CASE STUDIES
Makevale’s critical compressor had run for nearly 20 years and clocked over 40,000 hours. Replacing it should have been straightforward. Then they looked at the room it was sitting in, and realised the building had been constructed around the machine. Air Energy found a way through.
Makevale produces customised bead polymer products for medical, dental, and industrial sectors from their site in Ware, Hertfordshire. Compressed air is central to their manufacturing process, and their ageing CompAir Cyclon 345, reliable as it had been, was due for replacement.
The problem wasn’t the compressor. It was the room.
The housing had been built around the existing unit, meaning no modern replacement would fit without significant structural work. One option on the table was constructing a raised floor to accommodate the new machine, but re-piping and building that structure alone would have cost over £10,000, plus the downtime of taking their main air supply offline during installation.
Rather than work around the building, Air Energy sidestepped it entirely.
The solution was a fully assembled containerised unit, built offsite, delivered to Makevale’s door, and requiring only a power and pipe connection to become operational. The container arrived complete with exhaust ducts, internal lighting, power sockets, and a brand new CompAir L45 fixed speed compressor already installed and ready to run.
No construction. No extended downtime. No £10,000 bill.
Customer – Makevale
Location – Ware, Hertfordshire
Application – Containerised unit featuring a fixed speed air compressor for bead polymer production
Product – CompAir L45 fixed speed air compressor
Customer Benefit – Innovative solution saves more than £10,000 in construction costs that would have been otherwise needed to accommodate a new compressor
The key issue was that the compressor housing had been constructed around the machine. As a result, it would not be able to accommodate a new system without extensive structural work.
Dr Samit continues: “The space and dimensions available within the housing posed a particular challenge. At one point we considered constructing a second, raised floor for the compressor to be positioned on, but the cost of re-piping and building this structure would have been more than £10,000.”
In addition to significant costs for Makevale, this would also have meant considerable downtime for the site’s main air compressor while the new unit was installed.
The solution was to install a containerised set, requiring only a power and pipe connection to be operational. The unit includes exhaust ducts, internal lighting and power sockets, and is fitted with a CompAir L45 fixed speed air compressor.
The CompAir machine was critical. While we have a number of back-up compressors installed, the machine in question is absolutely critical, delivering essential manufacturing processes. The containerised set provided by Air Energy is secure and easy to transport. We are delighted with the solution they delivered, and now rely on them to regularly service the system too. We would whole-heartedly recommended Air Energy to other businesses looking for an efficient and cost-effective compressed air solution.
Long-term partner Air Energy, however, approached the issue with a practical and low-cost answer, ensuring any downtime and costs were kept to an absolute minimum.
The L45 provides a reliable and low-cost supply of compressed air to power Makevale’s manufacturing processes. Its high output airend with slow rotational speed helps reduce energy consumption, while the innovative design of the fail-safe shaft seal, integrated oil filter and oil regulation valve guarantees external hoses are kept to a minimum, delivering the highest levels of performance.
If your compressed air or nitrogen system is limiting performance, we’ll help you quantify the impact and engineer a solution around it.
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We specify and supply integrated compressed air, vacuum and nitrogen systems tailored to your operational requirements:
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