Compressed air leak management [whitepaper extract]
Locate. Repair.
Repeat.
From reducing the impact of e focus on operating an energy be ignored. And, with 25 per a compressed air system in f compressed air leak detection Introduction
All compressed air systems will have leaks. On average, a well maintai compressed air network will lose aro 5 to 20 percent of its compressed through leaks, and with an older netw this can easily be 30 to 40 percent. Example of the losses associated with compressed air leaks. In this example, the compressor operates at 6 bar. With a 1 mm hole it will consume an additional 0.39 kW/h. This equates to an annual cost of $512 - assuming the system has a power cost of 15 cents/kW/hr*.
8 | KAESER report
Loss
Air consumption at 6 bar(g) m3/min
kW
$/year*
1 mm
0.065
0.39
512
2 mm
0.257
1.54
2,026
4 mm
1.03
6.18
8,120
6 mm
2.31
13.86
18,202
Hole diameter corresponding size
However it is not unheard of for so plants to be losing as much as 80 perc of their compressed air through leaks. simply this is wasted and unproduc compressed air that still has to be paid to produce. And this ends up being p for in the electricity bill, the maintena bill, the CapEx bill and in increased emissions.
Whilst unavoidable, it is possible manage the leak rate in a compres air system and therefore the impact energy usage and costs.
Finding leaks
Due to their size and audibility compressed air leaks can quite easily unnoticed. There are various methods however can be employed to find compres
