For decision-makers seeking a robust and energy-efficient compressed air system for the industrial and engineering industry, the NX 1500 is able to meet the demands of energy-intensive sites while making a substantial difference to a business’ bottom line, through a range of proven technologies and features.

Boasting a state-of-the-art aerodynamic design, critical components – including inlets, impellers, scrolls and diffusers – have been engineered to deliver high performance and an energy efficiency improvement of up to 15% when compared with its predecessors or other oil-free screw compressors. In potential cost savings, this is equivalent to more than EUR30,000 a year. A wide throttle range allows the NX 1500 to achieve considerable operational improvements and flexibility over comparable models.

With a flow range that extends from 20 m3/min to 50 m3/min, the NX 1500 is also available with the option of an inlet control valve, designed to help enhance compressor performance when the unit is running at partial loads. Research has shown that the new design of this inlet control valve means it’s possible for operators to save as much as an additional EUR5,000 a year on their energy bill.

An oil-free solution, the NX 1500 is Class Zero certified according to ISO 8573-1:2010, so users can be confident the highest standards of air purity will be met. Not only does this provide operators with enhanced quality assurance, but, particularly for production sensitive environments, businesses can rest assured that any potential compressed air contamination risks are mitigated.

The NX 1500 has also been designed to provide owners with a hassle-free and low maintenance solution. Installing and servicing the unit is a simple and straight-forward process, with a design that also ensures easy access to critical components, such as a horizontally split gearbox. Meanwhile, long-life consumables have been developed to deliver peak performance, increasing the length of time between maintenance intervals.

Further peace of mind around the compressor’s reliability is achieved through the system’s intelligent MAESTRO controller. Featuring an easy-to-use interface, it allows operators to monitor and regulate pressure and flow, while making sure the compressor continues to run at optimal levels.

This capability is supported by the Helix Connected Platform. This helps users to monitor, manage and improve the efficiency of their investment through the power of real-time data. These insights can be accessed from a computer, smartphone or tablet, enabling operators to stay in control of their compressed air operations no matter where they are.

"Electricity typically accounts for around 80 per cent of a compressor’s total lifecycle costs, which is why investing in a high-performance, energy-efficient compressed air system is so critical. With our latest NX 1500 technology, owners and operators can be sure of a robust, efficient and contaminant-free compressor," explains Claudia Vignelli, product nanager at Ingersoll Rand.

"In addition to our standard models, we also offer a number of optional configurations to help meet specific site requirements. These include a package-mounted and enclosed model for low-noise operation, and integrated heat recovery configuration, enabling sites to repurpose energy that would otherwise be lost to the atmosphere.

"Manufactured at our state-of-the-art centre of excellence in Vignate, Italy, the units are also tested in their final, fully packaged configuration – something most manufacturers do not offer. This guarantees that the compressor will operate as expected, affording you both confidence and peace of mind in your new investment.

"With more than 40,000 units installed around the world, we’re proud of our reputation as a leader in centrifugal compressor technology. The launch of the NX 1500 compressor is the next step in delivering high-quality and reliable compressed air for businesses in the industrial and engineering sector."

www.ingersollrand.com

There are essentially five different motor enclosures that are supplied with Centacs. These are shown as follows with the equivalent IEC codes for enclosures only. Please note that IEC motors are much different than NEMA motors.

1. Open Drip Proof (ODP) or (IP23)

2. Weather Protected Type II (WPII) or (IPW24)

3. Totally Enclosed Water to Air Cooled (TEWAC) or (IP54)

4. Totally Enclosed Air to Air Cooled ( TEAAC), or (IPW54)

5. Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled (TEFC) or (IPW54)

Open drip proof

This is the standard motor enclosure provided with fully packaged Centacs, and is suitable for most indoor industrial applications. Cooling air will enter through louvered openings, pass over the rotor and stator, and exit through the openings in the sides of the frame. This open enclosure design should not be selected for outdoor installations, washdown areas, and dirty environments where cotton fibers and high dust levels cannot be kept away from the motor. Centac’s motor specification requires that this motor meet an 85 DBA sound level requirement.

Weather protected type II

This enclosure is designed for use outdoors in adverse conditions. The air intake is in the top half of the motor to minimize entrance of ground level dirt, rain or snow. For certain models, this enclosure can be modified to include filters for extremely dirty conditions - however this will often result in frequent filter replacement. The air passage includes three abrupt 90 degree changes in direction plus an area of reduced velocity to allow solid particles or moisture to drop out before the ventilating air contacts active parts of the motor. All particulates but super fine dust (cement and coal) and foreign material (cotton fibers, etc.) are virtually eliminated. In addition, WPII motors include anti-corrosion treatment on both internal and external components, a weather proof conduit box, waterproof insulation, and space heaters to keep the motor dry during periods of non use. WPII motors are typically 2-3 DBA quieter than ODP motors, but when faced with sound restrictions, you should always ask to be sure.

Totally enclosed water-to-air cooled

This enclosure isolates all critical motor components from the surroundings. It can be used indoor or outdoors in clean and dirty environments. TEWAC enclosures include a water cooled heat exchanger mounted in the top portion of the motor for cooling the recirculated ventilating air. Motor heat is conducted away by circulating water and not by discharged air. Key advantages of TEWAC motors over other totally enclosed motors include better efficiencies, shorter frames, lower cost ,and much lower sound levels. TEWAC motors are the quietest of all available enclosures, and are the best choice when quoting a Centac Process Package because a stub shaft for the shaft driven main oil pump can easily be added. TEWAC motors should also be considered in high altitude applications where air cooling is less efficient. TEWAC frames can be sized much smaller than air cooled frames.

Totally enclosed air-to-air cooled

This enclosure will also isolate critical motor components from the surroundings. In contrast to the TEWAC, the TEAAC enclosure discharges heat in the immediate area of the motor. The construction of this enclosure utilizes a top mounted air-to-air heat exchanger. External air is drawn in by a shaft mounted fan enclosed in a housing opposite the drive. The air is forced through the cooling tubes at high velocity to promote efficient cooling and cleaning of the tubes. A TEAAC motor will be noisier than an ODP, WPII, or TEWAC motor. Typical sound levels are around 90DBA, so if there are sound restrictions, please ask for a lower sound design.

Totally enclosed fan cooled

This enclosure is often supplied on smaller motors for Centacs where isolation of critical motor components from the surroundings is required. Most of these designs use a round cast-iron ribbed construction design, where the cooling air is pulled through the grill of the external shaft mounted fan and is directed by the frame fins by the fan hood. As mentioned earlier, TEFC motors are often less expensive than WPII at smaller sizes. However, be careful when specifying TEFC motors when there are sound restrictions, as due to the cooling fan, sound levels are often at 90DBA unless you specify lower levels are needed.

In summary, suggestions to consider include:

1. Never specify ODP motors for an outdoor application.

2. If cotton fibers or other fine dust cannot be kept away from the motor, an enclosed motor should be considered.

3. Sound levels are additive. If a motor is rated at 85DBA, the overall compressor package will be at least 3DBA higher.

4. TEWAC motor enclosures offer big advantages over TEAAC and TEFC.

The acronyms related to “XaaS” – Everything as a Service – started to be popular only in recent years with all type of variants, starting from the most affirmed SaaS – Software as a Service. Most of us still remember when we purchased a CD with a given software version inside, while today everything is in the cloud and accessible for a service fee. It's the same for music – from buying CDs to “Music-as-a-Service” offered by many streaming services. 

On the equipment side we are observing the same trend of “servitisation”: EaaS or Equipment-as-a-Service. We see it a lot for construction equipment, as well as for cooling and heating machines such as chillers, heat pumps, boilers. Most rental companies, especially those in the HVAC domain saw the first business opportunities coming from crisis-response needs, following a breakdown of the (owned) equipment at customer side. This is still there, but there are additional benefits that a rental solution can bring in the HVAC domain when we shift focus from owning a piece of equipment to receiving a service out of it. 

Let’s put aside the financial advantages coming from a rental “operating expense” approach compared to the traditional “capital expenditure” associated with purchasing equipment: that’s a well-known story. Let’s focus on something different, on how Rental Services can be a way forward in terms of sustainability, for the good of our planet. 

When we make a Life-Cycle-Assessment of an HVAC equipment, there are three main factors we can take into account: 

1. The energy and resources required to build the equipment;
2. The energy required to operate the equipment and fulfil application needs;
3. The end-of-life of the equipment. 

Let’s start with the first point, considering the typical situation of a commercial building in Europe or in any other place with a temperate climate. The building requires cooling or heating, heavily depending on the season (outdoor temperature driven). The usual approach would be to buy a chiller to satisfy the cooling needs. Most of the time, those chillers are put out of service as the summer season comes to an end, by performing some service tasks also known as “winterization” in order to prevent freezing of the water circuit exposed to the cold winter weather. After winterization, the chiller seats unused for months, in a kind of lethargy, waiting for the summer season to come. 

At the same time, think about an application such as a temporary ice rink, more and more popular means to attract families to visit Christmas markets, shopping centers, etc. All those installations require cooling during winter, fulfilled by a chiller, very similar (if not the same) to the one described above. Here as well the traditional approach would be to buy that chiller, with very little chances, if none, to make use of it out of the ice-rink season. 

It’s very easy to rethink the whole thing starting from the concept of “sharing economy”. In the baseline we have two chillers to be built with a combined utilisation rate below 50%. What if those two HVAC users would share the same equipment? A single chiller would be enough to cover both needs. In practice a peer-to-peer sharing might be very impractical to put in place, so this is where a Rental company plays a key role: the chiller is owned by the Rental company and shared between two or more customers, achieving utilisation rates well above 80% in a case like the one described above. This is cutting by half the CO2 footprint of these two businesses, as only half of natural resources and energy would be required to build the single chiller capable of satisfying both needs. There are many other cases and applications like the two given as a simple but real example.

Moving to the energy consumption while in use, we can consider a different case which emphasises this specific aspect of HVAC operations. So let’s consider a process cooling application (e.g. plastic industry) where cooling is needed all year long, with a utilization rate close to 100%. In such cases, the carbon footprint is mainly driven by the direct energy consumption and the high utilisation rate is not suggesting any advantage from sharing the equipment with other users. Nevertheless, a rental solution can offer a great advantage also in this case: by allowing a faster renewal cycle, we can operate equipment always on the leading edge of technology and efficiency. A rental chiller can indeed be swapped at any moment with the newest model, eliminating any efficiency gap a given piece of equipment would be developing year over year compared to the state-of-art products – which are coming out at a very fast pace in those days. The baseline in this case would be a chiller purchased to be operated for at least 10 to 20 years. In recent years we saw new chiller models coming every 2 to 3 years with 10 to 30% better efficiency than their predecessors, just to give an idea of the efficiency gap that can be cumulated over a lifetime. Operating an inefficient equipment would be a considerable waste of energy. 

And what about the older model we are going to replace in this energy intensive job, in favor of a more efficient one? No problem, as there are still plenty of rental application where chiller efficiency is not that critical: let’s just go back to where we started, the emergency cases. In such events, the main purpose is to restore cooling supply and an older chiller model is just fine, when properly maintained.

In conclusion, there are plenty of real life HVAC applications where a rental solution can help to reduce carbon footprint or energy intensity, either by sharing equipment or by running always on the leading edge of technology. In any case, the flexibility of the EaaS business model is the base ingredient to rethink our approach to HVAC and make a big step into a more sustainable cooling or heating. 

“Our customers want help with their efforts to reduce carbon emissions, increase sustainability and lower their operating and energy costs,” said Rolf Paeper, vice president of product management and marketing for Compression Technologies and Services at Ingersoll Rand. “We developed the technology used in these new refrigerated dryers to deliver the efficiency, air quality and reliability while putting it in a smaller, more efficient and economical package.”

The newly launched high efficiency cycling and standard non-cycling refrigerated dryers feature innovative heat exchanger technology with advanced condensation management and improved heat transfer characteristics. They offer capacity of 1300-2250m³/h and deliver Class-4 dry air, with a pressure dew point (PDP) of +3°C.

The new intelligent controller constantly monitors the condensate level in the moisture separator to optimise discharge through the electronic no-loss drain valve. If the drain is not properly discharging due to contaminates, or some other malfunction, the controller will automatically adjust the timing sequence of the drain in order to maintain optimum discharge and the dryer’s performance.

Ingersoll Rand refrigerated dryers use centrifugal separation to remove moisture at the coldest point in the system. As the air stream is cooled in the heat exchanger, moisture from the air stream condenses and is discharged through an electronic condensate removal drain. The result is highly efficient moisture removal and dry, clean air, combined with low-pressure drop. 

In the high efficiency cycling dryer design, a thermal mass storage reservoir is added to the refrigeration circuit to store cold energy. This is said to reduce compressor run time and offer customers additional energy savings. 

To ensure durability and reliability during operation, the new refrigerated dryers were tested in a climatic chamber to simulate the most demanding environmental conditions possible and were validated according to ISO 9001 specifications. 

In manufacturing Industries ergonomics is valuable as it prevents operator injury and helps to increase productivity” said Jonathan Di Sano, product manager in the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region at Ingersoll Rand. “The P33N drill is designed to achieve the perfect dimensions and best–in-class ergonomic design to ensure maintenance operators can perform their tasks with flexibility and less fatigue, resulting in improved operations for our customers”. 

The new P33N drills are flexible, powerful and durable with a 20% reduction in weight, better ergonomics and improved visual tool identification. The new P33N drills come with different colour visuals, which allows operators to quickly identify the tool’s speed and avoid mistakes when selecting the tool in the working environment. 

The new tools are covered with soft-touch polyurethane PU Paint, which provides an ergonomic and secure grip and reduces vibrations. The radius transition between housing and nose gives users a sense of where their hand is placed on the tool, minimising the pressure points and reducing slippage. For additional operator’s safety, the new P33N drills feature a proven and ergonomic safety lever. 

Other features of the P33N drills portfolio: 

• One 330W (0.44 hp) motor type
• Wide range of speeds available, from 660 to 18000 rpms
• 30, 90, 180 degrees angle heads
• Lube-free motor for a clean working environment
• Quick-change motor and attachment to provide end user with fast changeover

 

The QXN range can be fully programmed directly from the operation’s computer. Settings are monitored and controlled by a torque sensor and angle encoder to increase precision and help eliminate quality defects. This connectivity contributes to greater reliability by enabling multi-step screw-driving processes, adjusted to individual applications through a simple interface.   

High rotational speeds help boost the efficiency of assembly operations and reduce production times, while the well-balanced design and ergonomic grip contribute to operator comfort.

 

The new RS30 and RS37 models improve performance through a state-of-the-art airend, which is the heart of every air compressor. The new airend design was developed through advanced analytics and modeling, and includes amongst other things, an optimised rotor profile that provides up to a 13% efficiency improvement compared to the company's previous models. The newly revised, analytics-modeled airflow and piping system further contributes to energy efficiency by ensuring a low pressure drop. This saves energy and lowers utility bills while minimising sound output to create a safer, more comfortable work environment.

Understanding the total impact of running a compressed air system and identifying the necessary actions based on unique compressed air needs can reduce energy costs by as much as 20%.

 

 

While compressor technology is important, focusing on supply-side components alone will not likely deliver the desired cost savings or performance improvements. Factors such as undersized downstream equipment, wasted air and leaks can reduce potential savings and performance along the way.

It’s essential to know how to run a compressor room, but additional factors, such as system air pressure and flow, heat recovery, air quality issues at point-of-use, and wasted air also need assessment to effectively impact system performance, energy use, and cost savings.      

Even in cases where a system appears to be running well, it’s likely that somewhere along the line costly compressed air is being wasted. Taking a total systems approach, including a complete analysis of both the supply and demand sides of your system, is the only way to ensure constant and steady system pressure, uninterrupted workflow and minimal downtime. A total systems approach also is central to understanding your total cost of ownership.

Here’s an overview of some key considerations: 

Supply

•  Excessive pressure drop through filters, dryers, inadequately-sized piping. 

•  Air loss through timed condensate drains, cracked valves, leaks at connections or instrumentation.

•  Inefficient control scheme such as modulating valves or load/unload with short cycling.

 

 

Constituents of demand

•  Air events where specific applications create large swings in demand.

•  Leaks in transmission and point-of-use.

•  Inappropriate uses of air such as  venturi vacuum or open blowing for cooling or drying.

•  Inefficient consumption equipment analysis, especially multiple regulation devices. 

•  Flow restrictions or undersized hose at point-of-use.

•  Rate of change in a facility’s overall demand profile.

 

 

The high cost of air—what’s the real story? 

A compressed air system is a significant investment for any operation and requires disciplined maintenance to ensure maximum performance, payback, and system longevity. 

For example, the initial cost of a 100hp compressor with air treatment can cost up to $100,000 with installation. Following the initial investment, a facility can expect to spend between ten and 30% of its total electric costs to generate compressed air, and as much as 10% of the initial system cost on annual maintenance. Compressed air systems are also notorious for inefficiencies and leaks that, on average, waste from 30 to 50% of compressed air. 

Yet in the majority of cases, the idea of 'total cost of ownership' is trumped by the initial equipment and installation investment cost on paper. 

You can’t accurately determine savings without looking at the entire system, part by part, and how each element works together. This includes supply-side components such as compressor controls, air-treatment equipment, dryers and filters as well as demand-side equipment which includes heat-recovery and point-of-use systems. How air system components work together to produce air and exactly what’s happening throughout that process to configure, calibrate and maintain optimal performance is what a total systems approach is all about.

Advances in compressor technology are making total system expertise essential, as many companies look to their equipment provider for specialized know-how and component expertise. In addition, advanced analytics are now available to help determine the right equipment configurations throughout the system in order to optimize performance.

 

 

Know your options

Working with a compressor provider who understands the demand and supply sides of your compressed air system can help.  

When equipment providers and end-users come together with a shared focus on maximising the total cost of ownership, it’s possible to turn the liabilities of an inefficient system into a performance advantage. Implementing total systems programs help companies improve the energy efficiency and performance of compressed air systems.

Ingersoll Rand will also show how the acquisition of the assets of Cameron International Corporation’s Centrifugal Compression division, contribute to its ability to provide solutions to customers in the air separation, processes gas and highly-specified engineered air markets. Stand C14 and C08, Hall 26.

Built on a common platform, the new R-Series 5-11kW compressors are available in 5-11kW with flows 8.1 to 57.5cfm and pressures to 200psig on fixed speed units and 145psig on variable speed drives.

Davor Horvat, product manager for contact-cooled machines at Ingersoll Rand, EMEA, says: "The compact design of the R-Series makes it the ideal workplace compressor with a 20% reduction in footprint and sound levels as quiet as a dishwasher.”  

With the application of V-Shield technology, the leak path and connections on the R-Series compressors have been reduced by more than 15%. The technology ensures all critical fittings are secured with o-ring face seals in a method that is nearly free from distortion. Leaks are virtually eliminated and performance isn’t sacrificed, regardless of how many reconnections are made. Leaks are also reduced by the use of PTFE braided, stainless steel hoses for all oil-carrying lines.

Other features include:

•  totally enclosed fan cooled (TEFC) motors that have a premium IE3 efficiency 

•  simple design and fewer components, reducing maintenance

•  large, convenient electronic controls and a digital output display come standard to support easier programming and operation. components when maintenance and service are necessary. To further optimise its performance in limited workspaces the drive components are mounted on an Ingersoll Rand vibration isolation system reducing noise pollution and vibration.