24.14%, respectively. Total operating costs to date have dropped from \$1,277,394 to \$941,959 with the new system a decrease of 26.25%.

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Is Your Controller a Blast From the Past?

By the Compressed Air & Gas Institute

Advances in phone technology dramatically improve their function and our experience. More storage, faster speeds, enhanced communication options, bigger and brighter display….and so on. As a result, today’s phones are significantly more powerful – improving our productivity and changing our lives. As for the technology laggards, obsolescence eventually prompts change. Repairing or replacing parts and accessories on the old phones is an increasing challenge. Eventually they have to succumb to technology.
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Compressed Air Guidelines for Varying Production Levels

By Paul Humphreys, Atlas Copco Compressors LLC.

Companies will experience periods of increased production, as well as periods of slower or stopped production. It’s the nature of being in business. Understanding the implications of these business shifts for compressed-air installations (the powerhouse behind a facility’s production) is key for ensuring that air compressors remain functional and efficient. Here are guidelines to ensure your facility’s compressed-air system operates at top performance, no matter the speed of production.
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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.
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SHOW REPORT: The 2019 Best Practices EXPO & Conference – Another Success!

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

The event brought together technology experts, systems assessment professionals, and manufacturing leaders – all of whom shared best practices and ideas manufacturing plants can use to save energy, improve sustainability initiatives and increase the overall reliability and quality of on-site utilities.
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Integration: Should Compressed Air Monitoring Be Combined with Control?

By Tim Dugan, P.E., Compression Engineering Corporation

Maintenance is the customer of controls and energy engineering is the customer of monitoring. And I discussed potential problems that can occur when combining monitoring and control in the same system. In this article, I will get more specific about building practical systems that address both controls and monitoring.
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Use Baseline Measurements to Improve Compressed Air Supply Performance

By Tom Taranto, Data Power Services, LLC.

Baseline measurements include flow, power, pressure, production output, and other relevant variables impacting compressed air use. These data evaluate trending averages to develop Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and Energy Performance Indicator (EnPI) parameters and establish base‑year performance. The focus of this article is the application, evaluation, and analysis of baseline measurements to provide information necessary to improve Compressed Air Supply Efficiency.
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Chemical Packaging Plant Shaves 41% Off Annual Electric Bill with Compressed Air Energy-Saving Measures

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

A chemical packaging facility had done everything right when they last upgraded their compressed air system a few years ago. They installed a Variable Speed Drive (VSD) air compressor and implemented other energy efficiency measures, but plant expansions caused increased system demand, which exceeded the capacity of the system. The packaging lines were now seeing low pressure, causing shut downs in production. And projections showed plant demand would increase even further.
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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.
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1888 Mills Saves $140,000 in Energy Savings and Maintenance Costs

By Ian Barnard, Ingersoll Rand® Compression Technologies and Services

After getting its start manufacturing cost-effective products to the healthcare industry, 40 years later, 1888 Mills has become the fourth largest towel manufacturer in the world, and the largest towel manufacturer in the U.S. With facilities in the United States, Pakistan and Bangladesh, 1888 Mills’ towels are used in almost every corner of the world. 1888 Mills is recognized as a leader in innovation in the textile industry and produces 176,000 pounds of towels per week.
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