In this current climate of uncertainty its more important then ever to be aware of what operating vacuum pumps or compressors are costing your business. The unknown future cost of power should be the driving force for all business owners or managers to be constantly seeking out new ways to reduce consumption in the plant. Compressed air and vacuum systems have been identified by the US DOE as the single largest opportunity for savings in the industrial electric motor driven sector of the economy.

Most organizations keep their eyes on the capital budgets and maintenance budgets and consider utility costs, such as compressed air electric energy as just a per production unit cost. Indeed, when life cycle costs are evaluated it can readily be seen that most of the cost of compressed air is “energy in”:

                                                 Costs Over 10 Years

                                    

 *USDOE Compressed Air Challenge


General industrial pneumatic systems are typically made up of multiple supply side compressors/vacuum pumps, filters, and dryers.  Often times, these are from multiple manufacturers and are of varying ages and types. As a rule, their controls are not integrated with one another and consequently they often operate inefficiently.  Often, a coherent “system level” control system can eliminate waste and reduce costs by 10-20%.

The demand side of these systems can include a perplexing array of users.  Some uses are efficient and appropriate, others are employed simply because they are “easy”.  These are what is referred to as potentially inappropriate uses of compressed air or vacuum. Sometimes these users can be retrofitted to use other forms of energy with a very attractive return on investment.  Cost reductions can range from 5-30%. Other times, the usage is small or the change in SOP so great that retrofit is unattractive for management.

An audit can get a handle on the true cost of compressed air or vacuum and can help management make the correct decisions regarding allocation of capital to improve operational efficiency.