COMPRESSED AIR, VACUUM, AND GENERATORS 34 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS January/February 2024 www.hpmag.co.uk Costly compressed air and argon/nitrogen leaks found at pharmaceutical company Pharma uses a lot of compressed air, as well as special gas, which means leaks can quickly become a huge source of energy waste - this was highlighted when UE Systems surveyed a pharmaceutical plant using the UltraView. During the demonstration the company was able to pinpoint and report 29 compressed air leaks in about two hours of survey. The total cost for these leaks is estimated at a costly £28,313 per year. This includes some major leaks, including one huge leak which has been undetected so far and costing the company £5809. The UltraView was able to easily pinpoint it even at a five-metre distance. Besides compressed air, UE Systems could also detect some very expensive argon and nitrogen leaks. Special or innate gas leaks can become quite expensive, as the price for these is usually 3 or 4 times more expensive than compressed air. In the video it can be seen how the UltraView could find an argon leak at a tank. This is a leak losing 9 litres per minute of argon, meaning that, if it were left undetected, the tank would be empty in about 3 to 4 days. Food packaging plant: detecting compressed air, vacuum and vent leaks At a food packaging plant UE Systems did a quick survey using its UltraView camera. Packaging facilities normally rely heavily on compressed air, so it was no surprise that the company was able to quickly find 22 leaks amounting to almost £13,000, including two leaks at hard-to-reach locations which it could easily detect even at a five-metre distance. These would be much more difficult to pinpoint using traditional listen-only ultrasound instruments. On top of that, the UltraView could also detect three vacuum leaks and one leak in the ventilation system, as can be seen in the video. Vacuum leaks are a big issue in many industries, as they are very hard to detect and can quickly lead to product quality loss and increase in production time. Also, interesting to note that leak at the ventilation system, which is not a typical application for the UltraView but was very important at this facility, since the maintenance team wants to assure the vents are completely sealed, otherwise dangerous gas might not be expelled from the facility as they should. RIGHT: Costly compressed air and argon/nitrogen leaks found at pharmaceutical company
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