Measuring compressed air flow helps to identify areas of excessive use and to better manage the overall flow rate of the compressed air system. The installation of conventional flowmeters results in permanent pressure losses, which translate into a significant loss of energy consumed by the compressor.
What measuring instrument should you use to improve the efficiency of your compressed air system?
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Efficient energy use helps control production costs and reduce negative environmental impact. For example, measuring compressor air flow helps control utility costs.
At many sites, compressed air flowmeters provide compressor data that can be used to balance energy sources and supply points.
In addition, these air meters can detect leaks in compressed air piping and other unusual changes in consumption. In addition, these air flow meters help prioritize energy-saving actions.
Communicating key performance indicators to plant personnel raises awareness of effective energy management practices.
Up to 20% of a plant's total energy budget is spent on compressed air consumption.
Compressed air networks can generate high leakage rates, long start-up and shut-down times, and other problems leading to energy losses.
By measuring compressed air flow, you canidentify areas of excessive use and better manage the system's overall compressed air consumption.
Meters are used in compressed air systems to provide flow measurement, in addition to pressure and temperature measurement.
The number of compressed air flow measurement points must be adapted to the size and use of the system (in general, the more metering points, the better the management).
For a compressed air system, it's best to have several air flow measurements: compressor, main supply and secondary lines can indicate whether there are leaks in the system and whether you're losing energy.
Installing traditional flow meters, such as orifice plate, vortex meters or mass flow meters, in a compressed air system results in permanent pressure losses. These pressure losses result in a significant loss of energy consumed by the compressor.
Pressure losses resulting from the installation of air flow sensors in a compressed air system can be eliminated using the ultrasonic air flow measurement method. The result is a more energy-efficient compressed air system .
A bottling plant in southern Europe manufactures, packages and ships bottles of natural mineral water. Its compressed air consumption increased rapidly, raising operational costs and increasing the risk of breakdowns and downtime of its pneumatic equipment. This consumption was monitored using orifice plate flow meters. Engineers found that these traditional flow meters created a permanently high pressure loss in the compressed air system.
The Fuji Electric team recommended removing the orifice plate flowmeters and installing ultrasonic flow instruments: five to monitor the output of each of the five compressed air compressors, and one to measure the air flow on the main manifold.
These 6 air flow measurement points enabled operators toidentify increased consumption and quickly detect compressed air leaks in the system without unnecessary pressure loss caused by orifice plates.
In addition to significantly reducing system pressure drop, the installation of FWD ultrasonic flowmeters ultrasonic flowmeters at this plant improved the overall efficiency of the compressed air production system by 15%. These innovative compressed air metering devices havesaved the company€52,000 a year in electricity costs.
The FWD ultrasonic air flow meter is a precise, easy-to-use device. It measures the volume of air flowing through a pipe, using the transit time principle, making it more reliable and far more accurate than older meters.
These flowmeters are ideal for carrying out energy audits and improve energy efficiency. They require minimal maintenance and are renowned for their robustness.
The main advantage of the FWD ultrasonic flowmeter is that it has no impact on pressure, unlike other air flow measurement instruments. It has no effect on the energy consumed in the compressed air system.
The installation of FWD ultrasonic flow meters in the bottling plant has helped to optimise its compressed air supply services.
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