Abstract
As plant personnel know, repairing compressed
air leaks can be an expensive, labor intensive and
never-ending process. This article discusses ways
plant personnel can reduce and maintain their leak
rate at a lower level without repairing leaks. It
discusses how pressure/flow controllers, variable
speed and variable displacement compressors,
automation, and addressing critical plant pressures
allow plant personnel to lower the header pressure,
which eliminates artificial demand and controls the
leak rate. More importantly, the article brings a new
dimension to the idea of turning off the air to idle
equipment by focusing plant personnel's attention on
the idle time within the cycle of operating equipment.
Beals, C. (2005). Reducing Your Leak Rate Without Repairing Leaks. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /5573.