Keep your cool: do the summer checkup

Warm weather affects compressed air systems

Compressed air systems that are not in a conditioned room can suffer quite a bit from summer heat. Typical summer problems include overloaded refrigeration dryers, increased condensation, clogged filters due to increased dust concentration in the air and an increasing concentration of oil vapor in the compressed air. To prevent production and quality problems, BEKO Technologies developed summer control.

High temperatures during hot summers are more the rule than the exception these days. If no measures are taken, this means lower quality compressed air for companies with compressed air systems and problems that did not occur before.

The dangers

A major cause of this is the fact that warm air can hold more moisture. This humid air is drawn in from the environment and in production can cause deterioration/contamination of the final product or, for example, corrosion of equipment and piping. It can also lead to increased condensation and thus to overloading of condensate drains and oil-water separators. Sucked-in warm air in summer also often contains more particles as a result of Sahara sand, pollen or fine dust, as well as more oil vapor. 

What to do.

To avoid the above problems, BEKO Technologies developed the "summer check. This check includes an analysis of drying performance at higher temperatures, condensate management under full load and the condition and load of the associated filter stages. In principle, customers can also perform these checks themselves with the appropriate measurement instrumentation. For example, they can easily check the actual dew point with a dew point indicator. Filters are also easy to check, in view of the higher loads caused by moisture and dirt.

Focus Industry Manager Sara Deckers: "This kind of check actually checks all components of the compressed air system, including the piping, for leaks, so that the system is in an optimal condition for the higher load caused by high temperatures. If, on the basis of the various measurements and checks, problems are to be expected, they can be prevented by taking measures to ensure that the air drawn in is less hot and therefore contains less oil, moisture and dust. In all cases, the old wisdom applies: measuring is knowing."