Ultrasonic Inspection: Compressed Air & Gas

Types of Gases

• Compressed Air - Approximately 10% of the electricity consumed for a typical industry facility is for generating compressed air. For some facilities, it's as much as 30% or more, easily making it one of the most expensive sources of energy. For example, a single 200 hp compressor is fully loaded 85% of the time and partially loaded the other 15%. The cost of running the compressor is more than $51,000 when the aggregate electricity rate is $0.05 per kWh.1 Leaks in an air system can cause the compressor to run more often driving up the costs of electricity. In this example, just 20 small leaks can cause an additional $7,000/year increase in usage.
• Freon - Used for air conditioning, freon is compressed causing it to become hot. When the freon runs through a set of coils to dissipate its heat and become cool while condensing into a liquid. The liquid runs through a valve and becomes cool gas. The gas runs through coils to absorb heat and cool the ambient air. Freon leakage of just 1 oz per year can shut down an entire cooling system.
• Ethylene Oxide - Ethylene oxide is widely used in hospitals as a sterilizing agent for instruments and equipment.
• Nitrogen - Nitrogen, when combined with Hydrogen, forms ammonia and is useful for producing such items as fertilizer, household cleaners, explosives, and nitric acid.
• Oxygen - Widely distributed in hospitals, Oxygen is also stored and used on airplanes and in electronics manufacturing processes.
• Hydrogen - Like Oxygen, Hydrogen is used for certain manufacturing processes such as electronics.
• Propane - Propane is commonly stored and used for fuel.
• Helium - A bi-product of natural gas production, Helium is used in fiber optic manufacturing, arc welding, growing silicon and germanium crystals, producing titanium and zirconium, as a cooling medium for nuclear reactors, and as a gas for supersonic wind tunnels.
• Argon - There are many uses for Argon despite its rareness. It is used in the manufacturing of metals as a shield gas, as inert gas to avoid oxidation, as a filler gas for fluorescent light bulbs and as a shield gas in manufacture of semiconductors.
• Neon - Neon is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas used for glow lamps, electron tubes, signs, plasma studies, fluorescent starter tubes, cryogenic refrigeration and gas lasers

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