IDM | Technology/IT occur in the near future, and if so, to take appropriate preventative measures. This type of maintenance, which is based on usage or need, cuts costs and prevents system failures. Operators enjoy significantly enhanced reliability, cost-optimised servicing, longer system service life and assured specific power thanks to needsbased maintenance. Customers’ benefits from predictive maintenance agreements, however, extend far beyond the guaranteed high availability of their compressed air systems. For instance, lifecycle costs can be reduced by up to 30 percent since the compressed air specialists can adjust the energy performance of the compressed air station according to demand (e.g. with rising or falling compressed air demand, expansion, etc.) to ensure that it operates at peak performance at all times. Needless to say, this increases the system’s overall effectiveness. Furthermore, the usefulness of the data does not end with the service technicians who optimise the customers’ systems: the service provider’s research and development department also benefits. Through analysis of how products behave during disruptions, they are able to identify patterns, and the causes of malfunctions – in order to ultimately further develop and optimise the components themselves and to further enhance operational reliability into the future. Engineering Base: the ideal planning tool In most cases, however, another key service is required in order for operators to take full advantage of their compressed air system’s 14 · 4-5 2016 | international-dairy.com The data are monitored in real time at the Service Centre. Industry 4.0 capabilities: proper planning of the compressed air system. Such a service involves the gathering of all parameters and components relevant for compressed air production in a planning tool, called Engineering Base. This innovative tool allows operators to systematically track every aspect of their compressed air system throughout its entire lifecycle. It also ultimately serves as the foundation for intelligent services, such as efficiency management and predictive maintenance. In the past, systems were usually mapped out by hand, on paper. The documentation was hardly ever kept together in one place, but rather stored in disparate locations. Moreover, subsequent modifications were not usually recorded or if so, this documentation was stored yet elsewhere. As a consequence, information regarding the compressed air station was seldom up to date and there was no single, centralised way of accessing the information. Engineering Base is therefore a powerful tool that records and maintains data correctly, quickly and completely, stores them securely and ensures they are always upto date thanks to real-time transmission and evaluation. To a certain extent, it’s even possible to integrate existing systems or those of different manufacturers, provided the compressors have a suitable microprocessor. In terms of planning new systems, Engineering Base elevates optimal design of the compressed air station to a new level; it also ensures secure and efficient operation indexed to actual demand, both after and during commissioning. The data also act as an ideal resource that’s always available whenever it’s time for implementation of optimisation measures. Consistent and complete collection of all data for the compressed air station and its peripheral equipment also saves valuable time when it comes to expanding or reconfiguring the system. Operators that take advantage of all the solutions on offer for their compressed air station enjoy highly efficient components and all of the benefits of precision planning. Yet the whole package is far greater than the sum of its parts: a state-of-the-art system in terms of energy efficiency; which in turn translates into the most significant reductions in energy costs currently possible; not to mention innovative services like predictive maintenance, which reduce other service costs throughout the system’s entire lifecycle – up to 30 percent based on common current costs. Energy efficiency monitoring also enables yet further savings over the system lifecycle as continuous adjustment to fluctuating operating conditions ensures that the system always operates at optimal load. Irregularities are immediately detected, accurate predictions are generated using modern analytical tools and appropriate measures are initiated.
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