In today’s environment of rising power costs, compressed air auditing is a real need and the cost savings that can be achieved are huge. Allen Cockfield, CEO of specialist air treatment company, Artic Driers says, “From experience we know that on average 30% of all compressed air produced is either wasted via leaks to atmosphere or misused on the wrong application. We also know that spot leak detection, without a long term endgame plan and a culture of change within a company, is almost pointless.”
He explains that a methodical system is essential when tackling a leak detection survey. Speed of data capture is essential as this auditing process is time consuming. High quality ultrasonic detection equipment is also essential. It should be world class, with the ability to estimate leak losses via sampled sound bytes.
The leaks must be tagged, photographed and commented on in a clear and concise manner. The report should contain a page per leak, the tag number, a picture, a GPS location, the description within the plant of its location as well as a description of the leak type, and it should rank the severity of the leak.
Where possible, the total leak loss value should be verified by a separate leak rate check with the plant in shutdown mode via a calibrated flowmeter. The two methods of leak detection are then compared. In the event of discrepancies, further investigation may be required. Be aware of underground airlines that may have developed leaks that will not have been captured by a simple leak detection audit. The total leak loss should be expressed in a volume and in the kWs used to generate the leak volume as well a cost for the kWs used to produce the lost compressed air.
The results should be available in a data sort format, allowing engineers to return and repair the worst leaks first. After the rectification of a leak, the same auditor should return and verify that the leak is properly repaired, and only then remove the numbered tag.
“A leak detection system should be an ongoing one that is repeated three or four times a year. In this way the repair of air leaks becomes ingrained in the maintenance system of a company and thousands of rands worth of energy is saved a year. This is one part of the broader optimisation process of reducing the energy costs of a compressed air system,” he concludes.
Artic Driers is the largest importer of air treatment equipment in the country.
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