Compressed air is critical to curing the one million square feet of rubber membrane roofing Carlisle Construction Materials produces every day.
If we don’t have air, you’re not making rubber,” Daniel Goodling, a mechanical project engineer, said. “We can’t cure the rubber.”
The company had an aging compressor with 135,000 hours of operation, so it commissioned a compressed air analysis to document the improved efficiency it could achieve with a new compressor and develop capacity for future expansion. Daniel began the capital expenditure process, which took a few years until the project fit into the spending schedule.
Carlisle worked with its distributor, Blue Mountain Air Compressor Services in Chambersburg, PA, and receivedbids from several manufacturers. The supplier of the original equipment recommended replacing the fixed-speed, two-stage model with two fixed-speed, single-stage compressors. Both needed to be operating tohandle the current load at the plant.
Kaishan recommended two 250-HP two-stage KRSP2 compressors equipped with VSDs, configured with one operating as the primary compressor and the other as a backup. Since Carlisle already had a 75-HP Kaishan KRSP performing very well in its waterproofing operation, the company went with Kaishan and Blue Mountain.
“It seems to be almost over-engineered. Not in a bad way, though. It’s sized similar to a comparable unit, but it’s much more beefy, I guess, or robust than competitors.”
— Daniel Goodling, Mechanical Project Engineer, Carlisle Construction Materials
SIZE AND SCALE
compressors are
manufactured every year