Automation Parts

Jaguar Reduces Costs With Compair Compressors Jaguar has worked with Compair to upgrade the compressed air networks at its West Midlands-based plants, using an ongoing programme of energy audits to reduce air power consumption. The company said air power consumption was reduced by 26 per cent per annum with a maximum two years' payback at each site. In order to calculate the energy savings that could be achieved with a new compressed air system, Compair first carried out a simple air audit on the existing units. A data-logging device was fitted to each machine to analyse a number of parameters including air use, pressures and energy consumption. With readings taken every second over a two-week period, Compair engineers were able to build an accurate overview of Jaguar's compressed air requirements and could demonstrate a number of cost savings that could be made by upgrading to newer models. As a result, Jaguar chose to upgrade the network to two fixed-speed and one variabl...

NSK Ball Bearings Save Costs For Food Processor NSK's cost-reduction programme has achieved annual cost savings on a potato processing line, as a result of replacing sealed, single-row radial ball bearings with NSK's Molded-Oil bearings. The bearing problem on the potato processing line centred on the rollers of a potato peeling machine. The harsh nature of the process meant that the sealed radial ball bearings in the rollers were subject to the ingress of water and dirt, causing them to fail consistently every six to eight weeks. These frequent failures were resulting in extremely costly downtime. Added to this was the maintenance cost to replace the bearings; the cost of replacement bearings themselves and other expenses such as the re-greasing required at weekly intervals, as well as the holding of spares inventory. This added up to to a total annual loss of EUR189 (GBP168) for the potato processor. In the highly competitive world of food production this cost was not sus...

Cooling System Could Save Energy Costs A cooling system launched by data centre design-and-build company TKR Data Centres, could save a UK-based enterprise around GBP370,000 a year in energy costs. The company commissioned TKR to design and construct a proof of concept for the cooling system, named Cryocentrix, within a test area of its data centre. The results were successful and the system is now being made available industry wide. 'Extensive testing and verification of performance took place over several months as adjustments and refinements were made to enhance the performance of the systems and controls,' said a spokesperson from TKR. 'A PUE of between 1.1 and 1.52 was achieved in a variety of conditions. 'If these methods were applied to the whole of the data centre, savings in the region of GBP370,000 per year in energy costs could be anticipated,' added the spokesperson. This level of efficiency is achieved by reducing the power consumed by all element...

Bearing Programme Saves Lost Production Costs The NSK bearing substitution programme has saved a major producer of frozen food products GBP5,984 a year in downtime and lost production costs. The savings are a result of solving a problem of repeated heat-related bearing failures in a heat shrink tunnel used for packaging beef burgers. The failures, on a hot-air circulation fan, were a major cause of concern to the food producer, as each time they resulted in costly downtime and lost production. NSK engineers visited the frozen food plant to view the application and obtain samples of the failed bearings for inspection and analysis. The subsequent report, compiled by NSK, confirmed that the main cause of failure was the excessive temperature the bearings had been subjected to. In view of this, NSK suggested that its HLT Self-Lube inserts would be more suited for the application. HLT Self-Lube inserts can allow companies to reduce maintenance, downtime and replacement costs at temperat...

Boge Screw Compressor Reduces Energy Costs RSL Steeper has reduced its compressed-air energy costs by 45 per cent through replacing an ageing compressor with a Boge S15 screw compressor at its manufacturing facility in Leeds. RSL Steeper is a supplier of prosthetic and orthotic patient care services in the UK. At its Leeds site, RSL manufactures a range of upper extremity prosthetic systems and components including cosmetic products, as well as mechanical and electric-powered systems from simple passive hands with silicone cosmetic gloves to multi-function Myo electric hands and powered elbows. Compressed air is used in the manufacturing process to power a number of air tools as well as a bio-reactor. The bio-reactor performs an important health and safety role in the production process. VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are generated in the manufacturing process from applications such as gluing. The bio-reactor purifies such air pollutants. The company has recently realised redu...

Atlas Controls Reduce Compressed-Air Costs Atlas Copco Compressors has introduced the next generation in compressor controls across its oil-injected screw compressor range 11-90 kW GA/GA+/GA VSD. The new fifth-generation Elektronikon graphical-display controller and the integrated Energy Saving (ES) Systems ES4/6i increase compressed-air efficiency, resulting in lower operating costs. In addition, free online visualisation enables remote monitoring, allowing for anticipation of operating and maintenance needs. Atlas has expanded the Energy Saving (ES) System to simultaneously control, with the ES6i, up to six variable-speed drives or fixed-speed compressors. The Elektronikon graphical-display controller is a colour display, housed on the compressor, that shows several compressor and dryer parameters while built-in algorithms automatically implement energy-saving cycles for fan and dryer. Additional features such as dual-pressure band and timer-based controls enable Atlas Copco to m...

Pressure Transducer Keeps High-Volume Costs Down Applied Measurements has released the Pi600E pressure transducer, designed to meet the needs of medium to high-volume users seeking a balanced price/performance ratio. Available in pressure ranges from 0-5bar to 0-200bar the Pi600E has a stainless steel body housing a ceramic diaphragm and ASIC conditioning electronics. The pressure connection is 1/4in BSP male with the option of electrical connection via an integral cable or a miniature DIN type plug and socket. Available electrical output configurations are millivolts per volt, 0-5V DC or 4-20mA. All the transducers are fully compensated for the effects of temperature and offer an overall accuracy of better than 0.5%/FSO static.