Intelligent components provide room for improvement
15 Jan 2000
Compressor control isn't the only way to minimise pressure losses. Siebe subsidiary Compair Demag takes a quite different tack, imbuing other components in the system with minds of their own.
'The hidden cost of any compressed air system,' the company explains, 'is the pressure drop involved in passing air through contaminated filters and purge losses in expelling condensate.' Individually, the effects are small a 1psi pressure drop across one component will increase the power consumption by 0.5 per cent. However, when added together they mount up alarmingly, leading to increases in power consumption up to 7.5 per cent.
Compair's 'intelligent compressor room' (ICR) concept aims to minimise these losses. The ICR has three principle elements: a programmable, 'intelligent' filter housing; a condensate drain, and a refrigerant dryer.
Microchips in the filter housing monitor the filter's contamination level. The processor calculates how much extra energy the compressors must consume to overcome this contamination. When the cost of this extra energy exceeds the cost of replacing the filter element, the system alerts the operators.
Electronics have also infiltrated the condensate drains, replacing the usual float controls, ensuring no air escapes when the outlet valve is opened. The refrigerant dryer, meanwhile, has oversized heat exchanger surfaces and flow channels, giving load-independent operation with very low pressure drop.
