Asomugha - Articles and Press Releases

Industrial Air Power Ltd is the authorised distributor for Ingersoll Rand Industrial Technologies products throughout Wales and the South West of England. The two companies have made a dramatic shift from being suppliers of equipment to providers of solutions. We are fully conversant with all aspects of air generation and equipped to carry out energy audits on any installed system, regardless of size or manufacturer.

A full system audit includes leak detection, measurement of energy consumption, and flow measurement including pressure, temperature and final air quality.

As utility rates continue to rise and firms continue to look to green initiatives, energy consumption has become a growing concern for manufacturers.

One of the largest energy users within a plant is the compressed air system. Energy recovery provides a cost-effective way for manufacturers to reduce their energy bills while simultaneously benefiting the environment by capturing the thermal energy created through the compression process and putting it to work. Where the heat produced from a compressor can be fully utilised, simple payback periods of less than two years are frequently achieved.

Having already worked with Carbon Trust on a variety of projects, Terram called on its expertise when faced with rising energy costs. The specialist manufacturer of geosynthetic materials, employing 95 staff at its manufacturing plant near Pontypool, worked with Industrial Air Power to eliminate energy inefficiencies and redesign and install a new air compressor system. The result was an industry best in terms of energy usage and savings of £202,000 per annum. It also produced:

* Energy savings of approximately 11.25 million kWh over five years
* Cost savings of approximately £1m in five years
* Emission savings of 7,390 tonnes CO2 in the same period
* Payback of approximately 24 months

David Roberts, control engineer at Terram Ltd, said: “The savings we are seeing now are unbelievable but just as important is the fact that we are reducing our carbon emissions and therefore benefiting the environment.”

Although Terram had already started to investigate the costs for new compressed air systems, it hadn’t looked at where, when, how much air was being used. Carbon Trust helped it identify this and used Industrial Air Power to design a system to meet its needs.

Having a tailor-made system installed in turn allowed Terram to capitalise on secondary savings such as heat recovery and compressed air leak reduction.

Ongoing monitoring of the fully automated system allows the savings to be quantified. Monitoring also ensures that the focus on savings is maintained and remains a high priority for Terram.

The new compressor system was located into the steam boiler house. This enabled Terram to recover the waste heat generated by the compressors and use this to raise the temperature of the water in the hot well, which feeds the boiler. Increased water temperature in turn reduces the amount of gas needed to generate steam.

The aggregated savings from the installation of the new system and implementation of the measures identified represented an 11.8 per cent reduction in the site’s energy consumption and overall a 38.7 per cent reduction in the electrical energy consumption directly associated with the generation of the compressed air.

An annual CO2 saving of 1,214 tonnes has been achieved plus an additional 264 tonnes from a reduction in gas usage due to the heat recovery process.

From monitoring the system, it was calculated that Terram was using on average 85m3/min of compressed air with an efficiency of 8kW/m/min, which equated to 7.2 million kWh per annum. By installing a new compressor set supplied by Industrial Air Power, it was calculated that the efficiency could be improved to 6kW/m3/min. Post-installation monitoring has proved that the new machinery provides an average efficiency of 5.8kW/m3/min – delivering significant savings. The gas savings are on top of this.

The benefits to Terram have been fourfold: a significant reduction in energy costs, the ability to protect plant integrity, reduced maintenance cost and the added benefit of reduced gas consumption from the increased water temperature in the steam boiler hot well.

Installing new Ingersoll Rand two stage fixed speed compressors along with a Nirvana two stage trim compressor, fully automated via a control system provided Terram with primary energy savings. Secondary savings came as a result of the heat recovery process, lower maintenance costs and the leak reduction programme.

The exercise has been successful in achieving reductions of CO2 emissions and the overall costs of supplying the service of compressed air to the business.

A Carbon Trust Wales consultant worked together with Industrial Air Power and Terram engineers providing impartial, independent advice enabling the company to make an informed decision and deliver value for money. Carbon Trust independently validated the energy savings and confirmed that they exceeded Industrial Air Power’s initial projections.

Through our experience in carrying out hundreds of compressed air audits we have identified the majority of existing compressed air systems include one or more of these deadly sins. This will have and adverse affect on your reliability, productivity and energy consumption.

* System over-pressurisation resulting in increased artificial demand
* Excessive waste through air leakage
* False loading of compressors due to lack of system automation and volume
* Inefficiency caused by cycling fixed output compressors
* Excessive pressure drop

If you would like advice on calculating your savings potential and increasing your company’s profitability contact Industrial Air Power on 01656 658961, email sales@airpower.co.uk

Choosing the right fire suppression system for you business is crutial.

Water mist fire suppression systems are totally environmentally friendly, a highly effective alternative to fire sprinkler systems. The water mist fire suppression systems operate over a wide range of pressures and flows to achieve different performance, capabilities and functions.

Low pressure (4-14 bar).
Medium pressure (14-30 Bar).
High pressure (100-110 bar).

Water is environmentally friendly and has a natural ability to absorb heat and by manipulating pressure and nozzle design the effective surface area of the water droplet can be increased, creating a much larger interface with the fire.
As a result water achieves a much greater energy absorption efficiency. Water mist fire suppression systems can be delivered via dedicated pump systems or by stand alone cylinder batteries. The mist created protects against radiated heat and helps to prevent fire spread.

In some instances the environmentally friendly mist acts to scrub the air of smoke to aid visibility and reduce smoke toxicity. An advantage of water mist fire suppression systems is that the lower volumes of water required, in comparison to fire sprinkler systems, means that pipe work diameters and storage capacities decrease accordingly. Our water mist fire suppression systems have many worldwide approvals for both land and marine applications.
Gaseous Fire Suppression Systems
Nobel Fire Systems provide the design, installation and servicing of a full range of gaseous fire suppression systems. As a result of our wide range of gaseous fire suppression systems Nobel Fire Systems are able to cover all risks. The risk to be protected dictates the choices available, taking into consideration the effect on the environment, type of fire risk, physical constraints, building structure and location, practicality and economic considerations.

All the gaseous fire suppression mediums have their own advantages and limitations when applied to protect different risks. Environmentally friendly gaseous fire suppression systems are able to provide an independent solution mindful of the aforementioned elements.
These systems also carry out automatic cleaning, degreasing and odour control of kitchen canopy, ventilation and extraction systems.

The patented system has been developed to work in 4 key areas:

1. Eradication of Grease
Through the control centre the system can be automatically programmed to meet the demands of a particular kitchen. This ensures timely release of the ultra fine mist, which consists of a biological liquid specifically formulated to break down and remove fatty deposits and therefore stop any build up of grease.

2. Odour Control
The removal of fats and greases in the canopy, extraction and ventilation system effectively removes the sources of foul odours. Essential oils can also be introduced into the system to further improve the odour whilst cooking.

3. Enhanced Cleanliness
The system of pipe work and nozzles extends across the entire kitchen canopy, ventilation and extraction systems enabling a level of coverage far beyond that offered by manual cleaning. In addition, having an installed system set to suit the demands of the kitchen ensures cleaning is automatically regulated and therefore kept to a minimum unlike current manual procedures.

4. Reduced Fire Risk
The significant reduction in grease build up greatly reduces the fire load in the canopy and extraction system and therefore the chance of fire and fire spread to other parts of the building.

To summarise, these fire protection systems give maximum fire protection both prevention and cure, a safer, cleaner and more hygienic kitchen environment and savings on both time and cost of installation for both systems.

There may still be a chill in the air and it’s not quite shorts and t-shirt weather yet but the daffodils are almost out, the days are getting longer and the smell of spring is well and truly here.

It’s about now that any fashion savvy fashionista has one thing and one thing only on their minds……their summer wardrobe. London Fashion Week has been prompting people to think about fashion and clothing after the long, dark winter and all the fashion magazines are beginning to feature summer fashion tips and advice.

As much as any fashionista loves wearing boots and let’s face it, there were stunning ones around this winter, it has been long since many have seen their toes! It’s been too cold to have toes uncovered for any longer than it takes to have a shower and thick socks have ruled.

Footwear is an excellent place to start when first thinking of a summer wardrobe. The summer styles are in all the shops both on the high street and online, the styles are fresh and the full range of sizes are available so no disappointment. Close your eyes and think of sandals, holidays and sand between your toes! And think about all the festivals coming up. The UK does see its fair share of rain at these events so take your Hunter Wellies but also your mens sandals.

A staple of any fashion savvy individual and a firm favourite amongst the festival fraternity is a pair of Birkenstock’s. The word timeless doesn’t even begin to describe Birkenstock footwear. Established in the 18th century in Germany, Birkenstock Sandals have certainly been around for a while. Birkenstock Sandals was founded by Johann Adam Birkenstock of Langenberg, Germany. Birkenstock Sandals are still producing great quality sandals and shoes today. Birkenstock Sandals started off with the Birkenstock family making sandals and shoes with special foot bed insoles. The merits of these insoles were such that during World War I, Birkenstock were hired by the military hospital orthopaedic departments to provide specialist footwear for wounded soldiers. From then on Birkenstock sandals and shoes started to become extremely popular with the demand for Birkenstock leading to the brand to expand. In proceeding years, Birkenstock patented their signature foot bed in many countries. Birkenstock have gone on to further develop the orthopaedic foot beds and introduce new styles and nurture classics. Birkenstock are synonymous with their quality craftsmanship and high grade materials.

A far more recent brand but one experiencing huge popularity is Crocs. Crocs are known for their unbelievable comfort with the Crocs Cayman being the original and most popular style. As with many brands, new and innovative styles are being launched each season whilst keeping the ethos of the Crocs brand of letting your feet bend easily and expand naturally for maximum comfort.

In terms of both womens sandals and mens sandals, the rise in comfort footwear is very much welcome. The summer is chilled out and about having fun so sandals such as from Birkenstock and Crocs give that chilled vibe.

The starting point is to tell you that “conventional snowchains” (RUD, KWB), which wrap chain around the whole tyre, are not suitable for increasing numbers of vehicles, usually because they’d be too close to struts or brake pipes, or because there’s electronic sensing equipment which can’t cope with finding metal where there’s normally only rubber.  You must therefore visit a snow chains/ snowchains database if you want to buy conventional snowchains and choose first your car, then your tyre size, and in many cases also your engine size.  Some manufacturers don’t take this prudent view, so you’ll almost certainly be able to buy a set of chains “off the shelf” which will fit around your wheels. Our advice is to check your car handbook very carefully, because if there is a “No fit” for conventional snowchains there could be real danger and expense in fitting the chains and driving the car.

All the “other snowchain systems” (AutoSock, Farad SNOW, Maggi TRAK and Spikes-Spider) can be used on every vehicle, subject to finding a set of the appropriate size, even if the use of conventional snow chains is forbidden.

The Farad, Spikes-Spider and TRAK systems require you to have wheel nut adapters of the correct size for your car; you’ll find all the information you need on the snow chains/ snowchains database on roofbox.co.uk.

All the snow chains/snowchains are are sold in pairs, and need to be fitted to the driving wheels.  Some people also fit them to the non driving wheels, which certainly improves all round stability, but is definitely not necessary.  4 x 4 drivers should fit snowchains to the front wheels unless we tell you which wheels to use – please check the snow chains database for fitting notes.

As a rule of thumb, traction control and anti-skid systems should be turned off when using tyre traction devices, except for AutoSock and Spikes-Spider systems.  If you can’t easily turn off these systems, then it’s probably OK.  Check your handbook!

View all the available options, together with prices and special offers, on the snow chains database.  This contains well over 100,000 links, and they work very hard to keep it as up to date as they can.  Please though (1) check your handbook and (2) fit the snowchains we supply ASAP after receiving them, just to check that they fit, and also to learn how to fit them.