Compressed Air Best Practices - September 2008 - (Page 35) Cp Compressed Air Industry FOOD PACKAGING & PROCESSING PACKAGING PROCE KA CESSING ESS | 09/08 | Writing styles also needed to be adapted to the country we were in. We found that in China, most of the operators had not grown up with mechanical equipment. The instructions, therefore, had to be very detailed and step-by-step on how to do something. In the U.S., we find many operators who grew up mechanically oriented. Our writing for them does not have to be as detailed. Operating procedures should be written differently for different cultures. We found it very important that all of the training be presented in the participant’s native language. For this we often use simultaneous translators and we always translate the manuals and lesson plans. What industries do you work with the most? Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers represent 60% of our business. Compressed air can represent 10–30% of their total energy costs. If painting is involved, it can be a larger percentage. Some Tier 1 and Tier 2 applications for compressed air are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Bag house filtration systems which use compressed air to remove the particles from the bag filters Sorting/moving/adjusting parts on assembly lines using blow-off nozzles Air actuating cylinders used to position or lift something Blowing air into venturis which in turn can make vacuum used by robots to lift up and move parts To release products from injection molds with bursts of air Powder painting Air-powered sludge pumps to move slurries from one place to another Where is the low-hanging fruit for compressed air energy-savings? Lack of measurement is the low-hanging fruit with compressed air. Very few facilities have measurement in place based upon energy consumption (profiling of electrical interval data). They have odometers (hour meters) on the air compressors and nothing else. You can’t control what you can’t measure. The facilities do not understand their compressed because they don’t have enough measurements and training of how to understand the measurements. The rudimentary units of measure tend to be the number of air compressors they are running. When people attend the training classes we ask, “Where are you right now?” They will often reply, “We used to run two but now have three 100 hp air compressors operating.” 35 http://www.airleader.us http://www.airleader.us
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