"Energy Savings in Compressed Air" offers practical ideas and technical data about the supply side equipment of your compressed air system.

The material covers how to determine the actual cost of your compressed air and exactly where to find opportunities to save energy and make improvements. In addition, you will find detailed equipment comparisons and all the technical data required to manage an air system.

This book can be used as a training tool and as a reference guide for solving problems in the future. It is recommended reading for everyone involved with a compressed air system.

You can find information in every section of this book that will lead to immediate savings. The following testimonials illustrate this point.

Improved Condensation Management

"I have used several ideas from the book to improve our air system."

"We run four 200 HP reciprocating compressors in non lube air service. These compressors have a manual ball type valve under each cylinder that is designed to drain the condensation from the heads."

"The required draining intervals will fluctuate during the year because of changes in the temperature and humidity. We rely on our maintenance people to drain the valves during each shift."

"If we don’t keep the valves drained, condensation can quickly back up into the cylinder and destroy the valves and rings. This happens every year."

"The book gave me the facts on the different types of condensation drains. Also, it gave me the information that I needed to convince management to try automatic (zero air loss) condensation traps in this application."

"This solved our problem and eliminated the potential for human error in keeping the water out of the cylinders. This project has saved us $20,000 a year in parts and labor for unscheduled repair work and for compressor rental expense to keep the plant supplied with air."

R. Brockinton

Note: Mr. Brockinton works in the Maintenance Department of a consumer goods manufacturing plant.

Knowledge Is Power

"I build and service groundwater remediation systems for an environmental consulting firm. The heart of the system is an air compressor and I wanted to learn more about choosing and installing the proper compressor, air dryer, and
filters."

"I got a lot of conflicting information from compressor manufacturers that really confused and basically drove me up the wall! I have built two systems in the last 8 months and have made many modifications from manufacturers suggestions and some of them were a waste of time and money."

"I bought the book and read through it before meeting with a systems engineer from a major compressor company at a problem site. I know he would have filled me with useless information, but I had learned a lot about air compressor
systems from your book and I stayed one step ahead of him. I even asked some questions he could not answer."

"The end result is that they may have to replace a faulty compressor under warranty instead of making more modifications to the system. I call this book my air compressor Bible!"

"I probably saved about $1,200.00 to $1,500.00. The manufacturer insisted I add another receiver tank to the system and from the knowledge I gained from your book, I only made some adjustments to the pressure switch and the system runs fine. This amount may seem trivial, but the entire compressor part of the system only cost about $6,000.00 so the percent of savings is excellent and keeps
everyone happy!"

R. Close

Note: Mr. Close is a Senior Operations Technician for an Environmental Company.

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Free Sample

Anyone that gets involved with compressors or with a compressed air system should have a copy of this book.

This book is filled with practical tips and ideas that can save you money each year in energy consumption and maintenance expense. The following is an example of the useful information you will find in the book.

The High Cost of Turbulence in Air Piping

A practical look at some obvious but often forgotten aspects to the compressed air system main distribution piping. The negative results can often lead to significant and continuing wasted energy dollars. Additionally, they can have serious negative impact on productivity, quality and production equipment integrity.

The basic rule of compressed air interconnecting piping (from the compressed air supply to the system) and main header distribution has always seemed clear.

• Pipe the compressed air from the supply to treatment equipment (filter, dryer, receiver, regulator) and to the production floor to assure the correct flow at the correct pressure to each process with minimum pressure loss.

• Size the outlet pipe from the compressor to meet the CFM flow, NOT the size of the discharge opening from the compressor.

Velocity of Air

The most overlooked area in piping layout and design is the velocity of the compressed air. There has not been a great deal written about consideration of air velocity.

High velocity can be a significant cause of:

• Back pressure
• Erratic control signals
• Turbulence and other losses

The British Compressed Air Society suggests that a flow velocity of about 20 fps (foot pounds per second) or less is desired not to carry over moisture and debris past the drain legs. This is a reasonable maximum velocity limitation for main headers, interconnecting piping and main branches. Other experts feel that about 30 fps or less should be maximum velocity in branch lines that do not exceed 50 feet in length.

The basic method to determine the velocity of air flowing in a pipe is to divide volume in CFM flowing through the pipe line by the cross sectional area of the pipe in feet, the answer is the velocity in feet per minute.

To convert this to compressed air velocity at the pipe line conditions we divide this answer by the compression ratios in the pipe (i.e. 90 psig equals 104.7 psia at sea level, divided by 14.7 psia equals 7.1 ratios divided by the cross sectional area of the pipe in square feet.

Divide this answer in feet/minute by 60 and get feet/second.

There are more accurate formulas to measure velocity (especially when considering pressure differential) however this is usually adequate to evaluate this situation.

Effects of High Velocity

So what is wrong with high velocity? The air is just getting there faster!

This is true. But what happens when the air runs into a blocking valve, a crossing tee, etc. All this energy creates high turbulence and significant back pressure. These actions can have very negative impact on the system performance.

Lets take a look at some case studies and examples. Note: The following is one of the four examples in section 8 of the book.

Textile Mill

A textile mill has two lubricant free 350 HP (1500 CFM) two stage rotary screw compressors with 2 step control.

The No. 2 unit is the trim unit and continues to short cycle. The fix at the plant was to install a "blow off" valve. The trim unit now runs at part load in "blow off" all the time. This is obviously very expensive since they are at part load in demand but at full electrical energy cost. It has been running like this for over 5 years.

Lets see what we have:

The air velocity for 1500 CFM in a 4 inch pipe at 90 psig is about 40 fps in the schedule 40 steel pipe used. (Twice the recommended 20 fps).

The pressure loss in 200 feet of 4 inch pipe and (1) 90 degree short elbow (.43 psig per 100 feet equals .86 psig, plus 6.1 inches addition length) or .026 psig, total loss .89 psig (less than 1 psig) not very significant. This calculates to an excellent piping application.

However, the actual measured pressure loss from the compressor discharge to the entry pressure at the dryer was a moving 8 to 9psi.

The 8 to 9 psi loss is excessive. The energy required to fight past the turbulence and back pressure is excessive. This is caused by the air (from number 2 compressor) virtually running past the 90 degree turn to the dryer and running dead headed into the blocking valve. This is only 9 inches from the 90 degree turn.

This turbulence sent a pressure signal to the capacity control pressure switch sensor to unload the compressor prematurely (load 4 seconds, unload 4 seconds). This caused short cycling. This turbulence caused back pressure eliminating any effective storage for the 10 psig operating band causing the 2 step control to short cycle.

The blocking valve is there so to allow the compressors and dryer combinations to be switched. 

With 6 inch pipe the velocity would fall to about 17.8 fps and 8 inch pipe would have a velocity of about 10.3 fps.

Either one of these larger sized pipes would in all likelihood eliminate most of all of this 8 to 9 psig of average wasted pressure.

What does it cost in electrical energy cost to produce this 8 to 9 psig at $.05 kWh at 8760 hours?

Over $9,000 a year. Over the 5 year period, this arrangement, plus the high velocity, cost $45,000 in electrical energy to produce the pressure unused by production.

The control problem causing the plant to run in "blow off" rather than short cycle and harm the equipment could well have wasted another $25,000 to $30,000 a year.



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This book is published by the author, Hank Van Ormer, who also wrote the majority of the articles. Mr. Van Ormer has been associated with the Compressed Air and Gas Business and its allied industries for almost 40 years.

While attending Gettysburg College he worked summers in the research and development department of a rotary and reciprocating compressor manufacturer. After graduation in 1959, he began full time work with them and handled various areas of Industrial and Construction Equipment product development, marketing and sales. Over the years, he has worked with several leading manufacturers in similar areas with particular emphasis on rotary and centrifugal compressors.

In 1986, Mr. Van Ormer started his own independent consultant company, AirPower USA, Inc. which specializes in Air Compressors, Compressed Air Equipment and Compressed Air Systems for the industrial and construction markets. Mr. Van Ormer has developed several accredited training courses for continuing education and complete curriculum or technical colleges. Air Power USA offers complete plant surveys and problem solving analysis of compressed air systems including energy management studies.

The last several years, Mr. Van Ormer has been very active in the Department of Energy "Compressed Air Challenge Program". As a charter member of the Compressed Air Efficiency council, he worked with the basic program development and was a member of the Training Committee. In December of 1998, Mr. Van Ormer was selected as one of "Twelve Core Trainers" from applicants all over the United States.

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