Compressed Air Best Practices - June 2008 - (Page 34)

| 06–07/08 Compressed Air Industry PHARMACEUTICALS | SMC: MANAGING ENERGY AND DEW POINT IN PNEUMATIC SYSTEMS Factories operate many pieces of OEM equipment with these pneumatic circuits. We continually find situations where a factory will have forty (40) machines with cylinders, which require 60-psig compressed air pressure. They will then have two (2) machines which each have two cylinders that require 105-psig air pressure. These two machines are then causing the entire area to be supplied with compressed air at 110 psig. The SMC Energy Conservation Group will take this situation and affect the following changes: p Replace the cylinders which require 105 psig with larger cylinders which can operate at 60 psig Review the air compressor and air storage strategy to lower the air pressure supply to only 65 psig air in this area of the factory Reducing pressure by 40 psig in this area will reduce compressed air energy costs by 20% p p CO2 O kW How else can you solve this situation? If we cannot up-size the cylinder, we will consider using a booster-regulator in low-flow situations. Some facilities may have a dedicated air compressor for a single application. The compressor may be short cycling (loading and unloading frequently). We can boost the plant air pressure with the booster-regulator product and turn off this air compressor. A booster regulator is a pneumatic cylinder with a piston which can double the air pressure. It does consume a high percentage of compressed air so it is only recommended in low flow applications where an entire area is being forced to operate at higher pressures due to this one application. The audit discovered that the cylinders were moving so fast that the compressed air temperature on the retract stroke (exhaust stroke) was falling to 23° F — well below the dew point of 35° F. SMC 2-Port Solenoid Valve for Process Applications What unique dew point problems are encountered by pneumatics? We just finished auditing a major pharmaceutical facility in Puerto Rico. They are paying the utility company 22 cents per kwh for their compressed air system! The compressor room dryers were functioning perfectly yet there was an identified dew point problem with the pneumatic micro cylinders in some machines. No one could figure out why moisture was appearing. What we discovered was that the cylinders were moving so fast that the compressed air temperature on the retract stroke (exhaust stroke) was falling to 23° F — well below the dew point of 35° F. The expansion of the air was so quick that the temperature would plummet (adiabatic expansion). The valve is so close to the cylinder that there isn’t enough air to evacuate the moisture. The solution was to install some point-of-use membrane air dryers. 34 www.airbestpractices.com http://www.airbestpractices.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Compressed Air Best Practices - June 2008

Compressed Air Best Practices - June 2008 Contents From the Editor Utility-Air News A Pharmaceutical Compressed Air System Audit Talking Dew Point Puerto Rico, Pharmaceuticals and Airequipo Inc. Oil-Free Rotary and Oil-Free Centrifugal Compressor Comparison SMC: Managing Energy and Dew Point in Pneumatic Systems Utility Grade Compressed Air Systems Training Calendar & Product Picks Wall Street Watch Advertiser Index Job Market

Compressed Air Best Practices - June 2008

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