SOLUTIONS
COMPRESSED AIR & ENERGY MANAGEMENT By Dieter Michalkowski and Chris Noble
Two ways smart pneumatics maximize energy savings Flow, pressure and temperature data included
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Smart pneumatics analyzer visualizes and displays live data from flow sensors. Courtesy: Emerson
hether driven by sustainability goals or environmental standards, manufacturers want to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Smart pneumatics make compressed air a prime opportunity to save a remarkable amount of energy and reduce overall emissions. In the past, manufacturers had no clear or simple way to analyze machine air consumption. However, more and more are discovering the energy-saving benefits of smart pneumatics to collect flow, pressure and temperature data and better understand equipment energy consumption. This digital transformation of machines can be scaled for pneumatic operations of practically any size. Operators capture and process data from pneumatic and other machine elements to unlock actionable, energy-saving insights. Transforming the raw data from a smart pneumatic system into something actionable is the key to lowering energy costs, not to mention reducing downtime, enabling faster cycle times and increasing overall productivity, too. Wasted energy in pneumatic systems can be staggering. To put a number on it, manufacturing plants typically lose 30% of compressed air just due to leakage alone. Wasted energy leads to machine downtime and, of course, increased energy costs. Compressed air is used throughout industrial facilities to help operate machinery and processes, so its prevalence makes it pivotal to lower year-over-year energy costs. In fact, improvements in the compressed airflow of a plant’s machinery of even just a few percentage points can mean tens of thousands of dollars saved in energy costs each month, depending on the size and nature of the equipment. That can translate
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to hundreds of thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions saved. By using smart pneumatics like software monitoring and notification solutions to detect leakages, manufacturers can often reduce their compressed air energy spend by 10% to 20% and reduce their CO2 footprint by 10%. However, for many manufacturers, this transformation remains a goal rather than a reality. While they may acknowledge the benefits, over 70% of manufacturers lack a data analytics plan and a clear blueprint for success. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and other enabling technologies are considered too complex, costly and time-consuming to implement. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Manufacturers can invest in plug-and-play smart pneumatic solutions that keep installation time and costs to a minimum. Manufacturers can take the first step toward digital transformation by taking a closer look at how these smart pneumatics save energy in areas where leakages and losses occur. Plants can improve compressed energy savings through digital transformation in two primary ways.
Detect compressed air leaks
The most obvious way manufacturing plants lose energy in pneumatic systems is through leakage. Leaks cause the average manufacturing plant to lose around 35% of compressed air annually. When pneumatic system components are subject to wear, leakage can occur and grow over time. The larger the leak, the more significant the energy loss. This results in wasted energy, a bigger carbon footprint and higher operating costs. Some operators can lose more than $50,000 per year, per machine! In addition to energy loss, a compressed air leak can cause system pressure in machinery to fluctuate, affecting equipment efficiency and even production. As a result, a machine may have to work harder to compensate. This unnecessary cycling and increased run time can raise energy costs, decrease equipment service life and increase maintenance. To detect and locate compressed air leaks, companies bring in technicians with ultrasonic equipment to test PLANT ENGINEERING
March 2021
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