{"id":8115,"date":"2023-09-07T07:00:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T07:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lhm-instrumentation.eu\/?p=8115"},"modified":"2023-11-13T08:57:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T08:57:52","slug":"how-air-leak-detection-equipment-prevents-downtime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lhm-instrumentation.eu\/en\/kenniscentrum\/lekdetectie\/hoe-luchtlek-detectieapparatuur-uitvaltijd-voorkomt\/","title":{"rendered":"How air leak detection equipment prevents downtime"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"Fluke interviewed a manufacturer about air leaks. This manufacturer literally keeps the wheels of the industry turning. As one of the world's leading aftermarket manufacturers of wheel service equipment, the company designs, builds and sells products for trusted and leading brands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of this manufacturer's processes depend on compressed air, and the 14,000 sq m factory has some 400 tools, all powered by a 200 hp compressor. \u201cEverywhere in the plant we use compressed air - for pneumatic drives, robotic welders, laser cutting machines and powder coating equipment,\u201d says the plant director. Compressed air usually involves noise, as well as air leaks.<\/p>\n

Ask our experts for advice<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Reducing energy waste<\/h4>\n

Air leaks cause compressed air-powered equipment to have to work harder, leading to energy wastage. The likelihood of air leaks in the factory is further increased by the presence of older equipment accumulated over the last few decades due to consolidation of several factories. In such a noisy environment, any leaks are difficult to hear, so most leak detections are carried out outside factory hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe usually wait until it is very quiet in the building, outside working hours or during a maintenance shutdown, and try to detect air leaks by listening as closely as possible,\u201d says the maintenance manager. \u201cWe also use bottles of soapy water to spray on an area where we think there is a leak and then see if air bubbles form.\u201d This spray-and-see method requires members of the maintenance team to be close enough to the potential leak to hear it and then spray the soap solution on the right area.<\/p>\n

The other method used to detect compressed air leaks is detection with ultrasonic air leak detection equipment<\/a>. This method can only be carried out by a well-trained person and detecting all leaks takes quite some time. Small leaks can be very difficult to hear with the human ear and not all leaks are in easily accessible places. So detection can be a difficult task.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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Make visible what you cannot hear<\/h4>\n

When Fluke approached this manufacturer about whether it would cooperate in testing the Fluke ii900 Sonic Industrial Imager<\/a>, which can detect leaks up to 50 metres away in a noisy environment, this one was rather sceptical but very willing to try it.<\/p>\n

The testing involved both the head of maintenance and the maintenance engineer, who alternately examined the entire plant for leaks for eight hours with two ii900 Sonic Industrial Imagers<\/a>. The ii900 allowed them to \u2018see\u2019 sound while checking hoses, fittings and connections for leaks. The leak survey had a surprising outcome for the production team.<\/p>\n

Within one working day, they found around 143 leaks, both large and small.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did have some doubts about the leaks the tool found, so I sprayed those spots with soapy water and indeed saw that there was a leak where the tool indicated there was one,\u201d says the maintenance engineer.<\/p>\n

The maintenance manager was particularly impressed by the ii900\u201cs ability to find even the smallest leaks. \u201dSmall leaks are very difficult to find,\u201c he says. \u201dI noticed there were leaks that the ii900 detected that we would never have found by spraying soapy water on them. We found one leak in an air pipe in the paint room that we could not feel by holding our hand above it or by listening, but it was clear that this leak had been there for some time.\"<\/p>\n

The ii900's built-in acoustic array of sensitive microphones generates a spectrum of decibel levels for each frequency. Based on this output, an algorithm calculates a sound image called a SoundMap\u2122 and this is projected onto a visible image. The SoundMap is automatically adjusted to the selected frequency level to filter out background noise. The SoundMap is updated 10 to 20 times per second on the screen.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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