Compressed Air Best Practices - October 2008 - (Page 15) Focus Industry AUTOMOTIVE TRANSIT | 10/08 | The New Flyer plant had at one time used a single combined system to supply the total plant requirement, however, because very large peak flows demanded by media blasting operations were found to be pulling down the main system pressure, a separate compressor was set aside to feed part of these peak flows in an attempt to protect the main system pressure. Further to this, when air pressure problems continued, the pressure critical painting line was separated off the main system with a new dedicated compressor. The compressed air audit revealed that separating the systems solved pressure problems in critical localized areas, but the result was the total system ran very inefficiently. In almost all cases, three separate screw compressor systems will consume much more power than one single well-controlled system. This is because each of the three separate systems will now have at least one compressor operating at partial load (a trim compressor). And in air systems with standard fixed speed screw compressors, it is the trim compressors that cause the inefficiency, due to their inherently poor part load efficiency. Analysis of the flow profile of the plant showed that the original plant pressure problems were likely caused by poor compressor control and the lack of system capacity. Basically, the plant pressure dropped to low levels because the peak plant load (during media blasting) exceeded the CO2 O “This project was . very attractive because it fit in with our Corporate goals supporting safety and the environment.” — Tino Della Valle, Manager of Facility Engineering and Maintenance, New Flyer DO NOT RELY ON MAKESHIFT SOLUTIONS trust in the system solutions from BAUER. BAUER COMPRESSORS INC., 1328 Azalea Garden Road, Norfolk, VA 23502 Phone 757-855-6006, Fax 757-857-1041, sls@bauercomp.com, www.bauercomp.com 15 kW Study Findings http://www.bauercomp.com http://www.bauercomp.com
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