Industrial Utility Efficiency
By using state-of-the-art vacuum technology for degassing mineral water, it has been possible to save an average of 3,000 cubic meters of water per filling plant per year. The solution was to replace the existing liquid ring vacuum pumps with MINK claw vacuum pumps from Busch Vacuum Solutions.
Manufacturing has two major categories of industrial vacuum applications, utility and process vacuum. Utility applications are all about utilizing the differential pressure between the inside of the vacuum system and the higher positive pressure of the atmosphere around us to perform a work-based-task in the physical world.
The 2023 International Powder and Bulk Solids Conference and Exhibition took place April 25-27, 2023 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. The event, sponsored by the Process Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (PEMA®) and produced by Informa Markets, is the leading powder and bulk handling and dry processing event in North America. It attracted more than 3,000 attendees and featured over 30 conference sessions and 350 exhibitors, showcasing bulk material handling equipment from 30 different countries. Blower & Vacuum Best Practices and Compressed Air Best Practices Magazines were among the publications available at the show’s entrance.
Vacuum and protective gas both reduce the activity of oxygen-dependent microorganisms inside the packaging. This way, vacuum-packaged foodstuffs have a longer shelf life, even without preservatives. There are different types of vacuum packaging. When it comes to cheese, the type of vacuum packaging depends heavily on the specific type of cheese.
Supplying air to process equipment necessitates a system approach. Selecting the blowers is a critical design step, but far from the final one. The layout of the blower room and ancillary equipment is just as critical to project success as the blowers themselves.
The new solution also saves close to 90 percent of the annual maintenance costs. The side channel blowers required intensive repairs and were therefore a source of high costs. MINK MV claw vacuum pumps provide completely dry compression of intake air and thus work without operating fluids such as oil or water. This makes the vacuum pumps virtually maintenance-free.
Positive Displacement (PD) blowers have been a workhorse for wastewater treatment for over 150 years. They are robust and simple to operate. They are often the first choice for small facilities and for applications with wide variations in discharge pressure. When combined with variable frequency drives (VFDs) they provide operational flexibility in flowrate across a wide range of discharge pressures.
Single-stage centrifugal blowers are a proven technology that have been around for many years and will probably be here for many years to come. A well maintained machine can last for decades and will likely outlast its original control system. Even if the control system is still in good working order the components might already be end of life and hard to replace if any of them fail. If you are thinking about modernizing the hardware (PLC / HMI / Instruments) this is also a great opportunity to make the system a little smarter and user friendly.
SupremeX, a Canadian based envelope and packaging manufacturer, with 11 facilities across six provinces, as well as five facilities in the United States, recently upgraded the vacuum system in their Winnipeg based plant. This article discusses the system before and after the changes, and the significant energy savings, plus improved system reliability that resulted. The company also captured a significant utility incentive to help with the cost of a new cutting-edge variable speed vacuum pump.
One definition of “calibrate” is “to determine, rectify, or mark the graduations of something”. An ammeter is an instrument for measuring electric current. Therefore the simple definition of a calibrated ammeter is a current measuring device marked with units of measure, presumably amperes. In the blower industry, however, the term has developed a specific meaning. A calibrated ammeter is an instrument that measures a blower motor’s current draw and converts the measurement to a display of blower airflow rate.
The 2022 AISTech Conference and Exposition was held May 16-18 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the conference and exposition’s most successful year yet with more than 8,000 attendees. The event featured 300+ technical presentations and 500+ exhibitors, featuring the latest technologies in iron- and steelmaking from all over the world. AISTech 2022 also gave away a brand new, fully loaded, 2022 Chevy Silverado Truck to one lucky attendee. Both Blower & Vacuum Best Practices and Compressed Air Best Practices Magazines were pleased to be in the literature bins.
