The Metal Drum Company, a manufacturer of steel drums, is saving £23,000 per annum, thanks to new, high efficiency, speed-regulated CompAir compressors from ACB North.
The original 110 kW, fixed-speed machine had already been replaced for a CompAir L160 oil-lubricated compressor, to help increase capacity, and had been providing reliable performance for over 20 years, with minimal maintenance issues. But, with its belt drive and fixed-speed operation, the compressor could only run at a constant speed, consuming 160 kW of electricity, regardless of the demand for air generation.
The CompAir variable-speed L75 RS compressor
The same scenario applied at the Hull facility, where a CompAir L75 fixed-speed compressor had been running reliably for 10 years, but with no speed-regulation available on the drive.
Engineers from ACB carried out energy data logging on both sites, which showed that each compressor was running continuously, when actual demand was between 50-60 per cent. A speed-regulated, direct drive compressor solution was proposed, which would ensure that each machine was optimised to meet the peaks and troughs in air demand.