Efficiency Improvements on a Compressed Air System in a Facility
Description
This project is mainly focused on the possible efficiency aspects of compressed air systems which are being used in most of the factories as their main energy source. This can be considered as one of the main losses that most companies can avoid with less payback period. But as most of the companies do not focus much on these kinds of losses the research mainly focuses on avoiding such losses of the companies. After considering all the energy efficiency aspects of a Compressed Air Energy System applying the Pareto rule, only the main energy avenues have been considered within the time frame. At first, the main energy loss(30%) was considered as leakage of the system. Quantifying the leak magnitude by several methods, leakage loss was calculated and confirmed. After further analysis of the system, a leak survey was done with the root causes that any compressed air system may have occurred. Then one of the open flow air consuming systems was considered. In this facility, knitting machines are the main open flow resource in which the air is consumed. Three main air nozzles have been used in a knitting machine and all are convergent type nozzles but not improved. Since the air nozzles are always operating with the operation procedure, it is more important to do improvements for the nozzles. After some literature survey and self-study, a high efficiency improved nozzle was introduced with the savings. Another open flow system that is used by the company is pneumatic air guns. A high-efficiency air gun was also considered in the study. Then, the compressed air distribution lines were analyzed to check the flow rates, compressor capacities, and other aspects in order. Finally, electric and hydraulic energy sources were compared with the existing pneumatic system for checking any replacement for saving the energy cost.