Regarding the instrument air supply
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Hello everyone. In our company, the instrument air is supplied on a collective basis. I’m curious to know how other companies supply air to their workshops. The air arriving at the workshops contains a lot of water and oil; I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for dealing with this issue How do the companies everyone works for handle this? Thank you
A drying device is installed at the outlet of air compressors; our unit uses an aluminum oxide cyclic regeneration drying system, which works extremely well! Furthermore, a filtering and drying device should be installed at the main pipe entering the workshop, with regular waste discharge; additionally, a pneumatic three-piece unit should be added at the front end where the equipment enters!
. . . What was mentioned upstairs is molecular sieve, right? . Our instrument air is the air that comes from the compressor, has been cooled, passed through a molecular sieve, and then exits at the outlet of the booster stage. . It basically doesn’t contain much water. Molecular sieves must be free of water; otherwise, freezing can occur in subsequent components, such as expanders. . Freezing can lead to very serious consequences. . . Where does the instrument air used by the poster come from? Isn’t it derived from air separation? Won’t you produce liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen? No dew point analysis?
I think the main issue is that the design of your air compressor and the air supply for the instruments is not good. In our company, there is a gas storage tank after the air compressor, followed by a condenser from which water needs to be drained regularly. The air quality in the workshop’s control room is excellent
1. A desiccant should be installed at the outlet of the instrument air compressor; adsorption drying using freeze-drying plus heat-free (or slightly heated) regeneration is recommended. The dew point of the instrument air should generally be determined based on local climate conditions, with a dew point at atmospheric pressure of below -40 degrees being sufficient. 2. The solution to oil in the air is to choose appropriate filters and inspect and replace them promptly. Choose an oil-free air compressor when possible.
The poster is probably from the north; indeed, water accumulation in the instrument air supply is a serious problem in winter there. For those working with instruments, it’s necessary to drain water regularly – from the air compressors, from the distribution units, and from the pressure reducing valves as well. Of course, aside from the air supplied by large compression units, the instrument air drawn from such units is generally very dry.
Use a fuel-water separation filter, and drain the storage tank regularly. Attach a three-way filter pressure reducing valve to the table.