Everywhere in the globe, manufacturing facilities use compressed air extensively. And if your business depends on it, you’ll know that it’s just as necessary as electricity to keep things operating smoothly.
For instance, air compressor parts Christchurch is utilized in an electronics manufacturing plant to power automatic assembly equipment, and a steady flow of air is essential to maintain productivity. Manufacturing will stop in the absence of dependable air flow, and the ensuing downtime could cost businesses tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Given that compressed air is considered to be “lifeblood,” it is intriguing to observe that system maintenance and monitoring are frequently neglected.
The servicing that does take place is typically concentrated on the hardware in the compressor room, which is a component of the larger system but does require attention.
The distribution system for pipework is where most issues arise. Common problems include things like rust, leaks, or improperly sized pipes. While these problems are usually easy to fix, troubleshooting can be time-consuming and expensive without the monitoring of this piping.
Sensors must be installed in strategic areas across your plant to provide complete view of the entire compressed air system. Pressure, vibration, flow, temperature, humidity, and power should all be measured by these sensors.
Key Advantages Of Monitoring Your Compressor System
When it comes to a compressed air system, effectiveness, quality, and safety are paramount. Monitoring is necessary to maintain your system’s efficiency and safety (or to make it even safer).
Monitoring your compressor enables you to:
- Obtain immediate knowledge of your factory baseline (such as energy and flow).
- Keep an eye on and improve the control system.
- Have management and optimization of maintenance. By doing this, equipment failure and exorbitant maintenance expenditures are avoided. You can perform just-in-time maintenance by continuously measuring.
- The equipment’s size (compressors, pipework and downstream consumers). By doing this, you can determine if you have enough capacity before receiving new equipment.
- Assign costs. Energy expenditures can make up a sizable portion of a product’s price (just as cost of labor and material). These expenses ought to be distributed appropriately.
- obey all energy-related rules (EED, ISO 50001).
- Gather (huge) data, which is essential if you want to be ready for the near future.
- Machine and manufacturing sites benchmarking You can compare your product’s production facilities or equipment.
- Control leakage.
- The psychological aspect: by displaying energy prices, consumers would realize that compressed air is not free. Human behavior will be impacted by this.
Step-By-Step System Improvement
Waste becomes concrete when excessive energy usage is seen. Choose the appropriate KPIs and continue to monitor progress throughout the improvement process. Make adjustments gradually to keep it realistic and doable. The process of managing energy is ongoing but initially expensive and time-consuming. The initial investment is kept to a minimum when using a step-by-step method. With the energy and money saved, further investments can be made to make even more advancements. A continuous monitoring system assists in providing the information required to support your investments to higher management.