A new customer to HPC was looking to upgrade an existing high pressure – 8.0 bar(g) air compressor station with a more energy-efficient HPC Kaeser compressor station making use of fixed and variable speed compressors.
The original average system efficiency using oil-free screw compressor technology was 7.1kW/m3/min. Using the new HPC KAESER oil injected screw machines the measured efficiency is now 6.2kW/m3/min, with the average flow remaining at around 103m3/min.
This equates to an overall reduction of 92.7kW per hour, which over the 8,600 annual plant operating hours, delivers a reduction of 797,220 kWh/annum.
Using the plant unit cost of 24.6 pence/kWh this equates to an annual saving of £196,116.12 or 12 per cent.
HPC also installed a SAM intelligent controller to manage the complete system. The SAM controller analyses all operating data on an ongoing basis and simulates alternative actions, while calculating the perfect compressor combination, resulting in an unprecedented energy efficiency.