Optimising Compressed Air System Energy Efficiency - The Role of Flow Metering and Exergy Analysis

Harris, Paul G.; Nolan, Sean M.; O’Donnell, Garret E.; Meskell, Craig

doi:10.1007/978-981-4451-48-2_21

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is due to the great diversity in the shaping of CAS parameters, such as lengths of pneumatic lines, diameters, number and size of valves, number and size of actuators, dead volumes, etc., which largely makes it difficult to obtain repeatable results from the exergy analysis of the dynamics of the utilization stage. Furthermore, the exergy analysis tool has been used in other studies [18,[40][41][42] to assess the exergy efficiency of various CAS configurations. Rakova and Weber [40] conducted a calculation of the exergy flow and accumulated exergy of individual pneumatic components, examining the transient exergy flow within each component.…”

Section: Assessment Of Current Results Of Energy and Exergy Lossesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Energy Overconsumption Reduction Methods in the Utilization Stage in Compressed Air Systems

Gryboś,

Leszczyński

2024

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pneumatic systems use the energy of compressed air to carry out manufacturing automation processes through the implementation of complex handling and motion tasks. However, these systems are energy intensive: it is estimated that pneumatic systems in manufacturing plants consume approximately 10% of all electricity consumed in the industrial sector. At the same time, the energy efficiency of the whole pneumatic system is observed to be 6–10%, due to the compression process, oversizing, and overconsumption. There are numerous solutions in the literature focusing on improving efficiency at the compression stage of utilization; however, for the utilization stage, there is a lack of systematization and grouping of these solutions. The following review will summarize current knowledge about the utilization stage and methods for improving oversizing and energy overconsumption. In addition, a method of exergy analysis for pneumatic systems will be presented, which is a very useful tool to assess the efficiency of these systems.

show abstract

Section: Assessment Of Current Results Of Energy and Exergy Lossesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Energy Overconsumption Reduction Methods in the Utilization Stage in Compressed Air Systems

Gryboś,

Leszczyński

2024

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Much more adequate is the second law of thermodynamics and exergy analysis, which takes into account not only changes in temperature but also pressure and the irreversibility of changes. In the literature there is some static exergy analysis of the air compression and preparation stage [23][24][25][26][27]. These analyses lack an estimate of the actual consumption of compressed air, which is defined by the final devices in the utilisation stage.…”

Section: Introdutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exergy Analysis for the Intermittent Air Supply in Pneumatic Machines

Gryboś,

Leszczyński

2024

14th International Fluid Power Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pneumatic systems are widely used to automate production lines in manufactured plants. Their big disadvantage is their low energy efficiency, 10-20%. It is mainly due to the overconsumption of compressed air by the oversized pneumatic actuator and other components. Reducing air consumption at the utilisation stage can result in significant exergy savings. This can be done by lowering the supply pressure, introducing back pressure, or using expansion energy in the actuator. The most promising is the last method that can be implemented using the intermittent air supply in the pneumatic actuator. The literature lacks an exergy analysis of the utilisation stage of pneumatic and intermittent air supply systems. There is also no optimisation of the control algorithm of intermittent air supply control algorithm in terms of minimising exergy consumption. In this paper, we demonstrate a mathematical model and exergy analysis as a tool for assessing the efficiency of the utilisation of pneumatic system and conduct computer simulation. Exergy analysis showed that for intermittent air supply the reduction in exergy consumption decreased by more than 60% compared to the classic oversized system. The results of the computer simulation give the opportunity to optimise the operation of the utilisation stage in pneumatic systems. Furthermore, exergy analysis can be a useful tool for energy analysis and assessment of pneumatic systems, as well as providing information on the desired direction of changes in the installation.

show abstract

“…However, as major research on energy efficient compressed air generation and distribution [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] as well as on the optimisation of ejector performance and efficiency was shown [7,[16][17][18], there is currently a lack of generally applicable methods for the design of vacuum-based handling processes. The process design for vacuum-based handling tasks is usually based on prior experience and best practice knowledge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling of vacuum grippers for the design of energy efficient vacuum-based handling processes

Gabriel

Fahning

Meiners

et al. 2020

Prod. Eng. Res. Devel.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vacuum-based handling is widely used in industrial production systems, particularly for hand-ling of sheet metal parts. The process design for such handling tasks is mostly based on approximate calculations and best-practice experience. Due to the lack of detailed knowledge about the parameters that significantly influence the seal and force transmission behavior of vacuum grippers, these uncertainties are encountered by oversizing the gripping system by a defined safety margin. A model-based approach offers the potential to overcome this limitation and to dimension the gripping system based on a more exact prediction of the expected maximum loads and the resulting gripper deformation. In this work, we introduce an experiment-based modeling method that considers the dynamic deformation behavior of vacuum grippers in interaction with the specific gripper-object combination. In addition, we demonstrate that for these specific gripper-object combinations the gripper deformation is reversible up to a certain limit. This motivates to deliberately allow for a gripper deformation within this stability range. Finally, we demonstrate the validity of the proposed modeling method and give an outlook on how this method can be implemented for robot trajectory optimization and, based on that, enable an increase of the energy efficiency of vacuum-based handling of up to 85%.

show abstract

Optimising Compressed Air System Energy Efficiency - The Role of Flow Metering and Exergy Analysis

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

A Review of Energy Overconsumption Reduction Methods in the Utilization Stage in Compressed Air Systems

A Review of Energy Overconsumption Reduction Methods in the Utilization Stage in Compressed Air Systems

Exergy Analysis for the Intermittent Air Supply in Pneumatic Machines

Modeling of vacuum grippers for the design of energy efficient vacuum-based handling processes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About