Oilcontrol checks compressed-air quality
A
Beko Technologies product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Oct 27, 2008
With the launch of Oilcontrol, Beko Technologies has a tool that can aid the end user to check the quality of compressed air.
Ever more stringent quality demands mean that compressed air has to become even cleaner.
It needs to be shown beyond all doubt that the compressed air meets the required standard, day in, day out.
Traditionally, a glass tube type test has sufficed in most cases, which gives a reliable guide to water and oil content in compressed air at the time of testing, even down to fairly low levels of oil content.
The problem is that this test result is purely a 'snapshot' of a given moment in time.
Testing is usually performed at intervals between three and 12 months.
In key industries such as pharmaceutical and food there is a growing demand for online monitoring of air quality, and this is where Oilcontrol can come in.
Oilcontrol consists of two main parts: a sensor unit/measuring cell, which must be precisely mounted into the airstream, and the display unit.
The sensor unit is mounted into a specially-constructed measuring section; this ensures that exactly the right profile of the airstream is presented to the Ion-Exchange sensor unit.
The measuring section is available in several different formats and sizes to allow installation of the sensor quickly and easily into most compressed air systems, right up to DN150.
The display unit can be mounted remotely if required, 5m of cable is standard, and comes complete with 4-20mA output for the alarm function along with two 230V relay signals, so connection to a building management system is simple.
Oilcontrol is currently suitable for pressures from 4-16 bar at ambient temperatures up to 50C.
Sensing ranges go down to as low as 0.001mg/m3 (depending on the model).
Oilcontrol enables the user to clearly see how clean the compressed air really is.
It has also demonstrated that an oil-free compressor doesn't necessarily mean oil-free compressed air.
Beko has had instances where it has installed Oilcontrol OCA into a system with oil-free compressors.
OCA has a measuring range between 0.001 and 1mg/m3.
However, upon installation Oilcontrol immediately reached a situation where it closed down needing re-calibration, due to oil overload.
Customers are at first adamant that Oilcontrol was at fault - how could there be oil present when oil-free compressors were used? Upon checking, Oilcontrol had been performing as expected (each one is checked before leaving the factory).
The next step was to look at the compressed-air system itself.
In many cases, a steel pipe system, on which cutting oil had been used during threading upon installation, along with PTFE tape, gives enough contamination to give a significant reading for years.
When installing Oilcontrol, gloves are worn (a fingerprint will give a reading for some days) and all components are dust-tight packed after factory cleaning.
If there is any evidence of oil contamination in the system, the pipework must be thoroughly cleaned prior to installation.
There are also less sensitive versions of Oilcontrol available, which measure down to 0.1mg/m3.
These require less care, but to measure down to retail consortium guidelines, the OCA is needed.
Another point to consider is equipment downstream of the compressor; most filters contain grease around the bowl O-ring and drain connection.
This is another potential source of contamination that should be addressed if serious about going properly oil-free.
Beko supplies special filters for use with Oilcontrol that are oil and grease free due to a deep-cleaning method employed at the Beko factory.
Beko's advice regarding Oilcontrol is: if you really want to know what the oil content of your compressed air is, then Oilcontrol offers a good solution.
Just be prepared that oil in compressed-air systems can come from the ambient air, pipework, filters, dryers, in fact any part of the compressed-air network.
True oil-free air requires a holistic and methodical approach to the entire installation.
With proper thought and construction, and using Oilcontrol to verify the true situation, it is possible to construct a truly oil-free system.
Beko also manufactures Bekokat, which provides oil-free air from lubricated compressors and is a suitable partner to Oilcontrol.
The key is to get oil-free air regardless of ambient conditions.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Contact Beko Technologies
Tel +44 1527 575778
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Beko provides replacements for old flanged filters
Beko Technologies has provided custom-made filters for the plant room of Imperial Tobacco in Nottingham, UK, to replace two ageing flanged filters.
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