1. How is the air compressor used in the metallurgical industry?
The metallurgical industry encompassed both the production and professing of metal: more specifically, the manufacturing of steel and non-ferrous metals, foundries and metalworking are all part of the metallurgical industry. And compressed air covers about 35-40% of the metal industries’ required energy consumption. This is the reason why is so important a high-quality rotary screw air compressor for metallurgy industries.
The main applications of the variable speed rotary screw air compressor are the following:
Blast furnaces—For iron production, the iron ore, coke, and limestone are combined in the blast furnace; the variable speed air compressor is used to offer air in the furnace to reach the melting temperatures.
Coke production—To yield the coke byproduct, the bituminous coal needs to be heated between 1000° and 2000° C; the variable speed air compressor is required to offer a continuous air supply for the heating process.
Oxygen furnace—For steel production, the iron, steel scrap, and flux are combined in the oxygen furnace; the VSD air compressor is needed to offer compressed air for the melting process.
Bag houses—The bag houses work for the dust collection and the bags clean themselves periodically by pulsing the compressed air through the bags; for this cleaning process, the VSD screw air compressor is needed.
Besides, the variable speed screw compressor is used to offer instrument air for various applications, such as crust breaking, air nozzles, and pneumatic conveying. In summary, the VSD screw air compressor is necessary for many primary metal manufacturing processes, including power tools, forming, mold press powering, injection molding, cleaning, powering controls & actuators, etc.
2. What is the value of an air compressor for metal fabrication?
Metal fabrication is one of the energy-intensive industries: compressed air is used as an energy source of the flexible medium in many production processes of metalworking and metal-producing operations. Generally speaking, the variable speed compressor plays a key role in the metallurgy industry for the following reasons:
Energy efficiency—First and foremost, the compressed air is an underrated parameter for energy saving: as we mentioned before, the variable speed rotary screw air compressor covers about 40% of the energy consumption; and for this reason, the variable speed compressor is the key for the energy saving in the industry.
Production without standstill— Apart from the energy efficiency, a stable and clean air supply is vital to many processes in the metal fabrication: it’s crucial that the compressed air meets the requirements of the metal-producing or metalworking; otherwise, there will be a production standstill. In particular, clean, dry air with steady pressure is necessary for applications like laser and plasma cutting, etc.
Production without interruption—In metal fabrication, various pneumatic tools are used and require a continuous air supply. If there are many tools in use at once, there might be pressure fluctuations and the productivity might be slow down. For this reason, a reliable variable speed screw compressor is crucial as it offers a continuous air supply and keeps a steady work pace.
3. Why choose Sollant air compressors for metal manufacturing?
For the air compressor is a key factor in metal manufacturing, it’s crucial to choose a high-quality rotary screw air compressor for metallurgy industries. Among so many brands, why choose the Sollant PM VSD air compressor for metalworking? The main reasons are the following:
Permanent Magnet (PM) motor—Sollant PM VSD air compressor adopts the permanent magnet motor (PM motor), which is the most advanced technology; compared with traditional induction motors, this PM motor wears less and saves energy： the efficiency of the permanent magnet motor is higher 3%-5% than the regular motor.
Variable speed drive—The Sollant variable speed screw compressor is characterized with variable speed drive (VSD) mode, which means that this VSD air compressor can automatically adjust the operating speed to match production of compressed air to demand in real time. In the metallurgy industry where multiple air tools are used at once, the demands for compressed air fluctuates and flow demand increases and decrease all day. In this occasion the Sollant VSD screw air compressor can adjust its operating speed and save energy.
Wide range of conversion frequency—Thanks to the PM VSD driven mode technology, Sollant variable speed air compressor features a wide range of frequency conversion from 5% to 100% resulting in a high energy efficiency.
Low noise—Thanks to the PM VSD technology, the Sollant VSD screw air compressor features lees running frequency than the fixed speed type does, which decreases a lot the mechanical noise.
We offer various types of VSD screw compressors for the metallurgy industry.
For more details, please click: Sollant Variable Speed air compressor
