Compressed Air on Demand

This article analyzes that the demand of compressed gas has increased manifold in automobile engineering. A manufacturer of gear motors retrofitted its system to provide a more reliable supply of air, which help reduce its energy bills by over $40,000 a year. When Bodine Electric Co. built a fractional horsepower gear-motor plant in Chicago 35 years ago, management intentionally overbuilt the compressed-air system to serve projected expansion. As it turned out, Bodine’s motor production never came near to stretching its compressed-air system’s capacity, largely because the company replaced its spray-paint delivery system with a powder coating technology. To ensure that compressed-air capacity was more in line with demand, assistance was sought in early 1996 from Chicago-based Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in purchasing a new compressed-air system. In addition to the annual savings in electricity, the new compressors provide Bodine with a more reliable supply of compressed air. The system is completely backed up, so that even if one air compressor goes completely out of service, production will continue.