Beverage firm slashes compressed air consumption by 45 per cent

17 June, 2015

As one of the largest soft drinks manufacturing businesses in China with several hundred production lines across the country, Hangzhou Hongsheng Beverage Group is continually looking for ways to improve its performance and social responsibility.

The Air Saver solution from Parker Hannifin has proven to be the ideal way to reduce energy consumption, decrease production costs and align the business with China’s sustainable development strategy. Parker supplied the company with a totally integrated solution, delivering a significant saving on compressed air consumption and CO² emissions, comprising of the ASC500 Air Saver, Global FRL Air Preparation System and Legris tubing and connectors.

Designed to maximise the removal of particles more efficiently on PET bottle plants, the ASC500 Air Saver Unit can be utilised in a range of ways. During the blow moulding process, each blast of the pulsing ionised blow agitates unwanted waste particles for more efficient removal and reduced cycle time. Additionally, it can also be utilised for an assisting blow to convey bottles, as an escape blow for when the line has stopped and before pasting labels on them; delivering greater production line efficiency, increasing plant productivity and overall quality.

Utilising pulsed air technology to reduce air consumption and improve plant efficiency in air blow applications, at its core is a switching valve that converts continuous air blow into a more effective pulsed air blow without the need for any additional external control. Put simply, it creates air that is blown in a series of high speed on and off pulses; when the blow is off, there is no air consumption, resulting in fewer tank recharging cycles.

Alongside benefiting from a more efficient particle removal solution, Hangzhou Hongsheng Beverage Group saw a sizeable 45 per cent reduction in air consumption and associated costs for energy use. With no changes to the PLC programme, the Air Saver Unit has proven to be a cost-effective solution that was retrofitted to their existing production line providing an immediate reduction in air consumption without any further cost outlay.

Following this simple installation and setup, Hangzhou Hongsheng Beverage Group saw instant improvements in performance results with a quick return on their investment.

“We are very pleased with how this technology has performed,” said Harry Vlap, business development manager at Parker Hannifin. “Air Saver is designed to improve overall plant production without a significant capital investment and the technology has exceeded our, but more importantly our customers’, expectations on this application. The reliability and scalability of the unit will support the business in maximising their productivity plus the easy installation ensured production was not compromised in any way.”

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Air Saver Units at a glance

Parker Hannifin’s Air Saver Unit range is claimed to be able to reduce air consumption by up to 50 per cent and improve efficiency in air blow applications. Air blowing activities consume for almost half of all compressed air used in plants? To help reduce this resource burden, the Air Saver Unit uses pulsed air technology. At its core is a switching valve that converts continuous air blow into pulsed air blow without the need for any additional external control. Put simply, it creates air that is blown in a series of high speed on and off pulses; when the blow is off, there is no air consumption, resulting in fewer tank recharging cycles. Aside from a sizeable reduction in air consumption, the Air Saver Unit offers other major advantages that include savings in compressor power, a reduction in overall CO2 emissions and a significant contribution to energy-saving activities. The Air Saver Unit is also easy to install. At plants using electrically operated solenoid valves to control air blowing, the units can be quickly and easily retrofitted to straightaway deliver a reduction in air consumption with no significant system changes i.e. PLC program reconfiguration. For plants using manual ball valves, there are also passive versions of the Air Saver Unit series; these do not require any electrical power. In total there are seven models in the Air Saver Unit range, offering flows (at 5 bar) from 150 to 15,000 l/min.