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News:
March, 2011:
Market leader domestic
snack manufacturer increased its nitrogen supply capacity by
installing new ABH nitrogen generator
April, 2011:
The largest winery in the
Eger wine district in Hungary purchased its second nitrogen
generator for wine treatment and handling
June, 2011:
Phoenix-Mecano, the multinational electric supplier changed
nitrogen supply to ABH nitrogen generator from cylinders in its
touchpad manufacturing facility
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Nitrogen Generators
To supply nitrogen gas separated from compressed air with carbon
molecular sieve.
Main features:
- Compressed air pressure: min. 7,5 bar
- Purity of produced nitrogen: can be set between 95 - 99,999 %,
depending on the needed purity for the particular application. .
- Pressure of produced nitrogen: 5,5 - 6 bar. Optionally, 8-9 bar
output pressure can be achieved with higher compressed air pressure
(10 bar)
- Volume of nitrogen produced with a single pair of adsorbers:
see the table below:
Model
|
Produced
nitrogen
(Nm3/hour, 99,5 % purity) |
Air
consumption
(Ndm3/minute)
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N-0,5
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0,54
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30
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N-1,2
|
1,26
|
61
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N-2
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2,1
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101
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N-3
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3,2
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153
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N-5
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5,4
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252
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N-8
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8,3
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387
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N-10
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10,7
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490
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N-15
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15,5
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708
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N-20
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19,9
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905
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Much larger nitrogen flow can
be achieved by connecting several pairs of adsorbers paralelly, reaching many hundred m3/hour
capacity.
Proper purity for each application
Required
purity of nitrogen gas cover a wide range depending on the particular
application. For a simple inerting operation, 95 % purity may be
sufficient. On the other end, soldering machines for lead-free
production of printed circuit boards may need 99,99 % purity.
As the amount of produced nitrogen decreases by higher purity levels,
it is recommended to determine the needed purity in order to select the
right
size generator with the right purity level.
The volume of nitrogen produced in case of a particular nitrogen
generator depends on the set purity of nitrogen. This function is shown
in the table below.
Data show, how much nitrogen is produced by a nitrogen generator with
different gas purities, if the produced volume is 100
unit at 99,5 % purity.
Purity (%)
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96
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99
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99,5
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99,9
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99,95
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99,99
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99,999
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Produced volume
(as percentage of volume
produced at 99,5 % purity) |
197
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128
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100
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70
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59
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42
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25
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Automatic operation
Generators are controlled by
Siemens microprocessor based controllers
(PLC). Control circuitry operates with 24 V DC. Its power consumption
is only 40 W.
Generators
automatically stop and start, based on the pressure of nitrogen buffer
tank. If the generator was not in operation for a longer
period of time, the generator performs a self-cleaning cycle at
startup.
Maintenance means only periodical check of compressed air filters - or,
if the pressure drop is too high on the filter, the filter cartridge
shall be replaced. The pressure drop is shown by a differencial
pressure indicator.
Modular design - possibility to
further expansion
Nitrogen generators are
designed as modular systems. The electronic and pneumatic control of
each generator (from N-5 and larger modules) can operate with more than
a single pair of adsorbers. Thus, if the need for nitrogen gas
increases after the installation of a nitrogen generator, the produced
volume can be simply increased by adding new pair(s) of adsorbers at
modest costs. The old and new adsorbers will operate paralelly after
the expansion.
It shall be considered, that only that adsorber module can be
used at expansion, that has been installed previously. For
example, a N-10 generator can be expanded by adding an additonal N-10
pair of adsorber, reaching 20 m3/hour production volume.
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Nitrogen
gas is used in many fields of industry, laboratories,
agriculture, storage, and in several other applications. There
are sometimes not so widely known applications: eg. the gasoline tanks
of military jets are filled up with nitrogen, when gasoline level
decreasing.
Today, nitrogen is the most widely used industrial gas.
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