Smart scale energy solutions for compressed air systems

Compressor efficiency

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.

System balancing and leakage

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

Air consumption

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.

Analyzing systematically

Improving compressed air system performance requires a systematic approach analyzing both the supply and demand sides of the system. This is the prerequisite for any kind of cost reduction using energy management.
Define the right KPIs which help you to evaluate:

• Compressor efficiency

• System balancing and leakage

• Specific energy consumption

This is the precondition for energy management and cost reduction.