Industrial Vacuum Pump Case Study

This industrial vacuum story is about a manufacturer who uses a vacuum pump system to generate “hold-down force” for material being fed to their CNC routers. They were originally running three 40 HP, fixed speed vacuum pumps along with a 30 HP variable speed unit for their application. With the assumption that they were at full capacity, an overall fear of downtime, and zero back-up units; they contacted C.H. Reed to see what their options were. Instead of just selling them a new vacuum compressor, we got creative.

We knew the capacity of the 30 HP unit (750 ACFM) was more than the 40 HP units (550 ACFM). Knowing the requirements of the router tables (a total of 4) to be less than full capacity (approximately 450 ACFM per table), we could loop the two systems into one using advanced controller technologies.

The 30 HP variable speed drive unit has Quincy’s Air Logic 2 controller with programmable outputs. We used those outputs to remotely start and stop the other fixed speed machines. The vacuum system can now run on a single point of measurement rather than trying to orchestrate multiple machines with multiple points of measurement. Not only does this create a more energy efficient system, but it also safely shuts down one of the fixed speed machines, thus giving them a machine in standby for system redundancy. To top it all off, remote monitoring (using Quincy’s cellular hardware device ICONS) was added to all of their machines; giving C.H. Reed and the customer up to the minute alerts for service due to alarms, shutdowns, and warnings.

To learn more about this creative solution and our advanced controls capabilities, contact us today to start the conversation!