Pneumatic systems are an energy efficient alternative

4th May 2018

     

Font size: - +

With there being a need to consider service life costs when planning municipal water management systems, pneumatic systems and industrial equipment supplier Festo says pneumatic systems are 28% more advantageous.

Pneumatic automation technology is robust, cost effective and reliable because the compressed air is easy to transport, store and regulate. A comparison of pneumatic and electric actuator technology reveals a drastic cost benefit in pneumatic technology use. An example of a filtration system for a municipal water treatment plant with seven multi-layer filters, seven activated carbon filters and 84 automated process valves revealed that the acquisition costs of a pneumatic system are more advantageous.

Pneumatic actuators only require electricity for regulating and generating compressed air; the movement itself is triggered by the compressed air. By contrast, electric actuators continuously need energy for the electronics, the heating and movement. As a result, pneumatic actuators are more energy efficient and cheaper to run.

Further, in water technology plants, process valves are often actuated infrequently or not at all for long periods of time. This can lead to the formation of deposits and caking and lead to increased breakaway torques or forces. Pneumatic actuators can overcome this problem simply by increasing the air pressure. They cope well with loads without getting damaged and are not affected by differences in temperature, contamination and humidity. Pneumatic actuators only require electricity for regulating and generating compressed air and act directly on the shut-off valves.

Since pneumatic actuators are overload-proof and a higher actuation force can be achieved simply by increasing the pressure, it is often possible to use smaller sizes with a lower weight than would be the case for electric actuators. The company mentions that this would be the case provided the tubing has zero leakage and the units are precisely dimensioned and this will then result in energy efficient solutions.

Festo states that its pneumatic systems are able to deliver high forces of up to 75 000 N and torques of up to 10 000 Nm.

The new Festo Motion Terminal Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic (VTEM) system catapults pneumatics into the age of Industry 4.0 with apps that can replace over 50 individual components, according to the company. The new type of function integration, combined with software apps, simplifies the entire value chain, since only one piece of hardware is now required.

With the Motion Terminal, for example, different pressure levels can be used for opening and closing process valves. This can drastically decrease compressed air consumption. In addition, a diagnostic function can be activated after a freely selectable number of switching operations. This function detects any leaks on an actuator-specific basis and sends specific maintenance messages or shuts down that section of the plant. This makes laborious manual leakage detection in extensive compressed air networks unnecessary.

The energy efficient Festo module MSE6-E2M, makes saving energy easy. The integrated flow rate and pressure sensors monitor and automatically reduce the air consumption in systems. The module detects the operating status when no compressed air is consumed, and automatically shuts off the supply.

Once the supply is shut off, it checks for any leaks in the system. If there is too much of a drop, the controller is notified. This automatic leakage detection system enables specific maintenance to be carried out, and the continuous monitoring of consumption increases process reliability.

Pneumatics is an uncomplicated technology and is easy to install, says the company. “Apart from end-position sensing and monitoring the compressed air supply, it doesn’t need to be monitored and checked. It follows the ‘fit and forget’ principle,” it states.

Pneumatic actuators have proven to be resistant to vibration and are durable. They are made from a small number of components and are thus less likely to break down. Pneumatic actuators are also resistant to continuous loads and remain maintenance-free over their entire service life.

Harsh environments with high temperature differences, contamination and humidity, cannot harm corrosion-resistant pneumatic components. They are temperature-insensitive between –20 ºC and +80 ºC, with special low temperature designs being insensitive down to –40 ºC and high temperature designs up to 120 ºC.

Edited by Zandile Mavuso
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Features

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION