 In the fall of 2008, Lewis Systems & Service was contracted by Graham-White to perform a supply side compressed air audit at our main manufacturing facility in Salem, VA. The audit was performed on two plant systems. The first system provides low pressure compressed air for general use in the manufacturing processes. The second system provides higher pressure air used in testing Graham-White's products.
During the week-long audit Lewis Systems recorded flow, pressure and amps for each compressor at 12 second intervals. After the audit was complete, Graham-White was provided with a complete study showing all of the captured data along with recommendations for improvements.
In the case of the test air system, one of the recommendations was to simply designate a smaller, existing compressor as the primary unit and utilize another compressor to automatically trim the load based on demand. This small change promised to save Graham-White approximately $10k per year in energy costs.
was to purchase and install a Gardner-Denver model VS80 variable speed rotary screw compressor. The variable speed machine adjusts its speed to the demand for air based on downstream system pressure. The projected energy savings was around $17k per year. After the machine was purchased and installed a justification audit was performed, the actual savings was over $21k.
Ben Grisso
Graham-White Manufacturing |
