Since the installation of two Quantima compressors from
CompAir, Jaguar Land Rover’s (Jaguar) Castle Bromwich
plant is on target to achieve annual electricity savings in the
region of 3 million kWh, with payback on investment
expected within two years

Jaguar has set itself stringent
environmental targets to reduce its
carbon footprint through an ongoing
programme of energy reduction. This is
especially the case at the company’s Castle
Bromwich facility where the current range of
XF, XK and XJ models are assembled and
finished.

Here, the paint process is a critical part of
production and is one of the major users of
compressed air. Interruptions in supply or
air quality issues will not only affect
throughput in the paint shop, but can impact
on productivity elsewhere in the plant.

The existing compressed air installation
was coming to the end of its useful,
economic life and Jaguar began to investigate
the options available that would ensure both
continuity of air supply and deliver
significant energy cost savings.

A cross-functional project team worked
alongside CompAir to evaluate the options
available. This included examining the
benefits of repairing or refurbishing existing
equipment or whether to invest in new, high
technology compressors. CompAir engineers
carried out an air audit on the existing
compressors to determine compressed air
usage and the potential savings that could be
achieved with the installation of a new
system.

As a result, Jaguar chose to upgrade its
network to incorporate Quantima
technology, installing two new compressors
and ancillary equipment. At half the
footprint of the existing units, the machines
were easy to install into the compressor
house.

The compressors are controlled by
CompAir’s SmartAir Master control system
to produce compressed air at 8 bar. The Q-
52 unit provides the base load with the Q-43
machine coming on line when the pressure
drops below 7.5 bar, helping to avoid any
peaks or troughs in supply. The compressors
also provide air to the XF trim and final
assembly line.

Each Quantima unit is water cooled and
served by a closed loop air blast chiller; an
energy efficient way of cooling the water to
the required intake temperature which is
helping Jaguar to save over 11,000m3 of
water per annum.

Air is transported to a desiccant dryer and
then passes through a series of CO2
scrubbers to meet the required standards for
high-quality breathing air. This part of the
compressed air treatment is critical, as a
proportion of the air is used for breathing
masks within the paint shop booth
processes.

When the clean, dry air reaches the paint
shop, it is used for a variety of applications
across the 5.7 miles of conveyor line.

Slave removal, where car bodies are first
placed on to the conveyor system, requires the
full 8 bar pressure in order to lift the vehicles,
especially on the heaviest of the models.

Compressed air is also used to control the
valves operating the pneumatic paint dosing
process and on both the underbody seal and
the internal seam robots; an area of the
process with the highest throughput.

Since the Quantima compressors have
been installed, Jaguar is on target to achieve
annual savings in the region of: 3 million
kWh of electricity; 11,000m3 of water; and
13,000t of CO2. This accounts for 12% of
the Castle Bromwich plant
environmental target, and the
company anticipates payback
within two years.

Jaguar also relies on a QLife
predictive maintenance
package, with remote
monitoring. This helps to
prevent unscheduled
downtime by tracking the
compressor’s operating
parameters and
predicating when
components or parts may
need servicing or
replacing.