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Save Power Under Pressure: 3 Tips To Intelligently Manage Your Rotary Screw Compressor System

9 November 2015 by Dan Adams

If your shop has cobbled together a compressor system that no one is completely happy about, it's time to upgrade your method of compressor management. Not only will you make your end users more efficient and productive, you'll save money on wasted load hours and extra maintenance on tools damaged from running at incorrect pressures.   

Here are 3 ways to get smart about your plant's pressure and power management:

1. Get those compressors together if at all possible.

Having your compressors in a central location makes it far easier to measure and control your system's performance. It's also more efficient if you use any computer-regulated system that requires you to manually reset compressors periodically. If you use a cascading system of compressor management, the process will be easier to monitor and adjust when compressors are in close proximity to each other.

Larger shops may need more than one designated area for their main compressors, but the goal should always be centralizing the heart of the system so you can keep it as healthy as possible. Rather than ignoring inefficiency in your compressed air system, you'll be likely to maintain your equipment in optimum condition when you consolidate the key components.

2. Be relentless and curious about examining losses in each line.

It may seem like looking for a needle in a haystack to go connection to connection looking for improperly-sized fittings and leaks, but you should make this a goal. Many critical user problems can be solved by re-sizing a connection so that pressures are not increased or reduced at the end point.

Start by examining dryer and filter sizes and work your way through to receivers, checking each fitting for proper psi and possible leaks as you work your way down the line. End users who are having the most trouble maintaining peak and optimum psi for their operations should be checked next. All of these small steps can change the overall pressure differentials in your favor.

3. Upgrade to a more automated system.

Newer rotary screw compressors are more efficient than past models, as most industrial equipment tends to be these days. Now there are smart programs that allow manufacturers to remotely monitor and adjust your system for optimum energy efficiency without sacrificing peak performance.

Even if you want to monitor your system yourself, newer VSD compressor systems allow you to use software to easily adjust and maintain your system yourself. Because a rotary compressor system uses so much energy, it's in your plant's long-term interest to invest in modern compression systems that are engineered to lower your energy costs and your down time.

Inefficient compressors steal money from your budget. Get smart and protect your profits by taking a good look at your rotary screw compressors' performance and energy consumption.

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