Tag: Energy consumption

More Efficient Compressed Air Use Could Lead To Energy Rebates

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

The use of compressed air can be found in almost any industry and is often referred to as a “fourth utility” next to water, gas and electric. The generation of compressed air accounts for approximately 1/3 of all energy costs in an industrial facility, in many cases, it’s the largest energy user in an industrial plant. With an average cost of $ 0.25 per every 1,000 SCF used, compressed air can be expensive to produce so it is very important to use this utility as efficiently as possible.

Utility companies recognize the benefit of using engineered products to reduce compressed air usage, like the ones manufactured by EXAIR, and offers rebate incentives for making a switch. Our local utility provider here in Cincinnati, Duke Energy, offers a $ 20 incentive for each replacement engineered nozzle.

 

Our Model # 1100SS 1/4″ FNPT and Model # 1101SS 1/4″ MNPT Super Air Nozzles

In their specification, the nozzle must meet a certain volumetric flow rate (SCFM) at 80 PSIG operating pressure for a given pipe size. For example, when looking at a 1/4″ nozzle, the flow rate must be less than or equal to 17 SCFM when operated at 80 PSIG. Our most popular nozzles for “general” blowoff applications would be our Model # 1100 (1/4″ FNPT) or our Model # 1101 (1/4″ MNPT) Super Air Nozzles. These nozzles require 14 SCFM @ 80 PSIG so this would be the ideal solution to reduce the air demand and take advantage of the rebate.

Here at EXAIR, much of our focus is to improve the overall efficiency of industrial compressed air operating processes and point of use compressed air operated products. If you’d like to contact one of our application engineers, we can help recommend the proper engineered solution to not only save on your compressed air usage but also assist with possible energy rebates available in your area.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

 

Estimating the Cost of Compressed Air Systems Leaks

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

Leaks in a compressed air system can waste thousands of dollars of electricity per year. In fact, in many plants, the leakage can account for up to 30% of the total operational cost of the compressor. Some of the most common areas where you might find a leak would be at connection joints like valves, unions, couplings, fittings, etc. This not only wastes energy but it can also cause the compressed air system to lose pressure which reduces the end use product’s performance, like an air operated actuator being unable to close a valve, for instance.

One way to estimate how much leakage a system has is to turn off all of the point-of-use devices / pneumatic tools, then start the compressor and record the average time it takes for the compressor to cycle on and off. The total percentage of leakage can be calculated as follows:

Percentage = [(T x 100) / (T + t)]

T = on time in minutes
t = off time in minutes

The percentage of compressor capacity that is lost should be under 10% for a system that is properly maintained.

Another method to calculate the amount of leakage in a system is by using a downstream pressure gauge from a receiver tank. You would need to know the total volume in the system at this point though to accurately estimate the leakage. As the compressor starts to cycle on,  you want to allow the system to reach the nominal operating pressure for the process and record the length of time it takes for the pressure to drop to a lower level. As stated above, any leakage more than 10% shows that improvements could be made in the system.

Formula:

(V x (P1 – P2) / T x 14.7) x 1.25

V= Volumetric Flow (CFM)
P1 = Operating Pressure (PSIG)
P2 =  Lower Pressure (PSIG)
T = Time (minutes)
14.7 = Atmospheric Pressure
1.25 = correction factor to figure the amount of leakage as the pressure drops in the system

Now that we’ve covered how to estimate the amount of leakage there might be in a system, we can now look at the cost of a leak. For this example, we will consider a leak point to be the equivalent to a 1/16″ diameter hole.

A 1/16″ diameter hole is going to flow close to 3.8 SCFM @ 80 PSIG supply pressure. An industrial sized air compressor uses about 1 horsepower of energy to make roughly 4 SCFM of compressed air. Many plants know their actual energy costs but if not, a reasonable average to use is $0.25/1,000 SCF generated.

Calculation :

3.8 SCFM (consumed) x 60 minutes x $ 0.25 divided by 1,000 SCF

= $ 0.06 per hour
= $ 0.48 per 8 hour work shift
= $ 2.40 per 5-day work week
= $ 124.80 per year (based on 52 weeks)

As you can see, that’s a lot of money and energy being lost to just one small leak. More than likely, this wouldn’t be the only leak in the system so it wouldn’t take long for the cost to quickly add up for several leaks of this size.

If you’d like to discuss how EXAIR products can help identify and locate costly leaks in your compressed air system, please contact one of our application engineers at 800-903-9247.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

 

 

 

 

US Economy Growing and Energy Usage Lower

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

The National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) issued a report this October that America had used the same amount of energy (measured in BTU’s) as it had used in 1999.  We have reduced our energy usage per person, while still growing the economy, a feat that I would not have thought possible.

  Economy and Energy Growth

You can read the full report here: NRDC Energy Report. So often environmental news is dire and gloomy, but this news shows the power of energy efficiency.  As noted in the report, politicians and media members focus on where we are going to find new energy resources.  As opposed to opening up new energy reserves, we have reaped larger rewards from spending time and money conserving the energy over the last thirty-five years.  The energy report uses the household refrigerator as an example of an appliance, whose increasing energy efficiency greatly decreased our electrical load per person.  Refrigerators use 1/4 as much energy as the same size refrigerator used in 1975.  This decrease in energy usage is a huge gain for the user who replaces their refrigerator and for the power grid that doesn’t need to build a new power plant to keep up with the increased load. Average Household Refrigerator Energy Use As an EXAIR employee, I can not help but notice that EXAIR opened in 1982, which is one of the first years in the graph above were economic growth was not directly tied to energy usage.  At EXAIR, we realize the impact of conserving compressed air can have on your compressed air system.  By replacing home-made blow offs like open tubes or holes drilled in pipe with Super Air Nozzle or Super Air Knife engineered solutions, you conserve compressed air and save money. This also reduces wear on the your compressor and can extend its life. A model 1100 Super air nozzle uses 14 SCFM when fed with 80 PSIG, which is a 58% reduction from 1/4″ open copper tube, which uses 33 SCFM when fed with 80 PSIG.  Go to our Air Savings Calculator to see how much compressed air and money you can save by replacing those home made blow offs.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
davewoerner@exair.com
@EXAIR_DW