Drain traps reduce operating costs, lower maintenance, and prevent air lines from flooding. They eliminate bleeding expensive compressed air through pet-cocks or manually draining compressed air lines and equipment. A ball valve should precede all drain traps to facilitate routine maintenance without interruption.
Demand-Operated Drain Traps automatically discharge moisture and oil-containing condensate from the system. Drain traps should discharge only liquids, not costly compressed air, and do not require a maintenance-intensive strainer upstream of the condensate inlet. They can be used on air receivers, inter- and after-coolers, refrigerated dryers, separators, filters, and header piping.
Timed Electric Traps are not a practical option. Not only do they release costly compressed air in addition to condensate, but the discharge process can create a stable emulsion which cannot be easily separated and increases disposal costs.
Aftercoolers are necessary to reduce discharge temperatures to levels accept-able for further air treatment (generally less than 120°F). They can be either air-cooled or water-cooled.
Air for face masks, hoods, helmets, and other externally supplied air-breathing apparatus require air treatment specifically designed for breathing air. These must remove excessive moisture, particulates (dust and dirt), oil and oil vapor, carbon monoxide, and other hydrocarbon vapors commonly found in ambient air. They must also monitor and provide an alarm signal for excess carbon monoxide. Properly design breathing air systems product “Grade D” level air, which is suitable for breathing under OSHA standards.
Compressed air dryers and filters are designed to treat specific volumes of air at specific conditions. If system pressure is not maintained all the time, air moves through clean air treatment equipment at unusually high velocity when the system is restarted. When this occurs, dryers and filters will not perform to specification until full operating pressure is reached and air velocity drops to within normal limits. This is not likely to be an issue in 24 hour operations, but it may be for systems that are shut down overnight or on weekends. Kaeser’s Air Main Charging System prevents excessive velocity by automatically opening and closing to slowly charge the main distribution piping. This not only ensures correct air quality but also protects and extends the life of treatment devices.