Smart scale energy solutions for compressed air systems

The key to evaluate the compressor performance is the specific power or air consumption. It is the basis to:

• Benchmark compressors and optimize their use

• Optimize control system/load profile

• Assess system/performance improvements

Apart from efficiency calculation the compressors power consumption indicates load/idling times which have a significant influence on energy costs. Another parameter of greatest importance for the compressor and system performance is the pressure.

Typical plants have a leakage rate of 20-30% of the total compressed air production capacity. In well maintained systems this loss can be reduced to less than 10%. By using flow measurement at different points in the air systems balancing can be used to calculate leakage loss “in time” and thus:

• Detect and repair disruptions or leakages

• Avoid operation loss

• Avoid longer compressor runtime

• Reduce maintenance and increased unscheduled downtime

• Avoid adding unnecessary compressor capacity

The allocation of energy usage to specific areas and processes is one of the key factors for energy management systems (e.g. ISO 50001) and precondition for transparent bookkeeping. The exact measurement of air consumption per unit of product is also helpful to optimize production processes. Furthermore the data are suitable for a carbon footprint evaluation.