VSD dryers deliver quality air and energy savings to Ogihara
July 04th 2007

UK vehicle manufacturers no longer produce all their major components in-house; instead, they rely on the supply of precision body pressings and assemblies from companies like Telford-based Ogihara Europe Ltd – a key player that has just invested £8 million in a new, fully automated press line

Founded in 1994, and part of the global Ogihara Group that deals with every major automotive manufacturer worldwide, Ogihara Europe,with a turnover approaching £66 million, is - supplying components on a JIT basis - and undertaking engineering and tooling projects for Jaguar,Toyota,SAAB, Peugeot,Vauxhall and Renault.

It’s the company’s fifth press line installation on the 20-acre, former GKN site at Hortonwood where compressed air plays an essential role in the efficient operation of the new Fukui production equipment.Known as T2,the facility consists of five individual machines that can exert pressures ranging from 600 up to 1,600 tonnes.

But to guarantee the reliable performance of these presses, there can be no moisture contamination present in the delivered air.That’s why Colin Hunt, Ogihara’s principal plant engineer, decided it was time to replace the existing, but obsolete and oversized, water-cooled dryers with Atlas Copco state-of-the-art FD 1000VSD refrigerant dryers, after calling in his local compressed air specialist, Telford Compressed Air Services.

Not only do the new dryers remove the threat of moisture-laden air reaching the production equipment but, with the minimum pressure drop and Variable Speed Drive to match output to demand, the installation provides measurable energy savings at the same time.

Each of the two dryers delivers 1000 l/s (2118 cfm) of dry air at a maximum working pressure of 13bar (189 psi), with a PDP of 3ºC/37ºF and a pressure drop of just 0.18 bar (2.61 psi).The FD dryer’s Variable Speed Drive refrigerant compressor exactly matches the energy input to the need defined by the water load to the dryer, thereby achieving more than 25% savings in energy consumption when compared to a conventional drying unit.

As Colin Hunt explains: “In the light of what is happening in the industry, we are faring well. The new press line is a major advancement on the older presses. They are still very usable but the technology is a bit slower. In deciding on our considerable capital investment in the new equipment, including the two new dryers, we felt that energy-efficiency had to be an essential part of the equation and that’s what Atlas Copco’s FD VSD dryers are delivering.”

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