31 March, 2024
Recently, we supplied and commissioned our GA55 VSD air compressor to a company within the handicraft segment, replacing their old machines. This upgrade helps them to achieve approx. 25% energy savings compared to their old air compressors, lowers the downtime and energy consumption while increasing the reliability and productivity of their operations.
Project overview
The handicraft industry is one of the most important decentralized sectors in India. The rich cultural diversity and heritage provide a huge resource for developing craft products. It has acted as the backbone of India’s rural economy for decades being one of India’s largest employment generators, closely behind agriculture. Every year, it produces and exports handicrafts worth billions:
- Woodwares at Rs. 3,061 crores
- Embroidered & crocheted goods at Rs. 2,334 crores
- Miscellaneous handicrafts at Rs. 3,770 crores
- Hand-printed textiles and scarves at Rs. 1,128 crores
- Imitation jewellery at Rs. 6,850 crores
- Art metal wares at Rs. 1,824 crores
Artisans within the handicraft industry make use of a wide variety of tools powered by compressed air to create their handicraft, ranging from pneumatic guns and sanders to drills, joining machines, CNC, and double-sided planers. However, the segments of the handicraft industry utilizing such tools in India face multiple challenges including long downtimes, poor reliability, lack of awareness of VSD, multiple installations of air compressors, and often limited access to service support.
The customer
A handicraft manufacturer
Location
___________
The challenge
The client in question was using three air compressors of another brand in their production facility and facing challenges to gain energy efficiency from the existing compressed air system.
In order to help them, our air experts conducted a flow pattern study to understand their compressed air requirements better and provide the right energy efficient compressed air solutions to address their challenges.
Details |
Compressor 1 |
Compressor 2 |
Compressor 3 |
Total |
Motor capacity (Kw) |
37 |
37 |
37 |
111 |
Capacity flow (CFM)* |
254 |
254 |
254 |
762 |
Load % |
71% | 40% | 46% | |
Operating flow (CFM)* |
181 | 101 | 118 | 399 |
Assessment and solution
During our study, our air experts understood that the average flow requirement was 300 cfm with a minimum flow requirement of 100 cfm.
This study also provided an important insight related to their fluctuating load patterns. As per our study and subsequent report, our team informed the client about VSD (Variable Speed Drive) technology (VSD air compressor) which is highly recommended in such fluctuating load patterns for high energy efficiency and savings.
The VSD air compressors have the ability to adjust the compressor’s operating speed to match air production to demand in real-time.
Based on the compressed air requirement of the plant, an Atlas Copco GA55 VSD air compressor was recommended which can cater to flow capacity requirements ranging from 55 to 371 cfm.
This air compressor model is capable of completely fulfilling the customer's compressed air requirements with 25% additional energy savings.
Implementation and outcome
In most industrial operations, the demand for compressed air fluctuates, which was the case for our customers.
As such, the VSD air compressor was a match made in heaven. Because VSD compressors only run when needed, they allowed our customer to achieve substantial energy savings - around 3.0 Lacs per year - while also decreasing the sound level and the compressed air temperature at the outlet valve.
As per our suggestion, they also connected their machines to the Atlas Copco SMARTLINK platform. By doing so, they gained access to live key operational data of their compressed air machines translated into clear insights about the machine’s uptime, energy efficiency, and machine health. This allowed them to further increase their energy savings while at the same time achieving optimal efficiency and maximum availability.
