Contamination in compressed air lines is an ever-present problem. Compressed air drying and filtration will always reduce the problem, but total elimination of contamination is not common.
Both water and oil are able to contaminate compressed air, but via different mechanisms. Since water is contained in our atmosphere, the air compressor draws in this moist atmospheric air and compresses it to 7 bar. Air leaving the compressor is totally saturated at its given pressure and temperature. If a lubricated screw compressor is used, some oils will escape from the air compressor and will be introduced into the air line. Dust particles will also be sucked in from the atmosphere, along with other pipeline debris.
Artic Driers International has a large stockholding of refrigeration-type compressed air dryers.
The function of a drier is to remove the water and oils generated by an air compressor. Driers typically come in refrigeration and chemical adsorption types.
Combating wastage
Since compressed air is very expensive to produce, it makes good sense to continuously reduce wastage and optimise its use. Pipeline leakage is the major area of compressed air wastage. To find leaks is one thing, but quantifying the volume of air leakage and the associated costs is quite another. The S531 ultrasonic leak detector from Artic Driers is a powerful tool that perform this task easily. Its features include a touchscreen, wireless headset, voice recording function, loss calculator, laser pointer and photographic recording of the leak area.
On completion of the leak survey, the S531’s software produces a comprehensive report with graphics, air loss volumes and the cost of the losses (individually and cumulatively). This tool can save a company significant expenses, particularly since that industry experts estimate that 20% to 25% of compressed air is lost to atmospheric leaks.
Monitor your air system
The S331 data logger and display can monitor, measure and record all the parameters of a compressed air system: flow volume, pressure, dew point, air velocity, power consumption, cooling water flow, particle counts as well as oil vapour monitoring. The S331 displays all these, over and above its capacity to accept third-party sensors.
These systems can be centrally located or placed in production areas, allowing users to benchmark their production floors and ultimately quantify the cost of compressed air in the manufacture of their products. The S331 can also relay information back to a scada system to allow for central record keeping and control.
Mobile auditing and monitoring service
Artic Driers has the ability to monitor a customer’s factory with mobile versions of the S331, logging the same parameters for hours or days at a time. It can simultaneously perform air leak audits and dew point spot-measurements anywhere in a facility.
The company even has the ability to provide gas detection in pressurised systems as well as in the atmosphere. These gas sensors feed data to the S551 mobile data logger so that reports can be generated in graphical and written formats, and exported to Microsoft Excel.
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