ELGi introduces smart monitoring and alert system for compressed air systems

By OEM Update Editorial September 14, 2023 9:53 am IST

IoT-enabled data analysis technology to improve energy efficiency, pre-empt maintenance, and increase uptime of compressed air systems.

Elgi Equipments Limited introduced Air~Alert, an IoT-based Air Compressor Monitoring System, for the Indian market. After a successful launch at the Hannover Messe in Germany earlier this year, the ELGi Air~Alert smart 24/7 remote monitoring and alert system is now available to ELGi’s customers in India for new and existing installations*.

Air~Alert is a data transmission and analysis service that monitors critical parameters and sends out actionable insights and alerts to users. With these insights, customers can improve uptime and maximise efficiency with smart monitoring and data related to air compressor performance. The service also enables customers to act in time and avoid potential failures. Additionally, Air~Alert enables 24/7 remote monitoring of the air compressor. It delivers trend graphs and information about operating parameters, including discharge pressure, oil temperature, variable frequency drive (VFD) speed (where fitted), 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 and fault occurrences while predicting commonly occurring failures. Monthly summary reports on overall health and operating parameters, including upcoming service requirements and preventative maintenance based on the data obtained, are sent to customers.

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 to enable intelligent prediction with actionable alerts, reports, and trends – which are returned securely to the operators as easy-to-read actionable dashboards.

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

With ELGi’s Air~Alert, users can track highly informative utilisation trends providing actionable intelligence and take corrective actions, such as: 

1. Operating pressure band optimisation based on the utilisation rate
2. Replacing an existing fixed speed unit with a variable speed VFD unit/ or adding a retrofit VFD
3. Providing an energy efficient, lower size compressor in case of very low utilisation rate
4. Detecting leaks based on an unexpected change to a higher utilisation rate over time