Since air compressors use a lot of electricity to make compressed air, it is important to use the compressed air as efficiently as possible. EXAIR has six simple steps to optimize your compressed air system. Following these steps will help you to cut electricity costs, reduce overhead, and improve your bottom line. In this blog, I will cover the second step – Find and Fix leaks in your compressed air system.
One of the largest problems affecting compressed air systems is leaks. That quiet little hissing sound from the pipelines is costing your company much money. For the amount of electricity required to produce compressed air, a study was conducted by a university to determine the percentage of air leaks in a typical manufacturing plant. In a poorly maintained system, they found on average that 30% of the compressor capacity is lost through air leaks. A majority of companies do not implement a leak prevention program; as result, many end up with a poorly maintained system. To put a dollar value on it, a leak that you cannot physically hear can cost you as much as $130/year. That is just for one inaudible leak in hundreds of feet of compressed air lines. For the leaks that you can hear, you can tell by the chart below the amount of money that can be wasted by the size of the hole. Unlike a hydraulic system, compressed air does not create a mess; so, leaks will not appear at the source. You have to locate them by some other means.
Most leaks occur where you have threaded fittings, connections, hoses, and pneumatic components like valves, regulators, and drains. The Optimization products from EXAIR are designed to help optimize your compressed air system, and the most effective way is to eliminate leaks. The Ultrasonic Leak Detectors can find the air leaks, and the Digital Flowmeters can monitor your system flow especially for those times when production is not running. With both of these products implemented in a leak preventative program, you will have a far easier time identifying and locating leaks in order to keep your compressed air system running in an optimum condition.
EXAIR Ultrasonic Leak Detector:
When a leak occurs, it emits an ultrasonic noise caused by turbulence. These ultrasonic noises can be at a frequency which is inaudible for human hearing (> 20 kHz). The EXAIR Ultrasonic Leak Detector, model 9207, can pick up these frequencies and make the leaks audible through a process called “heterodyning”. With a signal strength number and bar graph level display, you can find very minute leaks. It comes with two attachments; the parabola to locate leaks up to 20 feet away, and a tube attachment to define the exact location of a leak among many connections within a pipe. Once you find a leak, it can be marked for fixing. This simple-to-use instrument can save you a lot of money and headaches. You can watch a video about the Ultrasonic Leak Detector at this LINK.
EXAIR Digital Flowmeter:
With the Digital Flowmeters, you can continuously monitor for waste. Air leaks can occur at any time within any section of your pneumatic area. You can do systematic checks by isolating sections, using a Digital Flowmeter to review flow readings. Another way to monitor your system would be to compare the results over time. With the Digital Flowmeters, we do offer the USB Datalogger as an option. You can set certain time increments to record the air flows. Once the information is recorded, you can connect the USB to your computer, and with the downloadable software, you can view the information. You can also export it into an Excel spreadsheet to monitor. Once the flow information starts trending upward for the same process, then you can use the Ultrasonic Leak Detector to find if and where a leak may be present. The Digital Flow Meter can also act as a preventive measure to indicate when a pneumatic system is starting to fail by analyzing readings over time.
Compressed air leaks will rob your system of its capacity, compressor life, and electrical cost. It is important to have a leak preventative program to check for leaks periodically as they can happen at any time. The EXAIR Ultrasonic Leak Detector and the Digital Flowmeters will help you accomplish this and optimize your compressed air system. Once you find and fix all your leaks, you can then focus on improving the efficiency of your blow-off devices with EXAIR products like Super Air Knives, Super Air Nozzles, and Super Air Amplifiers, and save yourself even more money. This blog is an overview of Step 2 of the six steps. You may have more questions; and, that is great! You can find them in other EXAIR blogs, or you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb