Improving energy efficiency in industrial air filtration

Energy efficiency is increasingly more important for industrial manufacturers due to rising energy costs resulting from scarce resources. Many manufacturers in the world have succeeded in reducing their energy costs by up to 20% with their holistic approach to energy management. One of the key points in this strategic approach has been to set cost-reducing targets and to prefer energy-efficient systems in accordance with the actual needs of the facility.

A large portion of industrial electricity usage is driven by systems using electric motors. If a calculation is made over the average life of an electric motor, the energy consumed during the life of the motor can turn up 100 times the sales price of the product. At this point, the reduction in the number of electric motor systems or the savings in operating time will directly improve the general electricity need of the facility.

Reduce energy consumption for filter cleaning

Dust collection systems may be a significant source of energy consumption through electricity driving the fans and compressed air being utilized to clean filters. There are straight forward approaches to reduce fan energy consumption such as Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) but often customers overlook reducing compressed air costs. Compressors are a notoriously energy inefficient as typically only 10-20% of the consumed energy goes toward the point of use and the rest is wasted in heat, leaks or other areas.

“IntelliPULSE™ filter cleaning technology reduces energy consumption and maintenance costs at dust collectors”

Nederman Insight control panels are equipped with IntelliPULSE technology which reduces unnecessary cleaning to provide more effective filtration and longer filter bag life. IntelliPULSE technology works based on an advanced algorithm maintaining a single pressure differential (dP) setpoint over varying dust input loads while simultaneously minimizing filter pulse cleaning.

Any Nederman pulse jet dust collector that uses the Insight control panel automatically optimizes off time between pulses to maintain a constant differential pressure drop across the filter element. As a result, the energy required for filter cleaning can be reduced up to 40% over set-point adjustment and 90% over continuous cleaning.

Since filters are cleaned with fewer pulses, micro-tears in the filters occur much less providing a longer lifetime and reducing filter replacement costs up to 40%.

“Nederman future-proof technologies prepare the factories for today and tomorrow.” 

Optimizing energy consumption has a major role in saving energy and another equally important subject is diagnostic technologies. Nederman insight control panels are constantly powered with new features providing a baseline for future improvements.

Soon ‘Real-Time Condition/Health Monitoring’ capabilities will be available for solenoids, diaphragms, and filters which will enable instant detection of open and shorted solenoids that cause DP to rise and filters to clog, locating ruptured/lazy/frozen diaphragms that rapidly waste compressed air and locating leaks before emissions are even visible. Compared to continuous cleaning mode, IntelliPULSE technology can reduce the pulse rates up to 90% on most filters and drop compressed air usage from level A to level B. In addition, with the help of upcoming ‘Diagnostic Failed Diaphragm Detection’ features, ruptured diaphragms will be able to be detected and fixed before they leak air for long periods. As a result, the compressed air usage is expected to drop from level B to level C offering a total energy reduction up to 60% in compressed air.

Table 1: Compressed Air Usage (kWh/day)

Optimized energy consumption - more necessary than ever

Today, it has become more necessary to quantify system performance and lower energy consumption than ever. We are constantly innovating our products with future-proof technologies enabling valuable ways to analyze the data and increase energy efficiency. Contact your local clean air expert to learn more about our Insight control panels and technologies empowering users to operate their filtration system more effectively, improving plant productivity, and supporting a more sustainable future by using the worlds valuable resources less.