After getting a baseline measurement of the air consumption in your facility and locating and fixing leaks in your system, it’s time to begin implementing some changes. Step 3 of the 6 Steps to Optimizing Your Compressed Air System covers upgrading your blowoff, cooling, and drying operations using engineered compressed air products.
This step can have the most impact when it comes to your bottom line. The energy costs associated with the generation of compressed air make it one of the most expensive utilities for any industrial environment. Because of this, we need to ensure that the places in your facility that are using compressed air are doing so efficiently.
EXAIR manufactures a variety of products that can help to ensure you’re using your compressed air in the best way possible. What it may seem simple, easy, and cheap to use something like an open-ended pipe or tube for blowoff, the fact of the matter is that the volume of air that these homemade solutions use quickly make them more expensive. Super Air Nozzles have been designed to entrain ambient air along with the supplied compressed air, allowing you to achieve a high force from the output of the nozzle while keeping compressed air usage to a minimum. In addition to saving air, they’ll also provide a significant reduction in overall sound level.
Another product that can be used to increase the efficiency of your blowoff processes is the Super Air Knife. Available in lengths ranging from 3”-108” and in a variety of materials, the Super Air Knife is the ideal replacement for inefficient drilled pipes. Again, it may seem cheaper to just drill a few holes in a pipe whenever you need to cover a wide area but the volume of air consumed in addition to the incredibly high sound level will quickly drain your compressor. The Super Air Knife is also designed to entrain ambient air, at a rate of 40:1! Allowing you to take advantage of the free ambient air in addition to the supplied air.
Let’s compare the costs difference between a homemade drilled pipe and EXAIR’s Super Air Knife. The Super Air Knife has a precisely set air gap across the full length of the knife, allowing for an efficient and quiet laminar airstream. When compared to a drilled pipe, the air consumption is dramatically reduced as is the sound level. For example, let’s take an 18” section of drilled pipe, with 1/16” diameter holes spaced out every ½”. At 80 PSIG, each hole consumes 3.8 SCFM. With a total of 37 holes, this equates to a total of 140.6 SCFM.
3.8 SCFM x 37 = 140.6 SCFM
A Super Air Knife, operated at 80 PSIG with .002” stock shim installed will consume a total of 2.9 SCFM per inch of knife. An 18” SAK would then consume just 52.2 SCFM.
2.9 SCFM x 18 = 52.2 SCFM
140.6 SCFM – 52.2 SCFM = 88.4 SCFM saved
Replacing an 18” drilled pipe with a Super Air Knife represents a total reduction in compressed air consumption of 63%! How much does this equate to in $$$? A reasonable average of cost to generate compressed air is about $0.25/ 1000 SCF. Let’s assume just a 40hr workweek:
88.4 SCFM x 60 mins x $0.25/1000 SCF = $1.33/hr
$1.33 x 40hr workweek = $53.20 USD
$53.20 x 52 weeks/year = $2,766.40 USD in yearly savings
The 2019 list price on a Model 110018 Super Air Knife is $397.00. By replacing the homemade solution with an 18” Super Air Knife, the return on investment is just over 38 working days of an 8-hr shift. If your plant runs multiple shifts, or works on weekends, it pays for itself even quicker.
Not only are these homemade solutions expensive to operate, they’re not safe either. Familiarize yourself with both OSHA 29 CFR 1910.95(a) and 29 CFR 1910.242(b) and you’ll learn just how expensive it can be if you were to be found using these devices during a random OSHA inspection. Make sure you’re utilizing the most expensive utility as efficiently and safely as possible. If you need help with determining which products are best suited for your application, give us a call. Our team of Application Engineers is ready to help!
Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD