EFC Can Provide Valuable Compressed Air Savings

Published on by exaircorp

I recently worked with a customer who was wanting to use one of our 72” Super Ion Air Knife is his paint booth application. He would be using the Super Ion Air Knife to remove any static build up and blow dirt/debris off ABS plastic molds (truck beds) prior to the paint booth. We were both confident the Super Ion Air Knife would perform in the application but he was concerned with the amount of air he would be wasting in between paint cycles. The paint time for each mold is 5 minutes and the blowoff time is 30 seconds, he was planning to leave the knife run during this time. This is an 8 hour per day operation, Monday – Friday, so this practice was going to lead to an expensive waste of compressed air*. I recommended that he incorporate our EFC (Electronic Flow Control) into his process.

Without using the EFC

(* Using $ 0.25 per 1000 SCFM used)

  • 72” Super Ion Air Knife = 208.8 SCFM @ 80 PSIG
  • 208.8 SCFM x 60 minutes x $ 0.25 / 1000 SCFM = $ 3.13 per hour
  • $ 3.13 per hour x 8 hours = $ 25.04 per 8-hour day
  • $ 25.04 x 5 days = $ 125.20 per work week
  • $ 125.20 per week x 52 weeks = $6,510.40 per work year without the EFC control

The EFC is an electronic flow control that minimizes compressed air usage by incorporating a timing controlled (0.10 seconds to 120 hours) photoelectric sensor. The unit will turn off the compressed air supply when there are no parts present and provides an easy way to program the device to a specific application. The EFC offers an additional eight programmable on/off modes and is suited for NEMA 4 environments. It can also be easily wired for electric, 100-240VAC, 50/60Hz.

EFCp4

With the EFC installed (turning the air off for 4.5  minutes with a 30 second cycle time = 6 minutes/hour compressed air usage)

  • 208.8 SCFM x 6 minute x $ 0.25 / 1000 SCFM = $ 0.31 per hour
  • $ 0.31 per hour x 8 hours = $ 2.48 per 8-hour day
  • $ 2.48 x 5 days = $ 12.40 per work week
  • $ 12.40 per week x 52 weeks = $644.80 per work year with the EFC control 

$ 6,510.40 per year (w/o EFC) – $ 644.80 per year (w/ EFC) = $5,865.60 projected savings per year by incorporating the EFC.

This example illustrates, clearly, why choosing the EFC is a good idea. It has the ability to keep compressed air costs to a minimum and saves compressed air for use within other processes around the plant. With this type of compressed air savings, the unit would pay for itself in less than 3 months.

If you would like to see how we might be able to improve your process or provide a solution for valuable savings, please contact one of our Application Engineers.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_JN

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