Tag: Efficiency Lab

Calculating Compressed Air Cost & Savings Made Easy

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

If you have ever looked through our catalog, website, blog, twitter feeds, or even our Facebook page, you will see that we can almost always put a dollar amount behind the amount of compressed air you saved by installing EXAIR’s Intelligent Compressed Air Products.   No matter which platform we use to deliver the message, we use the same value for the cost of compressed air which is $.25 per 1,000 Standard Cubic Feet of compressed air. This value is derived from average commercial and industrial energy costs nationwide, if you are on either coast this value may increase slightly. On the positive side, if your cost for compressed air is a bit more, installing an EXAIR product will increase your savings.

So where does this number come from?   I can tell you this much, we didn’t let the marketing department or anyone in Accounting make it up.   This is a number that the Engineering department has deemed feasible and is accurate.

To calculate the amount we first look to what the cost per kilowatt hour is you pay for energy.  Then we will need to know what the compressor shaft horsepower  of the compressor is, plus the run time percentage, the percentage at full-load, and the motor efficiency.

If you don’t have all of these values, no worries.   We can get fairly close by using the industry accepted standard mentioned above, or use some other general standards if all you know is the cost of your electricity.

The way to calculate the cost of compressed air is not an intense mathematical equation like you might think.  The best part is, you don’t even have to worry about doing any of the math shown below because you can contact us and we can work through it for you.

If you prefer to have us compare your current compressed air blow off or application method to one of our engineered products, we can do that AND provide you a report which includes side by side performance comparisons (volume of flow, noise, force) and dollar savings. This refers to our free Efficiency Lab service.

EXAIR's Efficiency Lab is a free service to all US customers.
EXAIR’s Efficiency Lab is a free service to all US customers.

If you already know how much air you are using, you can use the Air Savings Calculators (USD or Euro) within our website’s knowledge base. Just plug in the numbers (EXAIR product data is found on our website or just contact us) and receive air savings per minute, hour, day and year. We also present a simple ROI payback time in days.

Now, back to the math behind our calculation.
Cost ($) =
(bhp) x (0.746) x (#of operating hours) x ($/kWh) x (% time) x ( % full load bhp)
——————————————————————————————————————————
Motor Efficiency

Where:
bhp — Compressor shaft horsepower (generally higher than motor nameplate Hp)
0.746 – conversion between hp and KW
Percent Time — percentage of time running at this operating level
Percent full-load bhp — bhp as percentage of full load bhp at this operating level
Motor Efficiency — motor efficiency at this operating level

For an average facility here in the Midwest $0.25/1,000 SCF of compressed air is accurate.   If you would like to attempt the calculation and or share with us your findings, please reach out to us.   If you need help, we are happy to assist.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

Efficiency Lab Provides Specific Benefits

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment
My Ruck sack w/ 20 lb. weight and a flag for the team to carry.
My Ruck sack w/ 20 lb. weight and a flag for the team to carry.

This weekend, myself and many others are going to be participating in an event held all over the country, the Go Ruck Light event.  This test of toughness (mental and physical) is put on by former military personnel and it is based around one of the things they do a lot of at the beginning of their military training.   This is a 7 to 10 mile event that will take up to 4 hours to complete.   It is not like a race or any other obstacle event that we have ever done.   This is an event where the leader, or Cadre, will lead you through the miles and many physical exercises along the way all while carrying a 20 lb weight in a ruck sack on your back.   This not only tests individuals but it also requires the entire group to work as a team to ensure everyone finishes and everyone is together.

While I feel that I am under-prepared for this event physically, my mind is prepared to find out just how much I really can do and it will be at the end of the test that I realize the benefits.

Not many of the tasks I am responsible for at EXAIR require that kind of physical toughness and some of them require the mental toughness. But one instance I am always prepared for is the customer that calls and thinks they have the weirdest application and that there is nothing to solve it.   We actually have this experience quite a bit and it helps make what we do more interesting and fun.  With our diverse background and extensive knowledge, chances are we have experienced the application or we have seen something that is very close.  This helps us to be specific when recommending a solution.

EXAIR feels that the best solutions can also provide information on air and dollar savings as well.  The best savings information can be provided if our customers are willing to provide us details about their current application, and there is no better way to provide us the details than to take advantage of our Efficiency Lab. It is a free service letting you to send in a sample of your current blowoff product (typically homemade nozzles, open tube or pipe, snap together coolant hose, etc.), in return we will test it for you with our calibrated equipment and provide you a detailed report on air volume, force and noise. Then you will know the specific benefits of your recommended solution.

EXAIR's Efficiency Lab is a free service to all US customers.
EXAIR’s Efficiency Lab is a free service to all US customers.

The fact is, we go into every conversation with the mentality of only providing solutions.  If we can’t provide it, we will try to direct you to someone that can.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

Hard Work Leads To Good Results

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

A few months ago I wrote a blog titled Great Team Make-up about being an assistant coach for my oldest son’s youth football team. I take pride in the opportunity to work with young kids in teaching them the value of teamwork and showing them when you work hard, the results will speak for themselves. It’s not just about winning or losing, but rather learning to listen, be respectful (win or lose) and growing as a player.

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6 rushing touchdowns in a single game? I’ll take it.

The first 3 practices were no pads, no contact so these days were spent conditioning and learning offensive and defensive positions. (or as the kids called it – “The most boring thing EVER!”). We have been in full contact practice for the last 5 weeks and it’s pretty cool to see how much the kids have learned in such a short time. We’ve had a couple scrimmages but this past weekend we had our first real game.

As both teams took the field you could see the nervousness of the players and the anticipation of the coaches on both sides. When you start playing at 9:00 AM, with dew on the ground, it’s kind of difficult for 5-7 year olds to hold on to a wet football. The game started pretty slow and by halftime it was only a 6 point difference. The second half was much different, our team really started to “click” on offense. We had some great blocking up front coupled with some determined running backs and scored consecutive 65, 52 and 49 yard rushing touchdowns. On the opposite side, our defense tightened up and held their opponent to only 1 score in the second half leading to a 38-16 victory! It was awesome to see our group of young men (who were very recently mere 5-7 year-olds trying to hang on to the wet ball) so excited about winning and to see their effort pay off. As coaches we were equally satisfied that not only were we able to get the win, but to see these incredible kids execute what they’ve learned in practice and transition that to the game.

Here at EXAIR, our commitment to be the best in the industry is best reflected in the solutions we provide for our customer’s needs. Two of our most informative tools are the Application Database and Case Study Library. The Application Database is over 1000 applications in a problem/solution format, detailing various industrial processes and the EXAIR product solution. Whether you’re dealing with a static electricity issue, needing to provide cooling to critical instruments, drying product, looking to convey media or just needing to provide blowoff, chances are you will find the information you are looking for.

The Case Study Library is a database where you can see quantifiable benefits or ROI of installing EXAIR products. We typically show improvements in dollar savings, compressed air savings, production increases, noise exposure decreases and safety improvements focused on reaching important OSHA standards. We are always seeking new case studies and can offer an incentive or SWAG in return for providing us the details on your application. A great place to start is with our Efficiency Lab, where we can actually gather the details for you.

Some examples of the information we are looking to obtain:

  • A decrease in air consumption
  • Improved safety
  • Lowering noise level
  • Reducing the amount of rejects – increasing production

Give us a call at 800-903-9247 to team up with one of our application engineers to see how we can coach you to a win in your facility.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

Harvard Stadium 57240 image courtesy of Ted Eytan, Creative Commons License

 

Where Does 25 Cents For 1,000 Standard Cubic Feet Of Air Come From?

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Wasting compressed air 2

Being an Application Engineer at EXAIR you tend to do a good amount of return on investment (ROI) calculations.   This is mainly to tell customers just how fast installing an EXAIR product on their system is going to pay its purchase price back and start saving them money.

In order to do these calculations there are several variables we must know.   The list is below.

  • Cost of EXAIR Product (This is an easy one for us to know.)
  • EXAIR Product Consumption (Another easy one!)
  • Current Product Consumption (If this is an unknown, we will test it for free!)
  • Cost of Compressed Air / 1,000 SCF (This is the most common unknown.)

With these four variables we can calculate the amount of air and the amount of money the EXAIR product will save over an existing non-engineered blowoff.   Let me address the two variables which have to come from you, the customer.

Current Product Consumption – If this value is not known please don’t guess at it.  We offer a free service which we refer to as our Efficiency Lab where you send us in your existing blowoff device and we will test it for force flow and noise level.   If you don’t know what pressure you are operating the piece at we will help you find out how to get that and then we will test our products at the same pressures.   This way you get a true apple to apples comparison.   Then, once we are done testing, you will get a recommendation from us in a formal report as to what EXAIR product will best replace your existing product.  Then we will pay for return shipping of your blowoff device back to you. So, if you don’t know how much air you are currently using then give us a call.  We will figure it out for you.

Efficiency Lab
The EXAIR Efficiency Lab is FREE!

Cost of Compressed Air/ 1,000 SCF – This is more often than not, the unknown variable in the equation.  The good news is there is a general standard assumption of twenty-five cents per 1,000 Standard Cubic Feet of compressed air.   This works out to be around 8 cents per kW/hr.  So even if you don’t know what you pay to compress the air, if you know what you are paying per kilowatt hour for your energy then we can calculate within reason what it costs for you to generate your compressed air. For reference, 8 cents per kilowatt-hour falls between the average US cost per kilowatt hour for commercial end-users (10.7/kWh) and industrial end-users (6.9/kWh).*

The best part of all is…EXAIR has a calculator available right on our website which provides air and dollar savings per minute, hour day and year as well as a payback in days for the EXAIR product purchase. On top of that, any step along the way that you aren’t sure of, we will help you out for free, even testing your product!

In case you would like to see the math, the formula used is below.

Basic Equation To Go From Cost Per kiloWatt Hour to Cost Per 1,000 Standard Cubic Feet of Compressed Air
Basic equation to go from Cost Per kiloWatt Hour to Cost Per 1,000 Standard Cubic Feet of Compressed Air

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

*latest U.S. EIA report here