Air Usage Data Increases Company Profit

A large American container company required mass flow meters on their air compressor lines to help evaluate the efficiency of blow mold machines in their plant. The manufacturer melts PET chips and extrudes them through blow mold machines to produce plastic bottles for the beverage industry. Plant engineers need data on compressed air usage to help them reduce utility and production costs.

Four compressors control header pressure to the production area and are cycled to meet the air pressure requirements of the molding units. The main high-pressure line feeds seven 1.5 inch pipes to each of the machines, which are dedicated to a specific size and type of bottle. By monitoring each of these lines, the plant engineers can accurately allocate production costs, and develop a new control strategy for compressor staging.

SIERRA'S SOLUTION

Sierra's InnovaMass® was selected as the best solution for high velocity, high pressure air mass flow monitoring. The instrument's multivariable measurement capability provides more process information for analysis, and its wide turndown gives the plant engineers critical data on variable pressures. Furthermore, the installation cost of a single device with outputs for flow, temperature and pressure is significantly lower than installing a volumetric flow meter with ancillary pressure and temperature transducers. Another excellent product solution for this application is our Immersible Thermal Mass Flow Meter technology.