He comments that the new division is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment that assists clients by providing accurate information on the state of the compressed air systems' performance.

The new division offers monitoring of dew point, air pressure, airflow, air temperature and oil carry-over.

The division is linked through the use of a DS300 mobile battery-powered data logger with LCD display, capable of logging up to 500 000 bits of information. This information is downloaded and displayed into a single multi-axis graph for presentation and evaluation to the client. The ability to tap into a running air system also eliminates the need for plant downtime, says Cockfield. The mobile DS300 monitoring system provides accurate answers to engineers' demands for information on air wastage and energy savings potential.

Energy costs are escalating rapidly and engineers of all kinds are under pressure to reduce energy consumption. Air compressors are one of the major consumers of power in an industrial environment, thus the ability to identify the volume wasted by system leakage is crucial.

The DS300 mobile system is also used to evaluate air compressor performance or for identifying air consumption rates for sectors within a plant. Armed with these accurate figures, the cost of the compressed air as well as the maintenance costs can be allocated to each department fairly and precisely.

Artic's service division has been operating with mobile dew point monitoring equipment for over eight months. The ability to test an air dryer's performance has proven to be a valuable competence and eliminates doubts regarding a dryer's dew point performance.

A dryer's performance ability is not determined by Freon gas suction pressures or temperatures, but by the dryness of the air, or dew point. A dryer may give every indication of normal performance but wet compressed-air may go unnoticed, owing to a fractured heat exchanger. The majority of dryer technicians cannot identify this kind of fault, says Cockfield. Only with the latest in mobile test equipment can this fault be quickly identified.

On absorption-type dryers, chemical media performance and purge air controls can quickly be determined and reset if necessary, eliminating compressed-air wastage and indicating when media change-outs are required.

For larger systems, a permanent instrumentation package can be installed to provide a monitoring system that tracks the air systems performance 24/7.

Oil carry-over mobile monitoring is now available to prove the effectiveness of inline air filtration, essential in preventing air distribution system contamination. "It is far easier to periodically monitor the state of a coalescing air filters oil removal performance, than to suffer distribution system contamination that is almost impossible to clean out once it is infected", states Cockfield.

For bigger systems operating lubricated compressors but demanding high air standards, a permanent oil carry-over monitoring system can provide continuous analog outputs. Trip points through software can be installed and adjusted to suit system demands.

The cost of an audit is inexpensive when compared to the cost of compressed air wastage and substandard air treatment.

Artic Driers is the Southern African distributor for the full range of air treatment products manufactured by Jemaco Flair of South Korea, along with other leading compressed-air products imported from several different countries.