Magazine

October Edition

Featured Articles

QUALITY, SAFETY & RELIABILITY FEATURES

Compressed Air System Drawings: A Picture Can Save Tens of Thousands of Dollars

By Paul Edwards, Compressed Air Consultants, Inc.

There are some fundamentals when it comes to compressed air system improvements. One strategy that is overlooked is just drawing the details of whatever aspect of a system you are looking at. It is fairly common to see a misdiagnosis of some particular technical issue that would have been obvious should someone have created the drawing to describe the problem.

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How to Avoid Control Gap with VFD Rotary Screw

Air Compressors

Dew Point Measurement in Compressed Air Systems

By Martin Raab, E+E Elektronik

Wherever compressed air is used, accurate and continuous monitoring of the dew point temperature is advisable. The dew point provides information about the absolute humidity content of the compressed air. A too high humidity content can have negative effects on the quality of the final product, lead to problems during the manufacturing process, or even result in complete system shutdown. Therefore, operators of compressed air systems should address this issue before it causes serious and costly issues. The following explains the basics of dew point measurement and what is important in practice.

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Troubleshoot Particle Contamination in Compressed Air with Laser Particle Counters

By Jenny Palkowitsh, Trace Analytics and Gary Ault, Quality Assurance Management

Compressed air contamination can come in various forms, including particles, water, oil, and microorganisms. Non-viable particle contamination is specified in ISO 8573-4:2019 as one of the major contaminants in compressed air to be monitored. Troubleshooting particle contamination with Laser Particle Counters (LPCs) is the focus of this article.

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PRODUCTIVITY, SUSTAINABILITY & ENERGY CONSERVATION FEATURES

Ford Motor Company’s Kentucky Truck Plant Helps Paint a Bright Energy Future

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

The Ford Motor Company Kentucky Truck Plant (KTP) not only manufactures upscale SUVs and pickup trucks painted in wide variety of stellar, high-quality colors and finishes –  it does so cost-effectively by conserving annual compressed air energy of approximately 9.2 GWh thanks to a major overhaul of the plant’s compressed air system.

Read the full article here.

Utilizing Smaller Point-of-Use Desiccant Dryers to Minimize Purge Energy Consumption

By Jim DiMaiolo, Altec AIR

For many installations of industrial air dryers, a dilemma can occur when trying to achieve the correct balance between desired specifications and efficiency in the applications. Sometimes there is no way around a requirement to achieve ultra-dry dew points, but are we always considering the point-of-use needs when implementing a dry air solution? Often the dry air system is configured with one end goal in mind which is dry air but doing so without accounting for the point-of-use factors that can lead to added expenses and wasted energy. 

Read the full article here.

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