Wearside Pneumatics helped a manufacturing site in South Shields to reduce the annual energy consumption of their compressed air system.
Our sales engineer used iiTrak Energy Monitoring equipment to identify that the Gardner Denver ESE11 compressor that was on site wasted approximately 26% of the energy it consumed. This was because as a fixed speed compressor its motor continued to run even when it was not producing air.
Our sales engineer identified that an Atlas Copco GA15VSD+ variable speed air compressor would generate an additional 15 l/s of compressed than the existing equipment. The improved efficiency of the Atlas Copco variable speed air compressor meant that the new equipment would actually use 43% less energy than the Gardner Denver machine because the Atlas Copco GA15VSD+ is a variable speed air compressor; it varies the speed of the inverter drive to match the compressed air demand on site.
Our proposal took into account the customer’s requirements for dry filtered compressed air and we prepared a number of different options some of which were designed to meet the requirements of the Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) scheme. These options also included fixed speed compressors which although less energy-efficient than VSD machine still represented a significant reduction in energy consumption when compared to the customer’s existing equipment.
Project Results
By replacing the existing compressed air equipment our customer achieved the following;
- A reduction in annual energy consumption by compressors of 17 MWh – consumption was reduced from 39 MWh to 22 MWh.
- This in turn achieved an annual cost saving of £1,668.00.
Return on Investment
The customer will benefit from consistent energy savings over the life cycle of their new Atlas Copco GA15VSD+ variable speed compressor and will also receive a boost to efficiency thanks to the additional Free Air Delivery and best-in-class reliability from Atlas Copco air compressors.
