A Review of Energy Overconsumption Reduction Methods in the Utilization Stage in Compressed Air Systems

Pneumatic systems use the energy of compressed air to carry out manufacturing automation processes through the implementation of complex handling and motion tasks. However, these systems are energy intensive: it is estimated that pneumatic systems in manufacturing plants consume approximately 10% of all electricity consumed in the industrial sector. At the same time, the energy efficiency of the whole pneumatic system is observed to be 6-10%, due to the compression process, oversizing, and overconsumption. There are numerous solutions in the literature focusing on improving efficiency at the compression stage of utilization; however, for the utilization stage, there is a lack of systematization and grouping of these solutions. The following review will summarize current knowledge about the utilization stage and methods for improving oversizing and energy overconsumption. In addition, a method of exergy analysis for pneumatic systems will be presented, which is a very useful tool to assess the efficiency of these systems.