The customer had a compressor room that served the various production processes in the plant. What they needed going forward, were KPIs to set a baseline for measuring energy savings. For this they needed demand flow and energy consumption details.
Project overview
The customer had nine compressors serving the compressed air demand for various production process in plant. Focusing on energy saving possibilities, the Atlas Copco team assessed the requirement, monitored energy consumption of all compressors, while also upgrading one compressor to the latest Variable Speed Drive (VSD) technology. We also assessed performance before and after upgradation to VSD technology.
The customer
Schaeffler India Ltd, a leader in high-precision components and systems for engine, transmission, chassis applications as well as rolling and plain bearing solutions.
Location
Vadodara Gujarat
The challenge
Capturing demand flow and energy consumption details for setting KPIs for their compressor room - all with no disruption to operations
Assessment & solution
Measurements performed:
- Generation: Compressor operating efficiency of compressors
- Demand: Main header demand and energy consumption before and after machine upgradation; Insertion type flow meters for flow measurement and portable current loggers and counter data for energy consumption.
- Application flow measurement: One point application flow measurement
Implementation & outcome
Generation side: Specific power consumption of each compressor
Demand side: Optimization with the new compressor installation
After compressor upgradation, customer could see the savings upfront through the compressors' operating pattern. At the outset six machines were in full load, one machine was loading/unloading and two machine were in standby condition. But after machine upgrade:
- Five machines were in full load, one machine was loading and unloading and three machines were in standby condition.
- With reduction in loaded machine by one and standby machine count increased by one.
- Flow measurement and energy consumption measurement done before and after machine upgrade. Observed 6.7% reduction in energy consumption.
- Specific Energy Requirement (SER) saving-2.46% on kWh/M3
Energy Consultant’s comments: "Initially we understood the need from site walkthrough and customer discussions. We recommended customized measurements offering and finalized the same."
Audit Engineer's comments: "We understood the customer's requirements clearly from the SSE and Energy Consultant. Activities were carefully planned as per the customer's requirements as machine shutdown not was not an option during weekdays. Most of activities on weekends and holidays."
Summing up
Atlas Copco comprehensive service solution AIRScan met the requirements for holistic, sustainable optimization. Going forward, the customer can expect greater uptime, monetary benefit, and productivity thanks to the specialized approach of our competent team.
The customer can expect a payback in less than 1.5 years for the VSD compressors at their premises. Uptime increased up to 33% with an additional one compressor as standby. Our experts are happy to give you advice and support for identifying and utilizing the opportunities that are being opened up by digitalization, connectivity, and compressed air optimization.
