Quality air and energy savings
April 20th 2007

Telford-based Ogihara Europe – independent UK stamper of skin panels and assembler of bonnets, doors, tailgates and car boots has invested £8 million in a new, fully automated press line.

It’s the company’s fifth press line installation on the 20-acre, former GKN site at Hortonwood where compressed air plays an essential role in the efficient operation of the new Fukui production equipment. Known as T2, the facility consists of five individual machines that can exert pressures ranging from 600 up to 1,600 tonnes.

But to guarantee the reliable performance of these presses there can be no moisture contamination present in the delivered air. It was decided to replace the existing, but obsolete and oversized, water-cooled dryers with Atlas Copco state-of-the-art FD 1000VSD refrigerant dryers. Not only do the new dryers remove the threat of moisture-laden air reaching the production equipment but, with the minimum pressure drop and Variable Speed Drive to match output to demand, the installation provides measurable energy savings at the same time.

Each of the two dryers delivers 1000 l/s (2118 cfm) of dry air at a maximum working pressure of 13bar (189 psi), with a PDP of 3ºC/37ºF and a pressure drop of just 0.18 bar (2.61 psi). The FD dryer’s Variable Speed Drive refrigerant compressor exactly matches the energy input to the need defined by the water load to the dryer, thereby achieving more than 25% savings in energy consumption when compared to a conventional drying unit.

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