General Industrial Case Study
A flour milling facility was looking for options to reduce their electrical expense. When evaluating their electrical load they found PD blowers were a significant percentage of the overall load. They opted to evaluate a flour load-out system with a 75hp PD blower for their initial project. The Inovair Drop in Replacement turbo blower provided a solution to their needs. This option also allowed them to retain their investment in their existing blower stand and premium efficiency motor.
Inovair worked with the customer to evaluate the system under two different scenarios to determine the maximum benefit; reducing the electrical consumption at existing capacity versus increasing the capacity to reduce the overall operating time. For the first option, the Inovair Turbo Blower was set to duplicate the operating conditions of the PD blower with an average line operating pressure of 9.5psi. This setup reduced the power consumption from 51.5KW to 39KW, for a 24% energy savings.
The second option involved evaluating an increase in the operating pressure capabilities of the Inovair Turbo blower to fully utilize the existing 75hp motor at the required airflow. This change resulted in an increase in line capacity from 48,000 lbs. per hour to 60,000 lbs. per hour, for a 25% improvement in throughput. The average line operating pressure was 12.5psi with a power consumption of 51.9 KW. An additional benefit of the increased throughput was the ability to decrease the operating time for the entire load out system resulting in even more energy savings. With consideration being given to both options, the customer selected the increased throughput as the most beneficial solution.
Utilizing the compact and durable Inovair 2200 turbo blower, this technology has proven to be more than capable of standing up to the 350˚ F inlet air temperatures. Operating at 5-7 psi and providing a constant 1,400 cfm of heated airflow, the automated manufacturing process also carries a 24/7 duty cycle for maximum productivity.
A flour mill put the Inovair Complete Blower System to work loading flour into trucks and railcars. The Inovair turbo blower replaced an existing PD blower which was located outside under a rain cover. Given this outside setting, reducing blower noise to less than 85 dBA was a major advancement for the facility – meeting current NIOSH guidelines while surpassing those from OSHA. Additionally, the Inovair turbo blower showed an immediate 20%+ energy savings (at 8-9 psi) when compared to the previous PD blower.
Facility downtime is expensive, whether caused by a plugged line or a failing blower. A facility experiencing downtime created by shorter than expected PD blower life and recurring plugged lines, as well as seeking energy reduction opportunities, installed an Inovair Complete Blower System (CBS). The Inovair turbo blower has not only generated energy savings approaching 30%, it has also shown the ability to generate a larger pressure rise than the PD blower or roots blower it replaced, reducing the exposure to plugs. Additionally, the noise levels from PD blowers or roots blowers running at high pressure can become unacceptable, requiring additional investment in silencers and/or noise isolation. With the quiet design of the Inovair CBS, the unit was placed outside the blower room freeing up space in a very crowded environment.
