Elgi Introduces IoT monitoring system18 July 2023

Elgi Compressors Europe Air~Alert Air~Alert is a data transmission and analysis service that is said to enable customers to act in time and avoid potential failures with 24/7 remote monitoring of the compressed air system.

Elgi Compressors Europe has introduced Air~Alert, an Internet of Things (IoT) machine monitoring system that monitors parameters to help minimise downtime.

Air~Alert is a data transmission and analysis service that is said to enable customers to act in time and avoid potential failures with 24/7 remote monitoring of the compressed air system. It does this by delivering trend graphs and information about operating parameters including discharge pressure, oil temperature, variable frequency drive (VFD) speed, total running hours, trips and alerts on a live online interface accessible remotely from anywhere in the world.

Air~Alert also notifies customers and Elgi channel partners about scheduled maintenance, fault occurrence, and predicts commonly occurring failures. Monthly summary reports on overall health and operating parameters include upcoming planned service requirements, as well as preventative maintenance based on obtained data.

David De Pril, director of product management and marketing organisation, said: “The Air~Alert enables our customers to be constantly aware of the status of their compressed air systems and monitor them remotely. Predictive alerts are a step closer to prognostics for detecting and preventing failures. With Air~Alert, customers are assured of highly accurate advanced predictive machine downtime alerts and minimised unplanned downtime.”

The operational and performance data from the compressors are acquired by Air~Alert from the compressor controller, transmitted in an encrypted form, and sent to secure and dedicated Air~Alert servers in the cloud. Smart algorithms then work on the data sent to the cloud to enable intelligent prediction with actionable alerts, reports, and trends - which are returned securely to the operators as actionable dashboards.

Throughout the process, the data is structured and analysed to provide smart analysis that helps the users to plan their maintenance activities and provide insights into operational data, enabling energy efficiency improvements with the compressor. The Air~Alert failure prediction module predicts if the compressor is likely to fail in the future. At the end of the process, data is translated into alerts and reports that allow the user to take timely action.

With Air~Alert, users can track utilisation trends providing intelligence and take corrective actions, such as:

  • Operating pressure band optimisation based on the utilisation rate
  • Replacing an existing fixed speed unit with variable speed, VFD unit or adding a retrofit VFD
  • Providing an energy efficient, lower size compressor in case of very low utilisation rate
  • Detecting leaks based on an unexpected change to a higher utilisation rate over time
  • The Air~Alert device can be factory-fitted on new Elgi EG, AB and OF Series compressors, or retro-fitted on units with a Neuron III, III+ or IV controller.

    Ben Spencer

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