TECHNICAL ARTICLE - COMPRESSED AIR CONSUMPTION MONITORING

Make your Compressor save your money

Why compressed air?

Virtually in every manufacturing facility in the world, for hundreds of industrial control applications, compressed air systems are used as power sources for tools and equipment. Most industrial facilities need some form of compressed air - from running a simple air tool to operating pneumatic controls.

Leaks waste energy and money

Compressed air is an advantageous but also rather costly energy source. An undetected hole or a leak in compressed air lines can cost a plant several thousand rupees per year. Predictive leak detection and repair will result in substantial cost savings and system efficiency. However, if these costs are not measured and accounted for separately then there is no motivation for the person responsible for the equipment to work towards cutting the costs of compressed air consumption. If the system's compressed air consumption is recorded, however, there is greater motivation to detect leaks and reduce consumption.

How are the leaks detected?
Dividing a plant into zones is key to leak detection

In order to provide predictive maintenance information, a plant should be first divided into zones based on the number of fittings and potential leakage points. After sectioning a plant into smaller, more manageable zones, the meter is mounted in the supply line to the zone. The sensor will detect leakage areas based on the zone's increase in air consumption over time or monitor air consumption when machines in the zone are shut down.

After a leakage area is detected, leak repair can occur quickly.  A compressed air flow meter will target a leakage area by zone so that plant personnel can focus on a specific, smaller area, rather than search an entire plant for air leaks. With the zone identified, maintenance can quickly pinpoint the exact leak location and repair the leak.

Thus, a compressed air flow meter can monitor:

·         Leakage per individual machine

·         Leakage per zones in a plant

·         Consumption per machine cycle

·         Consumption per shift

·         Consumption per zones in a plant

It can also verify leak repair and help in system improvements.

How can Testo help?

∙ We discuss with you the details and condition of your compressed air network.
∙ We offer a suitable instrument for demo of your requirements (if you want to start on a small scale)
∙ We offer complete systems that can include monitoring of consumption - Dewpoint Transmitter for air quality and Compressed air flow meter for quantity, with or without PC communication for data analysis.

In other words, we cater to  your compressed air system needs with simple or complex smart solutions and make the burden of looking after your compressed air, easy to handle.

Benefits:

Not only the energy costs could be reduced by monitoring the compressed air, but the purchase of another compressor is no longer necessary and an existing compressor could be switched to standby. Installation and purchase of the compressed air meter is paid off in no time.

While Testo Compressed Air Flow Meter 6440 monitors consumption of compressed air, TestoDew Point Transmitter 6740 monitors quality of compressed air.

Compressed air is used in all areas of industry. Humidity is normally undesirable because it can cause damage or impair the quality of the end product. Testo trace humidity sensors enable you to keep an eye on these processes.

Courtesy: Testo India Pvt. Ltd.
For more info: Write to info@testoindia.com or visit www.testo.com/en-IN.

Fast, non- contact measurement of surface temperature with Infrared Technology

Testo 830: The series of universally applicable infraredthermometers from testo for non- contact temperature measurement in trade and industry.

Equipped with new processor, testo 830 IR thermometers provide better resolution for even more precise measurements with accuracy of 0.1 °C. The limit values of the last measurement can be displayed and even better monitored, all thanks to the min./max. function.

The testo 830-T1 with 1-point laser measurement spot marking and 10:1 optics.

With an impressive speed, testo 830-T1 can take two measurements per second that helps you undertake bigger measuring tasks quickly and efficiently.

The testo 830-T2 with 2-point laser sighting and connection for external probes.

It is designed to perform fast and accurate surface temperature measurements in the HVAC area and industry with a new high resolution processor that enables measurement results of unbelievable accuracy. Thanks to the min./max. function which allows defining of temperature limit values according to user needs. To control the limits with the help of an audible and visual alarm has never been easier.

The testo 830-T4 with 30:1 optics for exact measurement at a distance

This universal infrared thermometer is ideal for applications, where, from a secure distance even smaller, difficult to access or dangerous targets can be measured without any problems. The new high resolution processor enables measurement results of unbelievable accuracy. In addition, the min./max. function facilitates defining of temperature limit values according to individual needs. The limits can be easily controlled by an audible and visual alarm.

For infraredtemperature gun, the emission level can be individually set which allows you to adjust it precisely to the surface of the material being measured, to achieve the best possible measurement results.

Introducing New Supertele lens with Testo Thermal Imagers testo 885 and testo 890

Maintenance and servicing are crucial for the operational reliability of a high-voltage system. Potential weak spots such as circuit breakers and power switches, or malfunctions in the transformer cooling can lead to an interruption of the energy supply.

Early and reliable identification of these sources of error is now possible using testo 885 and testo 890 high-resolution thermal imagers:

·         Fast overview thanks to the standard wide-angle lens

·         High-precision measurement of the smallest anomalies from a distance using the super‑telephoto lens

·         Convenient handling thanks to the rotatable display and ergonomic, rotating handle

·         Professional reporting using the testo IRSoft analysis software

Write to us now at info@testoindia.com – we will be happy to advise you, on everything you need to know about the maintenance of high-voltage systems with a thermal imager: Or visit our website www.testo.com/en-IN for more information.

Testo India Pvt. Ltd.
+91 20 6560 0203
info@testoindia.com
www.testo.com/en-IN.

Visualize thermal processes in R&D with the thermal imager testo 890.

In order to remain competitive in the global economy, companies must introduce better and better products to the market at shorter and shorter intervals. Putting this into effect is to a great extent the responsibility of the participating R&D departments. Tricky steps in the product development process must be monitored, analyzed and optimized early and highly precisely. The thermal imager testo 890 is the ideal tool for this. It allows the heat allocation of individual components or whole assemblies to be measured without contact and non-intrusively. The heating and cooling actions of product components can be remarkably presented as a time progression thanks to the image sequence capturing. This makes it possible for the thermal imager testo 890 to ensure product quality as well as the efficiency of production cycles.

The challenge.

The main task in R&D is to increase speed of the development times of new products without making compromises regarding quality and safety. For this purpose, important process steps must be precisely monitored and analyzed in order to be able to constantly optimize them. However, potential sources of error are not always easy to identify, so that a detailed analysis of the product or certain components is inevitable. Thermal processes are especially relevant. These can be presented as thermal images. Static thermal images can provide an insight into the heat distribution, but it is only an observation of temperature developments as a time progression which really allows all anomalies to be detected.

This is relevant in electronic development and other areas. In this field, components such as transistors are becoming ever smaller and are positioned closer and closer to each other. For this reason, overheating is difficult to identify, but can have serious consequences. The developers must therefore always keep an eye on even the smallest details, and test them for susceptibility to malfunction. A further difficulty is the lack of clarity as to when a problem occurs, and where. In R&D, it is crucial to know exactly where and when to look, in order to detect an anomaly. If, for example, temperature-sensitive components are installed adjacent to ones with develop heat, there is a latent danger of heat transfer – the desired function of an individual component or the complete product would be endangered.

The objective of R&D in the plastics processing industry is to improve cycle times and simultaneously to ensure optimum product quality. It is important here that the right mould release temperature is reached, and the moulds have a temperature at which a heat distribution is present in the mould which is suitable for avoiding flow lines or incomplete casting when injecting. The temperatures must also be monitored during the cooling phase of the moulded object after mould release, in order to test it for distortion or stretching. In addition to this, very fine faults in the plastic, such as moulding lines, must be identified precisely.

And finally, detailed observations of temperature developments usually generate very large quantities of data, of which often only a fraction is relevant. Despite this, all data have to be examined conscientiously, in order to be able to detect all anomalies. A great deal of time is lost searching – time which could certainly be be better spent elsewhere.

The solution.

With its numerous innovations and intuitive functions, the thermal imager testo 890 is the optimum tool for visualizing all thermal processes in R&D, thus accelerating the product

development process.

Presentation of the heating process of several processors on a circuit board in a temperature-time diagram in the IRSoft.

Plastic component with abnormal heat development in the lower part. This can be traced to insufficient cooling of a core part in the injection moulding machine tool.

Identify even the smallest faults

Thermography of microelectronics and other measurement objects with very fine structures requires a high geometric resolution. This is the only way the smallest structures can be measured reliably. A detector size of 640 x 480 pixels is indispensable for this purpose. The testo 890 provides this – and with it, 307200 individual measurement values. In combination with a 42° lens, the thermal imager thus allows a focus distance of only 10 cm. This makes the resolution of tiny structures of only 113 μm possible. If the camera is being used in hand-held operation, the SuperResolution technology can additionally be applied. This patent-pending innovation from Testo records several images one after the other in the shortest possible time, and slightly offset to each other. Using an algorithm, these are then calculated into a single thermal image with four times the number of measurement values. Even higher-resolution images than usual – up to 70 μm – are then available when subsequently viewing the data in the professional analysis software IRSoft.

If you would like to learn more about Testo SuperResolution technology, simply order the brochure.

 Analyze heat development as a time progression

 If the developments of temperatures need to be observed over time, the testo 890 is able to record a sequence from a series of images. You obtain radiometric image sequences which allow you to evaluate the temperature in the thermal image for every point in the time progression and at every position of the measurement object. This avoids time-consuming searches.

The recording is made at individually configurable intervals, and can be started manually or after a timer countdown. After finishing the measurement, you can examine the recorded sequences conveniently at a PC in the professional analysis software IRSoft. If your workplace provides space for a more extensive experimental set-up with your thermal imager, you can connect the testo 890 to a PC via USB interface, and use the fully radiometric video streaming in the IRSoft function "fully radiometric video measurement". Here you benefit among other things from a higher recording speed of up to 25 Hz.

In order to evaluate temperature developments as a time progression, you can present measurement points and profile lines as a temperature-time diagram, which you can then

export as a graph or Excel® file.

Work only with relevant data

If you need to be able to record thermal images only above a certain thermal limit value, you can benefit from testo 890's automatic, limit value-based trigger. This triggers the thermal imager only when a limit value defined by you has been reached. This function has the further advantage that you only record data which are really relevant for the development of your product. The viewing of unnecessary measurement data can be dispensed with, resulting in further time savings.

With the Testo thermal imager, you can:

• Record image sequences directly in the imager, thus visualizing thermal processes in high    resolution

• Work more efficiently with an automatic,limit value-based trigger

• Transfer the measured data to temperature-time diagrams and Excel®

To know more, write to us at info@testoindia.com or visit www.testo.com/en-IN.