SAM Controllers Brings Industrial Intelligence to Compressed Air Systems

Digitization is more than a buzzword; it is vital to the efficiency of all business operations. Fundamentally, digitization is about how data is managed and used to automate processes. At SAM Controllers, we are advancing digitization and applying it to the clean energy revolution. Our new computing methodology, task-oriented optimal computing (“T2C”) can collect, clean, synthesize, and use data for analytics in real-time allowing our sensors and control systems not only to autonomously optimize operations, but also to reduce energy use and harmful emissions.  Our mission at SAM Controllers is to dramatically reduce the electrical usage and environmental impact of industrial processes – such as compressing air – by transforming industrial technology to Industrial Intelligence.

 

The modern-day air compressor, aside from updates to the user interface, is essentially unchanged from its conception centuries ago. Compressed air systems are both large and notoriously inefficient users of electricity. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates¹ that 8% of overall electrical usage for the manufacturing industry is consumed by air compressor systems which waste 90-95% of the original energy input to perform useful work in the manufacturing process³. This usage equates to  approximately 68 tWh¹ of electricity, 42 million tons of CO₂ emissions⁴, and an annual average spend (excluding demand charges) of $4.6-$4.8 billion on retail electricity over the past decade⁵.

 

A third-party U.S. Department of Energy-funded test completed by Pecan Street Inc., found a SAM Compressor Controller yielded – among many other benefits – a 23% reduction in power usage for the single-pump reciprocating air compressor. As approximately 3/4 of the life time cost of reciprocating air compressors comes is in electricity consumption⁶, full deployment of our controller technology across the U.S. compressed air market could yield over $1 billion in annual power usage cost savings in addition to the equivalent of 2.1 million cars being removed from the road⁷.

 

 

The additional benefits provided by our controller include:

• Full automation of the system – reduces labor overhead, manual errors, and unforeseen outages
• Near elimination of condensate in the air tank – improves the quality and efficiency of compressed air output
• Ease of installation with backwards compatibility on any existing or new reciprocating compressed air system
• Reduction in start-up current demand
• Elimination of the drifting pressure bandgap
• Protection from thermal overload

 

Through the use of T2C, SAM Controllers has introduced Industrial Intelligence to an age-old industrial process to help its customers both save money and be a part of the climate change solution by meaningfully reducing electricity usage and harmful emissions.

¹ https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/end_use_baseline-industrial_sector-final.pdf
² https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_02_02.html
³ Stowe, Michael, P.E. “Compressed Air Basics”. 2017. American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Available: https://www.aiche.org/sites/default/files/cep/20170540.pdf
⁴ https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_09_01.html
⁵ https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_02_04.html
⁶ Per U.S. DOE, assumes a 75 hp compressor operating ten shifts/week over ten years at rate of $0.05/kwh
⁷ https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle