SICK has launched a compressed air monitoring system designed to accurately predict where energy cost-savings can be made by fixing air leaks and removing wastage across production and logistics facilities.
The new Monitoring Box FTMg Premium is described as a ‘digital and scalable’ service that can be used by production planners, energy managers and maintenance engineers to make compressed air cost savings of up to 30%, as well as eliminate manual maintenance regimes.
SICK explained that the ‘enhanced’ digital Monitoring Box Premium service analyses and displays data from the firm’s FTMg flow sensors that measure the compressed air usage of machines and processes. Compressed air consumption data is visualised in graphic displays, while alarms can be set up to alert when new leaks occur.
Compressed air is said to be one of the most expensive resources used in production. SICK added that identifying and correcting leaks is a ‘time-consuming and labour-intensive’ process of routine checks that can still only ever identify leaks at one fixed point in time.
Charlie Walker, digital solutions consultant at SICK UK, said, “Even if you walk around the factory today and identify and fix all your leaks, tomorrow there might be three more you will not have found. Now you can drill down using precise real-time data to discover exactly when, and where, you are producing air and wasting it. The system will tell you how much wastage is going on, and what that’s worth in real money. So, you know when to take action.
“Ultimately compressed-air costs could be reduced by up to 30% delivering a significant Return on Investment, while reducing your CO2 footprint and making servicing both more efficient and effective.”
The SICK FTMg, which stands for Flow Thermal Meter for inert gases, uses the dynamic calorimetric principle for precision measurement, enabling it to detect even the smallest changes.
