Technology

ASHRAE 90.1 Brings New Requirements to Compressed Air System Design

By Troy Dreier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

Word is beginning to filter out about the 2022 changes to the ASHRAE 90.1 energy efficiency standard, and the changes it promises to bring to how compressed air systems are specified, commissioned and maintained. More specifically, the industry is learning about section 10.4.6 of 90.1, which is the first time the standard has included a section on compressed air.

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Demand Versus Supply, Parts l and ll

By Scot Foss, Air’s a Gas Inc.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the cause and effect that can occur when you reduce demand with no supply changes and the alternative which will produce positive, long term results which you can take to the bank.

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Compressor Sequencer Problems and Solutions

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

The goals of this article are to show why sequencers often have problems, and to demonstrate how avoid problems by proper system integration and controls design.

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Starting a Long Distance Relationship with Your Compressed Air System

By: James Green, Product Marketing Manager and Jay Johnson, Portfolio Manager for Controls & Automation , Ingersoll Rand Industrial Technologies

When was the last time you visited your compressor room? A week ago? Several weeks ago? If you are like many, you went in for the last scheduled maintenance interval and have rarely been back since. Air compressors, dryers and other air system components have become more reliable and self sustaining from a maintenance standpoint with each generation, requiring less and less human intervention.

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Mattei Dresses Up a Textile Compressed Air System

By Compressed Air Best Practices®

This textile plant uses compressed air in their knitting, sewing, and dye house operations and needed a system designed for the significant fluctuations in demand. Compressed air demand profiles were placed into four segments; 1st shift peak demand and minimum demand, and 2nd shift peak demand and minimum demand.

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Energy Saving Opportunities in Blowoff Applications

By Ted Clayton, Kaman Industrial Technologies

Assessing payback on engineered air nozzle and blower upgrades There are a variety of means factories can use to remove or “blowoff” moisture from a package. Open tubes or drilled pipe are often viewed as simple low-cost methods. However, there are considerable drawbacks to these approaches, most notably – increased operating expense. While they may be convenient and inexpensive in the short term, these approaches often cost 5-7 times more to operate than preferred alternatives.

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DirectAIR® : Compressed Air as an Outsourced Utility

By Tim Tensing, Air Technologies

Compressed air systems are a source of power (a utility) present in virtually all manufacturing and process industries. What is unique about this utility is that facilities own the utility and are responsible for all the installation, generation, transmission, and maintenance costs of the compressed air system. Outsourcing compressed air as a utility, while not a new idea, is a growing trend in industry as service providers have increased their ability to meet customer expectations.

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Optimizing Pneumatic Systems for Extra Savings

Edits by David Booth, Jan Zuercher, Bill Scales

Compressed air users looking for energy reduction often identify their air compressors as a prime area for savings potential. But …what about end uses? There are a large number of obvious measures that can be implemented, such as leakage reduction, reducing open blowing and eliminating inappropriate uses..however, there are other more technical opportunities available that involve properly specifying or redesigning existing pneumatic circuitry in compressed air operated machines and processes.

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OEM MACHINE DESIGN. Pneumatics: Sizing Demand Users

By Scot Foss, Air’s a Gas Inc.

Most systems are sized on the supply side at many times more volume and significantly higher pressure than is actually necessary to support the real demand plus a fudge factor generally created out of fear. I am sure that had the OEM defined what is not only minimally necessary in terms of mass flow at density (pressure and temperature), but also with the intent of the highest possible efficiency, we would approach things very differently.

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A Kroger Company Bakery Saves Energy

by Beth Tompkins, JetAir Technologies, LLC.

Recently, The Kroger Company’s Indianapolis bakery identified the use of compressed air in a blow-off and conveyor gap transfer as a major source of energy loss and cost waste. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “inappropriate use” of compressed air like blow-off produces high pressure atmosphere bleed leading to significant energy loss and unnecessary operational costs. Carrying a 10-15% efficiency return (according to the Department of Energy), compressed air applications can often be achieved more effectively, efficiently and less expensively with alternative solutions using a high flow rate and moderate pressure.

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Environmentally Considerate Compressor Fluids

By Zach Switalski, Sullair Corporation

While biodegradable, energy efficient, and recyclable are terms that come to mind when thinking about protecting the environment we live in today, these three terms are also, ironically, directly related to protecting a company's bottom line... profit.

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