Cutting energy consumption. Slashing or even eliminating unplanned downtime. Reducing maintenance hours and costs. Avoiding the need to rent diesel compressors in an emergency. Fine-tuning your entire compressed air system so it runs like a well-oiled machine.
Imagine what kind of advantage you’d gain in your marketplace if you could do all those things. Especially if your competitors are slow to respond.
They are all possible with the right remote monitoring solutions. Here’s how that works.
What Happens on the Third Shift …
A customer consistently faced a recurring problem. Every year, almost like clockwork, they had to replace the bearings in their rotary screw compressor.
Then they made a smart decision: they installed remote monitoring capability.
When they pulled up the data, they quickly identified the problem. Something had changed on their third shift. Their machine was running unloaded, accumulating water, wasting energy. And killing their bearings.
Originally, the compressor was set to shut down when it wasn’t needed so that it wouldn’t run unloaded. But apparently, someone had changed a setting,
The company revised the settings, enabling the compressor to shut off when demand dropped.
The results? No running unloaded. No water buildup. No bearing failure. Reduced electricity cost. And greater energy efficiency in compressed air.
Load-Sharing Woes
A different company had a problem with a multi-compressor setup, in which its compressors weren’t sharing the loads properly. As a result, energy was wasted. And there even was operational conflict.
Remote alerts revealed that a desiccant dryer tower was not switching properly. The company retuned a valve and the problem was resolved.
In the days before remote monitoring solutions, uncovering the problem could well require costly part replacements and weeks or even months of trial-and-error troubleshooting.
But with remote monitoring, the problem was solved. The real-time fault detection saved energy, plus a lot of time. Not only the months of excess energy consumption. But also the labor cost of 24-hour manual monitoring.
Can Remote Monitoring Become Your Competitive Edge?
Strange occurrences on the third shift and curveballs from desiccant dryers are just a few examples of the issues a good remote monitor system can identify. And why more compressed air system operators are installing them.
If you’re not already using remote monitoring, it’s certainly worth exploring. Let’s look at these devices in greater detail, starting with an explanation.
Remote Monitoring: What Is It?
As illustrated in the examples above, remote monitoring provides real-time troubleshooting and fault detection. A classic application of the Internet of Things, remote monitoring relies on sensors in your compressor and throughout your compressed air system to identify issues.
That data is then compiled and made available in real time for remote access through connected devices, such as desktop or laptop computers, smartphones or tablets.
We’ve found that the technology pays for itself in many different ways.
The Advantages of Remote Monitoring
- Save energy. Zero in on the problems that waste energy and help your company achieve quick wins in energy efficiency in compressed air.
- Cut downtime. Maintain your system to its highest level of performance, enable compressed air system optimization and avoid costly breakdowns that damage equipment and shut down your plant.
- Enhance efficiency. Identify issues limiting system performance—your pressure band is set too high, or your system is rapid cycling, wasting energy and shortening equipment life.
- Enhance safety. Find equipment issues well before they reach the breaking point. And avoid accidents that can result in damage, lost production and even injuries to your staff.
- Optimize performance. Tweak system operation and get everything running according to design.
- Cut downtime. Maintain your system to its highest level of performance, enable compressed air system optimization and avoid costly breakdowns that damage equipment and shut down your plant.
- Improve reliability. Improve the operation of your air compressor and related equipment, including filters, dryers and coolers.
- Lengthen equipment life. Receive an alert when oil changes and oil sampling are required, or your compressor is not operating within its design parameters.
- Be proactive. Schedule preventive maintenance at a convenient time, such as a plantwide maintenance shutdown, before an issue becomes a problem.
- Save money. Enable compressed air system optimization, cut downtime, increase equipment life and create a safer environment for your team. All those things pay off financially.
For more on how you can use data to improve system operating, read our blog post, “Twelve Reasons Why You Should Be Monitoring Air Compressor Data.”
Who Should Be Considering Remote Monitoring?
While you might think remote monitoring solutions would only be of interest to larger facilities with ample resources, we’ve found that they’re extremely attractive to small- and medium-sized companies.
The reason? Small companies often do not operate three shifts and do not have consistent staffing, usage or maintenance available 24/7. As a result, the usage of their systems may vary significantly. And there won’t be a full maintenance crew on staff to observe and make critical adjustments.
Usually, a compressed air system’s operating parameters are set by the day shift to handle the bulk of a plant’s production. Meanwhile, the production levels for the evening and overnight shifts are a fraction of that amount. But nobody tells the compressor.
Larger companies, on the other hand, could well have three equal shifts operating at much the same level of output. With a full maintenance staff on hand to adjust as needed.
The small skeleton crew working the night shift in a small manufacturing plant may not notice that a compressor is overheating, your compressor is rapid cycling or the air quality or pressure is varying widely. That’s why remote monitoring is so critical for smaller companies.
Next, we explain the types of systems you can use for remote monitoring of your compressed air system.
How Kaishan Compressors Communicate
There are three main ways to capture the data your Kaishan air compressor is generating:
- Basic air compressor system monitoring. At the simplest level, you can pull alarms and warnings off your compressor controller to track system pressure. The cost is small, and the demands on your IT department are minimal.
- Modbus remote monitoring and controls. You can also connect the parts of your air compressor system, including compressors, dryers and other equipment, using a Modbus interface. Modbus is a communications protocol widely used in industrial settings to exchange data between devices. It is brand-agnostic, creating a standard, low-cost data format to link equipment from different manufacturers.
- AirWatch. Our most advanced connection is through our AirWatch system, which uses a wireless cellular modem to enable real-time equipment monitoring of the air compressor system on any connected device, including desktops and smartphones.
Our AirWatch system communicates through a cellular connection and thus does not require crossover into your system. It digitally creates an online twin using the Modbus protocol to display pressure, temperature, faults, status and other key indicators, alerting you when components are showing signs of wear and it’s time to replace them. Before they begin to fail.
The wireless approach avoids the nightmare of going through your IT department, enterprise software system and factory automation infrastructure.
AirWatch gives you 24/7 remote access to your air compressor data, tracking system performance and identifying readings that are out of spec. So you can fix problems before they start.
Plus, you can get alerts when your pressure drops, electricity consumption rises too rapidly or air quality begins to deteriorate. Giving you time to take corrective action. And your system’s trend logs can help identify anomalies such as excessive leaks or misuse of pneumatic equipment.
With AirWatch, you can customize alerts and format trend analysis according to your preferences. You can even give your local distributor or air compressor professional access to the system, allowing them to respond if needed.
Because the connection is an isolated unit communicating via cellular, there’s no threat of a security breach.
Ready to get started with remote monitoring? The best way is to work with your local compressed air professional.
Your Local Resource for a Complete Remote Monitoring Package
Your local compressed air experts can offer you the full range of equipment mentioned previously, help you set up the system and even provide some supervision and monitoring.
Many of our customers, in fact, give their local Kaishan distributor full access to their remote monitoring system, allowing them to view the data and even respond when a problem occurs. Perhaps even checking in with the experts at Kaishan if a problem is particularly thorny.
Jump-starting the process in this way gives you a complete package of support and expertise, putting troubleshooting and fault detection on steroids.
The result is unprecedented speed and efficiency that saves energy, cuts costs, slashes downtime, improves safety, reduces maintenance expenses and lengthens equipment life. And leaves your competition in the dust.
Turning Remote Monitoring into Competitive Advantage
Other compressor manufacturers with less-experienced local service teams will not be able to offer the complete package mentioned above. Especially when their technical experts are on a different continent.
That’s the added benefit you get from working with our nationwide network of independent distributors. They can provide on-site help and consultation as needed. For more information, reach out to your local Kaishan distributor. Or, feel free to contact us directly.