Tag: calculating compressed air usage

Webinar by EXAIR: Use This, Not That – Four Common Ways to Save Compressed Air in Your Plant

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

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Not much in life is free anymore. So, make sure and take advantage of EXAIR’s upcoming FREE webinar at 2:00 PM ET on 10/17/2019. Not only are we providing it for free, but in this webinar we’ll be discussing how you can save money by reducing your compressed air consumption. Something for free, that will help save you money? Almost unheard of these days!!! Hosted by one of our highly-trained Application Engineers, Jordan Shouse, you’ll learn about four common ways that you can easily save air in your facility.

Compressed air is often referred to as the fourth utility in industry. When used improperly, compressed air is extremely expensive. Homemade devices such as open-ended and drilled pipes, inefficient air nozzles, leaks, etc. all contribute to increased energy costs. In addition to being wasteful, these devices are not safe and compliant with OSHA standards and regulations. By using an Intelligent Compressed Air Product, you’ll be both saving money and creating a safer environment for your operators.

In this webinar, you’ll gain an understanding of the places in your facility that are wasting the most compressed air. We’ll educate you on the various engineered solutions available from EXAIR to help eliminate unnecessary compressed air usage. You’ll gain the knowledge necessary to determine the best solution based on the application, sound level, compressed air usage, and compliance with OSHA safety requirements. You’ll also learn about the various solutions available to help understand and optimize your compressed air system. You can’t begin implementing a plan to reduce air consumption until you fully understand the usage in your own facility and processes. EXAIR’s line of Optimization products are ideal to help you gain a baseline measurement and begin implementing new products and processes that’ll only help add to your bottom line.

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After the conclusion of the webinar will be a brief Q&A session where you can ask any questions you have about any of the topics covered. Unable to attend the webinar live? Don’t let that stop you from registering! Afterwards, each registrant will receive a link via e-mail where they’ll be able to access the full webinar at any time. Make sure and take advantage of this opportunity to gain some knowledge about the usage of your compressed air. You’ll be glad you did!

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

A Digital Flowmeter can Help Improve Your Monthly Electric Bill

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

No one likes paying their bills at the end of the month.  But, if you can save yourself some money, it helps to make it a little easier.  For this customer, he received a monthly bill for his compressed air.

Monthly Bill

An industrial facility consisting of four separate manufacturing plants and a power company that supplied all of them with utilities, i.e. hot water, natural gas, electricity, and compressed air.  The parent company decided to reorganize and sell the entities.  At the end of it, the power company was controlled by a different organization than the manufacturing plants.  The power plant was contracted to still supply the utilities to the individual plants, but now they would be charged individually on a monthly basis.

Being that compressed air is one of the most expensive utilities, the general manager of a solid-state electronic plant really noticed the charge on his bill.  He did an estimate on the amount of air that his equipment was using, and he compared it to the charges.  There was roughly a 20% difference in the figures.  Because of the excessive amount of money, he contacted EXAIR to see what we could offer.

In discussing their system, the compressed air was supplied through one 6” schedule 40 black pipe.  The pipe came into the facility in the ceiling and it branched off to supply the entire shop with compressed air.  He was looking for something to measure the compressed air flow with the ability to measure a cumulative amount.  He could use this amount to compare to his monthly usage.  He was also concerned about cutting into his compressed air line as this could cause him much downtime and additional costs.  He needed something easy to install, accurate, and versatile.

EXAIR Digital Flowmeter

I suggested our 6” Digital Flowmeter with the Model 9150 Summing Remote Display.  EXAIR Digital Flowmeters are designed to measure flow continuously and accurately.  You do not need to weld, cut, or disassemble pipe lines to install.  With a drill guide, the Digital Flowmeter can be easily mounted onto the 6” black pipe by drilling two small holes.  After that, they just had to insert the Digital Flowmeter into the holes, and tighten the clamp around the pipe.  The total procedure took less than 30 minutes, so downtime was minimal.  The EXAIR Digital Flowmeter measures flow by comparative analysis with thermal dispersion; so, the accuracy is very high and recalibration is not required.

EXAIR Summing Remote

With the option of the Summing Remote Display, they could attach it to the Digital Flowmeter and display the flow remotely up to 50 feet away.  They mounted it on the wall next to his office for the operational functions.  With a simple press of a button, it can show the current flow rates, daily flow rates, and cumulative flow rates.  So, during the billing cycle, he was able to get the cumulative measurement to compare the results, and reset the counter to zero for the next month.

Believe it or not, the power company was correct in their measurements.  But, not to waste an entire blog, I did have him turn the compressed air supply off after business hours to watch the flow rate.  He did find his 20% difference in compressed air leakage.  The Digital Flowmeter was able to measure low flows to target other problem areas in your compressed air system.  Now he had another chore in leak detecting and pipe fixing.

EXAIR Optimization line has different products that can help you to get the most out of your compressed air system.  With the customer above, he was able to measure his compressed air flow with the Digital Flowmeter, as well as detecting other issues.  I will now have to talk to him about our Ultrasonic Leak Detector.

 

John Ball
Application Engineer

Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

 

Picture: Calculator Calculation Insurance by stevepb.  Creative Commons CC0 Public Domain

One Air Nozzle Saves $960 per Year – How Many Nozzles Could You Use?

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

A cardboard manufacturing facility was using a 3/8” outside diameter (OD) open tube to blow scrap cardboard off a conveyor. This scrap cardboard would occasionally be blown inside the roller area at the end of a conveyor creating a maintenance nightmare that required hours to disassemble and remove. To prevent this from occurring they installed another 3/8″ OD open compressed air tube to divert any cardboard headed toward the conveyor roller. The 3/8″ open tubing eliminated the scrap problem, but introduced a few new ones. The open hose is extremely noisy over (100 dBA). It does not comply with OSHA standard CFR 1910.242(b), which requires that a compressed air blow off device may not be dead ended at more than 30 PSIG. The most costly problem though is a 3/8″ open tubing uses a tremendous amount of compressed air.

They were using so much air in the facility that they were draining the system pressure in their facility. Obviously, they were going to replace the open tube with EXAIR 2” Flat Super Air Nozzle. Replacing this open blow off with an intelligent compressed air product, like the HP1125 High Powered Flat Super Air Nozzle or the 1104 Super Air Nozzle, would lower the noise level below 83 dBA. Also, those nozzles use significantly less air. They decided to use the model HP1125 for its thin profile to fit into the tight location. The only question was how much air and energy cost would they save. They could have easily installed a Digital Flow Meter on the supply pipe of the open tube to measure the change in flow once the EXAIR nozzle had been installed, but they wanted to try and estimate the air usage.

Using EXAIR’s test data, we know a 3/8″ OD open tube that is 18″ long will flow 68.5 SCFM at 80 PSIG. An HP1125 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle utilizes 37 SCFM when fed with 80 PSIG inlet pressure. By removing one 3/8″ OD tube the cardboard manufacturer saved 31.5 SCFM of compressed air. With an electrical cost of $0.08 per kWh, compressed air costs $0.25 per 1000 SCF. Saving 31.5 SCFM reduces the manufacturers electrical bill by $0.48 every hour, $3.48 for every 8 hour shift, and $960 per year (250 working days, eight hours a day). If the manufacturer runs two shifts, the savings will double. The simple return on investment for this nozzle is 130 hours! How many projects can you measure a return on investment in hours?

2 Inch Flat
EXAIR’s 2 Inch High Power Flat Super Air Nozzle, HP1125

Take advantage of our free service – the EXAIR Efficiency Lab. Our Application Engineers will test any nozzle or device you choose to send in to the Lab using our calibrated testing equipment. We’ll compare the performance of your existing product (air consumption, noise, force, etc.) with an EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air product. The results will be published in a comprehensive report, including a cost savings analysis with simple ROI. For most applications, EXAIR products can help you improve compressed air efficiency AND pay for themselves in a matter of weeks!

EXAIR intelligent compressed air products are easy to install, safe, and efficient. By installing these products instead of using unsafe open blow offs, your company can save thousands of dollar every year with minimal investment. While saving electrical expenses, we decrease the noise level which makes your production force a nicer place to work. We also comply with OSHA’s standards. Finally, we may be able to design the blow off better to consistently produce the quality product you expect. Call EXAIR today to discuss your application.

Dave Woerner
Design Engineer at EXAIR Corporation
DaveWoerner@EXAIR.com