From unregulated demand alerts to compressor maintenance reminders

The whole philosophy behind our BayWatch system is to provide you with the ability to quickly transform operational data into useful information for:

• Compressor performance evaluation
• Increased efficiency
• Larger energy savings

In our last post, we talked about two of BayWatch’s major data points and how they can help you benchmark and grade your compressed air systems and compressors, as well as measure industry-standard KPIs.

Today, we’re going to explore more features and how they can assist you with your compressed air systems and air compressors:

• Unregulated Demand Alerts
• Compressed Air System Performance Trending and Analysis
• Compressor Maintenance Verification
• Compressor Maintenance Reminders

1) Unregulated Demand Alerts (e.g., Leaks, Open Valves)

Measuring your compressed air system’s demand is extremely important for calculating costs and having systems than run smoothly.

In an article for Hydraulics & Pneumatics, R. Scot Foss notes:

“Typically, 80% of total demand is unregulated. As real demand increases, supply pressure drops and 80% of the total use volume diminishes proportionally to the reduced density of the supply air. The inverse is also true.”

Through our BayWatch system, you can receive alerts about any unregulated demand your system has.

The goal of these alerts is to measure your system flow vs. your compressor flows (remember: these are two of the main KPIs we recommend that you measure).

• System Flow: The amount of compressed air produced/moving through the system (usually measured in CFM/cubic feet per minute).
• Compressor Flow: Measured at the compressor (pre-dryers and filters).

If there’s a big discrepancy, that could indicate that there is a lot of unregulated demand that can be fixed.

You can see how much air you are losing because of:

• Leaks: Leaks occur when compressed air is lost to ambient conditions. You can also think of leaks as waste. As Foss writes, “It is not unusual for the sum of all leaks to equal up to one-third of the total air usage if they are not brought under control.”
• Open Valves: The negative result of open valves leads to open drainage, which can be very expensive. Foss explains: “The usage is not usually significant by volume, but the high rates of flow for short periods of time can depress the supply pressure enough to keep any compressor from unloading or turning off.” If a valve is left open, it will exhaust 477 ft³/of air at 100 psig per minute.
• Other Unregulated Demand

In essence, BayWatch will compare both the system flow and the compressor flow to determine where the problems are and provide you with any of the above alerts that affect your system.

2) Compressed Air System Performance Trending and Analysis with the BayWatch Charting Engine

The BayWatch Charting Engine allows you to visualize your compressed air system performance intuitively.

Before they work with us, many of our customers never really looked at the data behind their compressed air system because they didn’t have an easy way to do so.

Without this data, they couldn’t see long-term trends like performance degradation or more and more air usage for the same production schedules (indicating that something was wrong with the air system, leaks, or a stuck valve).

But now, with the BayWatch Charting Engine, you can!

We give you all the data you need, including information about your compressed air system that you may not have even thought about before (for example, having compressors that run 24/7 even though production is only Monday-Friday, 8 am-6 pm).

3) Compressor Performance Verification

BayWatch can compare your compressor performance before and after overhauls and major service.

Essentially, we use performance data to empirically measure whether air compressors perform better after they’ve been repaired or rebuilt (which can cost $100K per compressor).

Sometimes, companies will invest in rebuilding an air compressor, only to have it perform worse than before the rebuild. In these cases, BayWatch is an invaluable tool for companies to hold vendors accountable for their work.

4) Compressor Maintenance Reminders  

Like all equipment, preventative and regular maintenance is needed for air compressors.

Our compressor maintenance reminders mostly consist of performance alerts and surge tune reminders.

These automated task management/reminders about maintaining air compressors ensure that you regularly service and maintain them to increase their service life and operational efficiency.

Have you ever run into any issues with leaks, open valves, or other unregulated demand in your compressed air system? What did you do to resolve it?