May 26, 2022
Looking for compressed air energy and cost savings?
Compressed air systems are often used to power essential equipment in industrial facilities. Often compressed air systems are overlooked when looking for ways to improve efficiency. This neglect can be very costly, especially in terms of energy efficiency.
An optimized compressed air system has low energy costs, a reduction in maintenance costs, and is reliable. A comprehensive compressed air audit ensures that each piece of equipment in the air system is working properly and each component is tuned to work efficiently with all parts of the system.
The First Step Towards Optimization of Compressed Air System
Compressed air audits reveal the efficiency of your system. Performing a compressed air audit is the first step in determining issues that could be hindering the system’s efficiency and unnecessarily increasing energy costs. Management solutions provided thereafter improves system reliability, prevents downtime, and save energy cost.
At Pattons, our goal for performing compressed air audits is to provide accurate results to save our clients thousands of dollars a year as well as to assist plant personnel with critical information for the decisions pertaining to future growth and efficiency. To provide a full scope of this information, we recommend the following process:
1. Baseline Audit – This provides a baseline to measure the actual performance and efficiency improvement measures implemented throughout the process
2. Demand Side Audit – A qualified auditor will spend time in the facility, evaluating your process and compressed air usage to determine if there are any alternate methods which will perform equally with less or no consumption of compressed air. We will also look for poor practices and means of reducing pressure drops.
3. Compressed Air Leak Study – Using ultrasonic leak detection, our auditor and service team will find and tag compressed air leaks in your facility. Leaks will be categorized by intensity and prioritized. There may be energy provider rebates for performing this study which will help or fully cover the cost of this service.
4. Supply Side Audit – Once the demand side recommendations have been completed, and the leaks have been repaired, we will perform a Supply Side Air Audit similar to what we did in Step 1. Our focus will change slightly as we will tune in on the compressor room and how efficiently you are generating compressed air based on your reduced demand. Product neutral recommendations will be prepared with return on investment on each recommendation.
5. Implement Recommendations – Changes are made to supply side system by Pattons or your chosen service provider. 6. Verification Audit – This is a very simple audit showing the new lower energy cost, flows, pressures and any other relevant data to verify the recommendations as long as the solutions implemented follow the guidelines proposed. This data is also collected for energy providers in order to issue the customer incentive rebates, if applicable.
Industrial Air Audit Report Will Include:
- Optimization Strategy
- Implementation Plans
- Financial information
The use of compressed air systems is crucial for many industrial facilities, but they must be maintained properly to provide the maximum benefit. Having an expert source to guide and oversee every aspect ensures that the system runs smoothly and operates at its maximum.
Pattons has the unique combination of innovative technology and foundational expertise to oversee every aspect of your compressed air system. Pattons certified audit team is experienced in performing assessments on compressed air systems of all sizes and types. We have auditors on staff with the following certifications:
1. Certified U.S. Department of Energy AIRMaster+ Specialist
2. CAGI Certified Compressed Air System Specialist
All of our audits are performed according to the principles and guidelines put in place by the Compressed Air Challenge and the U.S. Department of Energy.
If you are interested in efficiently optimizing your facility’s compressed air system, turn to Pattons. Call us today to learn everything we can do for you.
