Energy Saving Fox Deluxe

The new Air Management System in connection sizes from ¼ to 1 inch from SMC, consisting of regulator, stroke, and shut-off valve, offers potential savings of up to 62% in compressed air consumption thanks to comprehensive monitoring of pressure, temperature, and flow. (Photo: SMC Deutschland GmbH)

Pneumatic processes are standard across all industries. At the same time, they consume a lot of energy – partly because compressed air is often wasted for various reasons. To address this and enable users to benefit from additional advantages, SMC has developed a new digital module for compressed air management, the Air Management System, in connection sizes from ¼ to 1 inch. Using the combination of regulator, stroke, and shut-off valve, pressure, temperature, and flow of the air supply can not only be monitored. By setting baseline parameters, predictive maintenance and condition-based monitoring can also be implemented – ultimately reducing compressed air consumption by up to 62%.

Compressed air is one of the most common energy carriers in industry – and one of the most expensive. Typically, only about 10% of the electricity required by the compressed air compressor is converted into useful work fed into the compressed air network. Therefore, each cubic meter is a valuable resource, and waste must be strictly avoided. Based on this premise, automation specialist SMC has developed the new Air Management System in connection sizes from ¼ to 1 inch: It primarily helps to reduce compressed air consumption by up to 62%. The digital module impresses, among other things, with monitoring of pressure, temperature, and flow, as well as programmable automatic pressure reduction and shutdown. Connection to higher-level controllers can be made via PROFINET or EtherNet/IP™. Thanks to the integrated OPC UA server, it is also possible to operate without a PLC and still benefit from the Air Management System. Additionally, other systems can be wirelessly integrated into the solution. Installation is thus quick and easy, and the system is particularly simple to retrofit – even in brownfield installations.

Savings for your wallet – and the climate

Whether it's insufficiently controlled air consumption, undetected leaks, or the lack of options to optimize processes during standby and shutdown times: all are reasons leading to unnecessary air usage, which is costly for companies and harmful to the environment. The newly developed Air Management System, a combination of regulator, stroke, and shut-off valve, addresses these issues in various ways and can lead to savings of up to 62% in compressed air consumption. Thanks to comprehensive monitoring of pressure, temperature, and flow of the air supply, anomalies in consumption can be quickly and accurately detected and addressed automatically.

The basis is programmable pressure reduction or shutdown times based on preset machine conditions. The digital module can automatically respond to deviations, such as with a pressure reduction. Additionally, preset parameters allow defining shutdown and standby times, into which the process automatically switches. This results in significant energy savings and process efficiency improvements – a clear advantage for both cost and climate balance.

Predictive maintenance and easy integration

Besides monitoring airflow, the Air Management System can also monitor pressure and temperature, enabling precise determination of baseline parameters for machines and systems. Over time, the high-resolution data collected creates a digital fingerprint of optimal operating conditions. Threshold values can also be defined, allowing the status of a system to be checked and maintenance measures to be planned or initiated in case of deviations (e.g., leaks). The extensive quality data also allows monitoring the overall status of the equipment. This enables early detection of potential failures, allowing users to react quickly.

The integration of the Air Management System is also straightforward – even in brownfield applications. In wireless setups, a main unit is physically connected to an industrial Ethernet network and communicates via radio signal with a remote unit. This eliminates the need for complex and space-consuming wiring, and the air line installation is unaffected. Data transmission, which allows up to 10 wireless modules to be connected to a single Air Management System, is encrypted and reliable over a radius of 100 meters. For communication with higher-level systems, either the open standard OPC UA (which does not require a PLC) or protocols like EtherNet/IP™ and PROFINET are available. Since all Air Management Systems also include an integrated IO-Link master, an additional IO-Link device can be connected.

Thanks to extensive features, including protection classes of IP65 or IP67 depending on the regulator version, users from various industries receive an optimal solution for their compressed air management to save energy, costs, and ultimately CO2. Whether in general manufacturing, automotive, paper, or food industries, or in areas like machine tool construction, electronics, or life sciences.