5 benefits of an air and nitrogen booster
If your production requires high-pressure air or nitrogen, buying a compressed air booster is the smart choice. This special type of compressor takes low-pressure air or nitrogen and boosts its pressure to up to 1,000 bar. In fact, a standard air compressor and booster combination is the most flexible and cost-efficient solution for high-pressure air and gas applications. That doesn't mean all air and nitrogen boosters can offer those benefits.
As with most industrial equipment, quality matters. And the right booster will offer you savings and lots of added value in addition to generating high-pressure air or nitrogen.
To make sure that you pick the optimal nitrogen and air booster for your high-pressure application, using these five criteria will help.
1. Cost
Cost is an issue any time you have to make an investment decision involving industrial equipment. In the case of air boosters, keep in mind that the product's initial price tag is a minor factor. It makes up a minimal portion of your total cost of ownership. It's energy consumption that takes up the bulk of your compressed air and nitrogen generation budget. To realize savings on your investment cost, look for a smaller air and nitrogen booster with less horsepower. They require a smaller investment and reduce your energy consumption.
2. Efficiency
Speaking of energy consumption: Most of the money you spend on your compressed air/nitrogen booster will go toward the electricity it consumes. This costs you money, and it affects your environmental footprint. In short: energy savings are key. That is why the Atlas Copco LB 40 features an IE3 motor together with other high-efficiency features.
One often overlooked factor is the number of stages of a piston compressor. The more stages, the more energy a compressor uses. They also come with a higher investment and service cost. That makes a single-stage model such as the LB 40 the cost-efficient choice. In addition, Atlas Copco builds its 300-bar boosters to minimize the number of stages while maximizing the piston’s performance.
3. Continuous duty
To take advantage of the benefits of your compressed air booster, it has to be running. However, the piston compression technology that most boosters rely on typically requires frequent cool-downs. The good news is that piston boosters that offer continuous duty and flow do exist. The Atlas Copco LB 40 and LB 300 are two examples.
So you want to select a nitrogen and air booster that can operate 100% of the time, if needed.
4. Reliability
Dependability is crucial for any equipment that is an important part of your operational chain. After all, booster downtime equals production shutdown, which equals lost revenue. That is why you must be sure that you can always count on your air and nitrogen booster. How do you know if a compressor is reliable? Look under the hood. Dependable boosters feature sturdy, high-quality components (its pump, motor, valves, roller bearings and connecting rods are a few examples) and robust engineering.
5. Quiet operation
If you set up your booster in a compressor room, you will likely have to spend a lot of money on expensive, high-pressure pipes. This piping often costs more than the actual booster. That means that the closer to the point of use you can install it, the more you can save. Many boosters produce too much noise and too many vibrations to allow production floor installation. That makes low noise emissions a key requirement for installation flexibility and cost savings.
Atlas Copco air and nitrogen boosters are renowned for their low-noise operation that can enable point-of-use operation. Take the LB 300 series. It comes with a canopy and is silent from the core thanks to optimal balancing and use of pulsation dampers.
Monitoring your compressed air booster
As you can see, the right air booster is an efficient machine that gives you a reliable, strong high-pressure air or nitrogen output. Advanced control and connectivity technologies will ensure you get the most out of these benefits. They make the booster easy to operate and allow you to monitor its performance remotely. They also provide you with relevant information and insights to optimize its performance and your energy savings.
The air and nitrogen booster expert
Atlas Copco is the industry leader in compressed air and on-site industrial gas solutions. We offer a complete range of high-pressure air compressors and air and gas boosters. Our range also includes gas generators, air dryers and filters, monitoring and service solutions, and much more.
So if you need help finding the product that is right for your high-pressure application, contact one of our experts now. They are happy to answer all your booster-related questions.