Why it’s time to move beyond inlet valve modulation for compressor control
By David M. McCulloch

The type of compressor capacity control you use and the related pressure settings you select are critical to your overall compressed air system efficiency. For years, many rotary compressors were sold with inlet valve modulation (throttling) as the standard means of capacity control. While this matched compressor output with demand, the system offered much less than desirable energy efficiency.

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This is a thermal image of a fused disconnect switch that was taken by one of our service technicians. The customer called us in for emergency service due to the compressor shutting down on motor overload. It was quickly determined that the customer had a fuse blown and it was immediately replaced. Upon start up and after performing a complete inspection of the compressor and the electrical supply… the true “Root Cause” of the problem was found at the fused disconnect.

How to minimize cycling, pressure differentials and unloaded run time
By Ron Marshall from Plant Services Magazine

A commonly recommended energy strategy for a lubricant-injected rotary screw air compressor is to add main storage receiver capacity to enable the switch from inefficient modulation control to the more efficient load/unload mode. A typical guideline was to add 1-2 gal of storage receiver volume for every cfm of main compressor capacity.

Air End rebuilding when done before a catastrophic failure can be an economical way to extend the life of your oil flooded rotary compressor.

Air Technologies’ new Cincinnati DirectAIR® factory is now completed and production is underway. We’re making great progress—Click here to view a few pictures from our construction process.

Click here to view our latest DirectAIR^® case study in Compressed Air Best Practices magazine.