The benefits of an air compressor inverter

Author: Fabio Russo

As the market looks for solutions that can guarantee saving energy, the choice for new installations falls onto inverter compressors, as they offer the opportunity to consume only the energy required by the plant to produce the compressed air, thus avoiding wastes.
A number of variables inform this choice: fluctuating orders cause production to be discontinuous, which in turn has an impact on compressed-air consumption.

In other words, using inverter compressors allows reaching a twofold purpose:

• Save energy
• Match potential compressed air with real usage despite fluctuating production

It has been possible to install inverters on on-off cycling compressors for the past 10 years, as they are widely sold on the market. This kind of installation has yielded great results and most of its users decided to acquire the prerequisites needed to be leased white certificates and benefit from their economic incentives.

The installation of an inverter requires the instrumental detection of compressed-air consumption in order to analyse its value for money and the time needed for ROI.

The technical intervention to install an inverter on an on-off cycling compressor requires the following precautions:

• Replacing the electric-engine bearings with ceramic bearings
• Inserting a filter for the input power of the inverter

The regulation delta of the installed inverter varies between 75%-105% of the compressor’s nominal flow rate. The compressor thus modified, is re-certified in compliance with EU laws.

Get in touch with the author: fabio.russo@progettoenergiaefficiente.it