KPIs and measurements
Compressed air (industrial)
Also known as plant air, instrument air, compressed-air supply.
Compressed air at industrial plants is delivered by an on-site compressed-air system at typical pressures of 4–10 bar. Two grades exist:
- Plant air — general utility air; tolerant quality
- Instrument air — filtered and dried; for controls and precision devices
Pneumatic acoustic cleaners tolerate plant air for most service but specifying instrument air or dried plant air improves diaphragm life.
Consumption
A typical industrial sonic horn consumes 8–14 Nm³/min during a 5–15 second firing burst at 4–7 bar operating pressure. On a 5-minute firing cycle this averages 0.3–1.0 Nm³/min continuous draw per horn. Multi-horn arrays must be sized against the simultaneous-firing case.
Air receiver and regulation
A correctly-sized air receiver buffers the horn's pulse demand from the compressor. Under-sized receivers cause SPL drop-off during multi-horn firing — a common engineering error on initial installations.
Related terms
Related terms
- Pneumatic acoustic cleanerA pneumatic acoustic cleaner is a sonic horn driven by compressed plant air. The pneumatic design dominates industrial acoustic cleaning because it has no electrical parts in the gas path.
- Operating pressureOperating pressure for industrial sonic horns is typically 4–7 bar (60–100 psi). Higher pressure increases SPL within design limits; below design pressure SPL drops sharply.
- Solenoid valve (sonic horn)A solenoid valve admits compressed air to a sonic horn on command from the cycle controller. ATEX-certified for hazardous-area duty; the most-replaced wear part on the horn periphery.