Drying Compressed Air In Hazardous Atmospheres

In many industries, the atmosphere, though safe to breath, may be unsafe for an electrical spark. These areas often have pneumatically operated equipment for safety. And that equipment needs a source of clean dry air or as it is called in the industry, Instrument Grade Air. Plants typically have a centralized instrument grade air line that delivers air to the instruments that need it. However, oftentimes the instrument grade air is of inferior quality and contaminated with water. This air will benefit from a point of use drying system that guarantees instrument grade air. Traditional drying systems using PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) or refrigerant require expensive modifications to operate within hazardous areas. Air dryers made from hollow fiber membranes can dry compressed air without the use of electricity and are therefore safe for hazardous environments.

Hazardous locations have or could potentially have high concentrations of flammable gases, vapors, combustible dusts or ignitable fibers and flyings. Refineries, chemical processing plants, mines and grain mills are examples of industries with hazardous atmospheres. Even a small spark can lead to a horrific explosion dangerous to equipment and workers in the area.

Read the rest of the Parker Balston white paper in the embedded document below, or download your PDF version of "Drying Compressed Air In Hazardous Atmospheres" here.

For more information, visit https://classiccontrols.com or call 863-644-3642.

Drying Compressed Air In Hazardous Atmospheres from Classic Controls, Inc.

University Campuses Greatly Reduce Energy Costs Retrofitting with Clamp-on Thermal Energy Meters

Flexim Clamp-on Thermal Meter

The cooling and heating of a university campus is one of the primary areas where better energy management, including improved efficiency and energy reduction, brings some of the highest returns.

Every university to some extent is now engaged in this process, and one of the first things that has to be addressed is the metering of distributed thermal energy. To effectively begin energy reduction initiatives, accurate and reliable thermal energy metering has to be in place.

Today, there is high priority for understanding that we need to be better stewards of energy consumption. Poor energy consumption harms the environment and creates much higher operating costs. Universities have become very involved in the move toward greener energy. Many universities began metering long ago while some are just beginning. Most are in the middle of the process.

Installation of clamp-on thermal meter (click for larger view).

Installation in under 4 hrs. (steps from image above):

• Step 1: Cut insulation where transducers and RTD will be located.
• Step 2: Install stainless bands around pipe under insulation.
• Step 3: Install transducers and RTD.
• Step 4: Cover transducers and RTD with insulation and tape.

There are many different types of meters, and often, many of these choices turn out to be unreliable. In order to achieve real accountability for energy usage at campus buildings, energy managers at leading universities are applying a “utility model.” In the utility model, building managers responsible for campus buildings are billed at utility grade costs for the thermal energy consumed. This creates an environment where focus falls to thermal energy conservation. It’s also vital that inefficiencies are identified and corrected through metering.

Many universities have gone through an evolution of trying to meter thermal energy consumption throughout their campus. The success of these ventures can be elusive when the meter chosen for the job doesn’t live up to expectations. Examples include insertion meters that over time will foul and meters that cannot respond to low velocities that are prevalent during off-peak metering.

On proven alternative is FLEXIM’s Thermal Energy / BTU Flow Meter. The technology, based upon FLEXIM's ultrasonic clamp-on meters, do not require shutdown and are very cost effective to install.

Clamp-on ultrasonic meters have been doing the job of BTU-metering for decades and the Flexim thermal energy meters are leading the effort towards more energy efficient buildings and facilities.

More than 150 colleges and universities throughout the country are using the FLEXIM product as their preferred thermal energy meter and attest to FLEXIM’s performance, reliability and support.

For more information on Flexim thermal energy products, contact Classic Controls by visiting https://classiccontrols.com or by calling 863-644-3642.

Classic Controls Coverage Area and Territory

Classic Controls is a total solutions, single-source provider of industrial process instruments serving Florida, South Georgia, Caribbean North, Caribbean South, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and Suriname.

Listing by country or island:

Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saba, St. Barthélemy, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Martin, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands.