Airflow Control in Industrial Drying and Coating Processes

In drying and coating processes in the chemical, petrochemical, mining, pharmaceutical, and food and beverage markets, millions of dollars are continuously lost in the operation of fluidized beds, rotary drums, flash dryers, kilns, and similar processes. Because of improper air flow and product feed rates, these devices' failure causes quality problems, causing downtime and loss of both goods and profits. When operating this equipment, it's vital to control airflow.

Challenges in Industrial Drying and Coating

1) Improving Production Efficiency and Quality

Precise control of airflow and air temperature is essential to maintain high product quality, reduce waste, and increase uptime. Any off-specification product must be recycled or wasted. This process is too costly. The performance of many processes would benefit from measuring the mass flow of process air.  Also, limited flow meter turndown often constrains operational flexibility - primarily when requirements cover a wide range of operating conditions.  

2) Dealing with Limited Straight Pipe Runs

Airflow meters incorporated into process equipment are often inaccurate due to the short upstream and downstream straight pipe run.  The installation of a good straight run can quickly become problematic in tight quarters, so other solutions are needed.

3) Reducing Plugging and Coating

Most process equipment designs do not include relatively dirty exhaust flow measurements, even though they can provide significant operational benefits. They are often not included because exhaust flow meters can become coated and plugged when particulates are present — reducing flow meter accuracy.

How can vital processes and equipment that need to work within tight tolerances over a broad operating range be supported with continuous air mass flow at a controlled air temperature?

Products from Air Monitor solve these issues by enhancing the reliability of your airflow meters by improving their accuracy over a wide range of flow rates, thus improving the process's efficiency, improving the product's consistency, and increasing production rates to reduce fuel spending.

For more information, contact Power Specialties. Call them at (816) 353-6550 or visit their website at https://powerspecialties.com. 

Combustion Air Flow Monitoring: Better Combustion Control Saves Money

Millions of dollars are wasted every day in combustion processes in the power and co-generation industries: in kilns, smelters, ovens and similar applications. Combustion losses are insidious because the processes operate normally while hiding operation inefficiencies. In the average process, operators and management can’t easily identify the large amounts of fuel being wasted. An efficiency audit will reveal problems that raise operation costs.

Most combustion systems have mechanical controls set to overfeed combustion air by as much as 20%. Fuel costs and additional maintenance costs associated with blower or burner wear can add up to thousands of dollars wasted per day. However, there is a low cost remedy that can be implemented during a short downtime — upgrading combustion air flow meters or installing an instrumented control system.

Benefits of Combustion Airflow Monitoring

• Fuel cost savings
• Improve process stability
• Reduce operator interventions
• Increase equipment capacity
• Improve safety
• Reduce carbon footprint
• Improve sustainability

THE CHALLENGES

How can large combustion processes be modified so they operate more efficiently over a wide
operating range with dirty gases that tend to plug and coat?

• Dealing With Limited Straight Runs

Combustion processes generally consume a high volume of combustion air that travels to the burners through large ducts. To measure air velocity accurately, airflow meters require straight runs upstream and downstream to ensure the meter is reading a fully developed flow profile. Insufficient straight runs can adversely affect flow meter accuracy, process stability and combustion efficiency. Installation of sufficient straight run for flow measurement is typically not considered in the design of a system and multiple solutions are needed to accurately measure airflow.

• Tighter Control in High Turndown Situations

Combustion system turndown and operational flexibility is often constrained by limitations of the control system. The performance of mechanical control systems is poor because mechanical linkages poorly control fuel-to-air ratios when operated over a wide range of firing rates. That’s why they are set to overfeed combustion air. Instrumented control systems perform better at controlling fuel/air mixture if the flow meter is designed and installed correctly.

• Reducing Plugging and Coating

Combustion air flow meters can become coated and plugged when particulates are present. This reduces flow meter accuracy and can potentially shut down the process.

• Improving Efficiency and Environmental Compliance

Combustion processes require sufficient airflow for the efficient combustion of fuel.They also must comply with environmental regulations. Introducing excessive air reduces the efficiency of the combustion process, wastes fuel, and can dramatically increase operating costs. Mechanical combustion control systems do not provide a means to tune airflow for the ideal ratio. An instrumented system provides such a means but the ability to provide fuel savings is often limited by the performance of its air flow meter.

Air Monitor Corporation Products

Solutions to combustion airflow challenges are readily available with innovative products manufactured by Santa Rosa, CA. Air Monitor Corporation.  To learn more, or to discuss your aiRflow monitoring challenge, contact Power Specialties, Inc. Call them at (816) 353-6550 or visit their web site at https://powerspecialties.com.
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Excellent Airflow Measurement & Control Technical Reference Material

While the document below is written as the Air Monitor's Industrial Product Catalog, it is also EXCELLENT TECHNICAL REFERENCE manual for a wide variety of airflow technical data.

This document includes:

• Standards for quantity and positioning of individual velocity measurements from ASHRAE, AMCA, and the Code of Federal Regulations.
• Important airflow conversion charts.
• Suggested specifications.
• Volumes of products and application information.

Air Monitor has been delivering airflow measurement solutions since 1970 and is the premier solutions provider for Industrial Process and Power Generation markets with expertise in differential pressure and thermal dispersion measurement technologies.

We at Power Specialties hope you find this document helpful. Please call us at (816) 353-6550 with any airflow question or application you may have.

Excellent Airflow Measurement & Control Technical Reference: The Air Monitor Industrial Catalog from Power Specialties, Inc.