Category: Electrical Equipment

Many air compressors are now oil free. This has its own benefits and can go a long way to improving the benefits for the company that owns them. Choose an oil-free air compressor if you want to save money and help improve the environment.

An oil-free air compressor will often be cheaper to run, making it more financially viable for a business to invest in it. This can help to save money on energy production.

Oil-free compressors will also be kinder on the environment. They will generate energy in a more green way, without the involvement of oil.

Some industries require oil-free compressors as standard. Oil can cause contamination, so if the compressor is going to be used for purposes like cleaning delicate pieces of machinery and intricate parts, an oil-free version is usually going to be required as standard. Find out the requirements for your specific industry.

These are in the same group as the reciprocating units. The most common type in this category is the spiral lobe oil flooded screw or single stage helical unit. They come with two rotors inside the cylider. The rotors play an important role in compressing the air within it. It has no valves. This unit is oil cooled and the oil is used to seal the internal clearances. Basically, the cooling process takes place within the appliance and therefore the running parts do not experience high temperatures that can be detrimental to the machine. They are either water or air cooled products.

They are examples of positive displacement appliances. Which implies that when the air pressure is lowered, its volume is increased. In this case, the successive air volumes that are confined within a closed area and and elevating this air to a higher pressure by lowering its volume. This is made possible by a piston inside a cylinder, which act as the displacing and compressing element.
There are two types of these tools. They include single stage and two stage appliances. Single stage are mainly used for pressures that range between 70 psi and 100psi respectively. On the other hand, two stage are basically used for higher pressures that go up to 250 psi. Reciprocating types are considered as single acting, especially when the compressing is achieved using a single side of the piston. But if the compressor uses two sides of the piston, then it is regarded as double acting.

With metal panel faceplates and back panels it’s all about protection; they help shield critical assets in light or heavy electronic and industrial electronic applications from weather conditions, chemicals, cleaning products as well as extreme temperatures. Most of the back panels are constructed form aluminium or stainless steel, providing rigidity to electronic and control panels as well. Aside from that they are designed for easy fabrication and durability to provide protection to assets. For customers in need of control panels for use in different industrial applications, they can make special order to the manufacturers to custom-build the panels based on the specific requirements.

 

Customised Aluminium Control Panels

Contacting manufacturers to make aluminium control panel units can allow customers acquire high quality control panel fascias, nameplates or testplates. Dedicated manufacturers will produce aluminium control panels, plates and tags all manufactured in-house and then cut to various sizes in range of thickness. The result is a robust construction with a large choice of electrical components all customised to the user’s specifications.

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When you go shopping for a large electrical appliance, you may notice the energy label stuck next to the product. So what does this label tell you about the item in question?

Energy Efficiency Rating – With A+++ being the most efficient and D being the least, this section of the label will tell you where the product lies based on its energy consumption.

Annual Energy Consumption – This will show the annual energy consumed in kWh per year.

Product Specific Information – This is all dependent on the product itself. You will see information such as noise levels, capacity and water consumption.

Even when you compare an air conditioner to a heater, they are very, very energy hungry. This is why energy efficient technology is very important when it comes air conditioning unit, but mostly the ones on the market still have high energy consumption. This might not be the case for much longer though.

In 2014 it was announced that a new technology in the space cooling industry could see the amount of energy required to produce the same result of current technology reduced by up to 90%. How does this work, you might be asking? Well, first you need to understand a little about the current technology:

Air conditioners function in basically the same way as a refrigerator, in that they absorb the heat energy in one space and then direct that heat to another area. Fridges are very energy hungry too, but when you consider how much larger the space an air conditioner is trying to cool you can see why they are so expensive to run. The difference between the way a fridge and an air conditioner works is basically down to how a fridge calls the interior and expels the heat while an air conditioner absorbs the in the surroundings and contains it in the interior.

The new tech which is allowing us to cool space far more efficiently is actually a water absorbing gel. Previously we could also follow the same process as the new versions of air conditioners do, but because the water absorbing materials were a rarity, demands couldn’t be met.

The water absorbing gel is important because, when the water in the air conditioning units heats up and turns to vapour, without the gel you need to use energy to compress the vapour back into a liquid; with the gel, the water vapour can be absorbed and the heat removed without the need to expend energy on compression.

 

Are you looking at your electricity bill wondering why it’s so high? Of course it could depend on the price plan that you’re actually on and whether there have been an price increases, but the majority of the time it’s all about the appliances which are used and how much you use them.

The most power hungry appliances in the average gone are as follows;

• Air conditioner and heater
• Tumble dryer
• Water pump
• Hair dryer
• Refrigerator
• Desktop computer
• Light bulbs

Air conditioners and heaters use the most electricity of all appliances, so be wary of the amount of time you keep such an appliance on for. Of course when it’s the middle of the summer, you may have to keep your air conditioner on just bear in mind the costs.

 

Smart LED bulbs have been doing the rounds over the past couple of years, but only now have they really started to become popular. Below we’ll explain the benefits and the down sides of using LED light bulbs over incandescent bulbs.

The main benefits of using LED instead of incandescent bulbs:

• LED produce much less heat, meaning they use less energy.
• LED lights last much longer compared to incandescent bulbs.
• You can control the LED lights via your smartphone / tablet.
• Use the lights on a timer to help you wake up in the morning.

The down sides of using LED lights:

• Much more expensive to set up compared to sticking with incandescent lights.
• LED lights will take much longer to return your investment via saving money on your energy bills.

 

Machine tools distributor Mills CNC has pledged its support to VTST – The Vulcan to the Sky Trust. VTST is a British Charity which owns the Vulcan XH558.

Mills CNC is a major supplier of advanced machine tool technologies to the aerospace and defence sector, so its involvement in VTST’s 2015 project should come as no surprise. This support will aim to inspire the next generation of young people who are considering pursuing a career in engineering and manufacturing, whilst also extending the flying life of the XH558.

“It is well documented that the UK needs more engineers and more scientists to help it compete and win on the world stage, but we just aren’t attracting sufficient numbers of talented young people into the manufacturing sector.
Through the publicity generated by Operation 2015 and with VTST’s outreach education programme, I am confident that the project will help challenge young people’s (often negative) perceptions about careers in engineering and manufacturing. And that has to be a good thing. This is why we’re proud to be involved and associated with such an inspirational heritage project.” (Nick White, Mills CNC)