Page 40 - Arebian

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9.4 The steps for good leak prevention program are,

1) Identification of air leakages (including tagging of the same),

2) Tracking,

3) Repair,

4) Verification (Feedback system),

5) Employee involvement.

We just imagine from the following example that the compressed air is how much costly to
generate,

From a compressed air leakage through 1.5 mm dia hole, it costs Rs 0.40 lacs per annum @ 7.0
kg/cm2.

From the Pie chart, it’s clear that the energy for driving air compressor is more than of the total

energy utilization which is far more than the similar kind of energy units. Hence leakage
rectification program to be taken on top priority basis.

Kindly note that for cleaning of jobs, we can adopt low pressure root blowers, which consumes
lower power for generation of lower pressure compressed air.

9.5 Avoiding Misuse of Compressed Air

Avoiding misuse of compreessed air such as for body cleaning agitation, general floor cleaning,

and other similar application must be discouraged in order to save compress air and energy .

When moving air really is required for an application, often sources other than compressed air
can do the job. For applications like cleaning, use of blowers may be possible. Brushes can
sweep away debris from objects as effectively as high pressure air. Many applications do not
require clean, dry, high pressure and expensive 5 to 6 bar compressed air rather, only moving
air is needed to blow away debris, cleaning, provide cooling or other functions.

If a ¼” hose pipe is kept open at a 7 bar compressed air line for cleaning for at least 1000 hours
per annum,it can cost about Rs.1.0 lakhs / annum.If absolutely necessary, compressed air

should be used only with blow guns to keep the air pressure below 2 bars.

Other Observations and recommendations :

1. Observed automatic drain traps are installed for air receiver. Kindly note that, manual
discharge of moisture through air receiver may have human errors in it. In that situation,
moisture may pass towards pneumatic instruments and would affect the performance of
instrument and helps in compressed air leakages through quick release fittings, threaded