Technology

In February of 2008, a sugar plant near Savannah, Georgia suffered the ultimate tragedy. Fouteen employees were killed and 40 injured when finely ground motes of sugar dust ignited, setting off a violent blast. If the fatalities and a tarnished reputation weren’t enough, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) then fined the company more than 8 million dollars in workplace violations related to combustible dust.

Industry standards serve a very important purpose for the end users of compressed air equipment.  If the standards are well written, they can help to promote the equipment that they govern, as long as the equipment manufacturers properly apply and promote the standards.

Pneumatic system overhaul for furniture machining center yields high-precision results for a perfect, polished finish.

Safety is the driving force in the determination of minimum recommended supply wire sizes for variable speed compressor packages.  With this in mind, all wire size recommendations should be based on meeting, or exceeding, the minimum requirements of the National Electrical Code (NEC).

With all of the different LEED credits and associated M&V requirements and tax incentive opportunities for businesses to reduce energy consumption, we have seen an increasing demand for metering. Companies are looking for more ways to estimate cost savings and prove that their energy saving investments are working.

This steel processing facility has been operating for over one hundred years.  This facility is part of a large corporation with numerous plants around the world.  This audit focused on the compressed air system on one side of the Works which we will call the “North Plant”.

Relatively few people realize that for a variety of industrial manufacturing applications, from air knife drying to simple blow-off nozzles, the use of high pressure compressed air that bleeds into the atmosphere represents a significant waste of energy.  

Compressed Air Best Practices spoke with Jay Hedges (General Manager) of Mattei Compressors.

A four thousand, five hundred and fifty pound (4550 lbs.) race car is running at 170 mph and facing wind resistance of 150 mph. The car then enters a curve creating a three-degree “yaw” (the change in angle from the direction the car is headed and the airstream).  The car struggles to maintain speed as the yaw changes and the dynamic downforce load on the car changes.  Suddenly, the driver-less car comes to a stop on the stainless-steel track...

Compressed Air Best Practices Magazine interviewed Sid Van der Meer (President) and Terry Nickel (Office Manager) of the Northwest Equipment Company.