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<\/a>Secondary receiver tanks<\/a> can be strategically placed throughout the plant to improve the \u201cebbs and flows\u201d of pneumatic demands.\u00a0 The primary receiver tanks help to protect the supply side when demands are high, and the secondary receiver tanks help pneumatic systems on the demand side.\u00a0 The purpose of secondary air storage is for dedicated end-use systems or for additional capacity at the end of distribution lines.\u00a0 Essentially, it is easier and more efficient for compressed air to travel from a nearby source rather than traveling through long lengths of pipe.\u00a0 With any high-demand use equipment, it is beneficial to have additional storage installed nearby within the compressed air system.<\/p>\n For comparison, I would like to relate a pneumatic system to an electrical system.\u00a0 The receiver tanks would be like capacitors.\u00a0 They store pressurized air like a capacitor stores energy from an electrical source.\u00a0 If you have ever seen an electrical circuit board, you will notice many capacitors of different sizes throughout the circuit board.\u00a0 The reason for this is to have a ready source of energy to increase efficiency and speeds with the ebbs and flows of electrical signals.\u00a0 The same can be said for a pneumatic system with secondary receiver tanks.<\/p>\n To cover a current application, I had a customer that was looking at a model 1122108; 108\u201d (2,743mm) Gen4 Super Ion Air Knife<\/a> Kit.\u00a0 The application was to remove static and debris from insulated panels for large refrigerated trailers.\u00a0 They were worried about how much compressed air it would use, and they were considering a blower-type system.\u00a0 I went through the negative aspects of blower-type systems, like loud noise levels, capital expense, high maintenance cost, large footprint, and ineffectiveness with turbulent air flows.\u00a0 But, when you are limited to the amount of compressed air, it may seem difficult to get the best product for your application.\u00a0 Looking at it another way, I asked him if the process was intermittent; and it was.\u00a0 The cycle rate was 2 minutes on and 10 minutes off.\u00a0 I was able to recommend a secondary tank to help ease the high demand for their compressed air system.<\/p>\n To calculate the volume size of your secondary receiver tank<\/a>, we can use Equation 1 below. \u00a0It is the same for sizing a primary receiver tank, but the scalars are slightly different.\u00a0 The supply line to this tank will typically come from a header pipe that supplies the entire facility.\u00a0 Generally, it is smaller in diameter, so we have to look at the air supply that it can feed into the tank.\u00a0 For example, a 1\u201d NPT Schedule 40 pipe at 100 PSIG (7 bar) can supply a maximum of 150 SCFM (255 M3<\/sup>\/hr) of air flow.\u00a0 This value is used for Cap<\/strong> below. \u00a0The C<\/strong> value is the largest air demand for the machine or equipment that will be using the tank.\u00a0 If the C<\/strong> value is less than the Cap<\/strong> value, then a secondary tank is not needed.\u00a0 If the Cap<\/strong> is below the C<\/strong> value, then we can calculate the smallest tank volume that would be needed.\u00a0 The other value in the equation is the minimum tank pressure.\u00a0 In most cases, a regulator is used to set the air pressure for the machine or area.\u00a0 If the specification is 80 PSIG (5.5 bar), then you would use this value as P2<\/strong>.\u00a0 P1<\/strong> is the header pressure that will be coming into the secondary tank.\u00a0 With this collection of information, you can use Equation 1 to calculate the minimum tank volume.\u00a0<\/p>\n Equation 1:<\/p>\n V = T * (C \u2013 Cap) * (Pa) \/ (P1-P2)<\/strong><\/p>\n Where:<\/p>\n V<\/strong> \u2013 Volume of receiver tank \u2013 Imperial (ft3<\/sup>) or SI (M3<\/sup>)<\/p>\n T<\/strong> \u2013 Time interval (minutes)<\/p>\n C<\/strong> \u2013 Air demand for system \u2013 Imperial (SCFM) or SI (M3<\/sup>\/min)<\/p>\n Cap<\/strong> \u2013 Supply value of inlet pipe \u2013 Imperial (SCFM) or SI (M3<\/sup>\/min)<\/p>\n Pa<\/strong> \u2013 Absolute atmospheric pressure \u2013 Imperial (PSIA) or SI (Bar)<\/p>\n P1<\/strong> \u2013 Header Pressure \u2013 Imperial (PSIG) or SI (Bar)<\/p>\n P2<\/strong> \u2013 Regulated Pressure \u2013 Imperial (PSIG) or SI (Bar)<\/p>\n In many cases, you can also lengthen the time to refill the secondary receiver by restricting the refill rate with a valve, so that it is more of a constant, but much lower draw on the compressor system. This technique also helps to diminish the impact of the large-use items attached to a customer\u2019s system.<\/p>\n For the customer above, I am still getting more details about their system before we finalize on a solution.\u00a0 But the important point in utilizing this concept is that we went from a \u201cwe don\u2019t have enough compressed air\u201d to a \u201cwe can use a better solution with the Super Ion Air Knife\u201d and here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n If you find that your compressed air system needs a boost for your pneumatic process, we may be able to recommend a secondary receiver tank for your system.\u00a0 EXAIR does offer 60-gallon tanks, model 9500-60<\/a>, to add to those specific areas.\u00a0 If you have any questions about using a receiver tank in your application, you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR.\u00a0 We will be happy to help.\u00a0<\/p>\n John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
<\/a>Twitter: @EXAIR_jb<\/a><\/p>\nLike this:<\/h3>\n