PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2020

COMPRESSORS PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 10/20 www.petpla.net 17 Kris Vermeulen: As you men- tioned, the ZD is on a concrete base frame, which indeed eliminates the need for special foundations nor special anchoring, and in addition, it also absorbs the little vibrations that a Balance Opposite Piston (BOP) or “boxer” type of piston set-up already has, making our ZD the machine which in our view, has the lowest vibration in the market. The canopy enclosure also reduces noise levels significantly. These two features allow customers to install the machine at any location in their plant, even in the production area, and even better, next to the blow moulding machine. This not only elimi- nates the need for having a (separate) compressor room, but also removes the need for having long high pressure piping in between the compressor and the blow moulding unit. PETplanet: Things have moved on since 2004. How has the ZD range developed since then? Kris Vermeulen: All our ZDs in the range have 4 stages to achieve high pressure. These 4 stages deliver the additional advantage that you have 3 interstage pressures to choose from (one at every stage and the 4 th one, the final discharge pressure) and this offers great flexibility. The second stage pres- sure is typically between 6 and 10bar, and every plant has a need for (low pressure) air within that pressure range somewhere else in their factory, whether it is for their labelling machine, transpor- tation and/or packaging. We can supply both low and high pressure from our ZD unit in one solution and so eliminating the need for an (additional) low pressure compressor. PETplanet: In these difficult times, companies are wary of making signifi- cant investment in new machines. Is this something Atlas Copco has considered? Kris Vermeulen: We are very aware of the possible effects of the Covid pandemic on investment and business confidence and we are therefore offering three versions of the ZD family to meet the specific needs of our customers:  ZD Premium delivers a high pressure flow at the desired pressure.  ZD Xtend additionally offers a low/ medium pressure tap-off of dry oil- free air.  ZD Flex is our top of the range com- pressor delivering air at all pressures to all the machines in our customers’ factory. The ZD Flex can be designed for the minimum total Capex, the most optimal Opex (lowest energy consump- tion), and/or reducing our customers’ Risk (and so lowest liabilities); a well balanced combination of these three is evidentially also possible. PETplanet: Do all your compressors work with energy recovery systems? Kris Vermeulen: Energy reduc- tion is at the core of our design. So, of course, energy recovery systems are available. In fact, if we look at our ZD solution, we can offer energy recovery at different levels, either only for the first 2 stages, the last 2 stages or on all 4 stages, where the amount of heat that is recovered is about the same as the total electric power the ZD consumes. Another advantage that our ZD offers is the fact that the first 2 stages use screw technology, which allows higher discharge temperatures, allowing the highest water temperature possible for the energy recovery system and this enables the highest energy recovery per- centage in the market. Another energy recovery system is the re-use of “waste” compressed air from the blow moulding machine, where again our 4-stages enable the highest pressure recovery as it can be re-inected at higher pressure and thus deliver the highest energy recovery. PETplanet: How else can the cus- tomer reduce the cost of compressed air on an existing installation? Kris Vermeulen: Good question. Feedback from our customers has indicated that our ZD Flex offering is an excellent solution both for new (greenfield) plants, but even for exist- ing installations as well. Our ZD Flex can be configured to meet customer demands to ensure it meets energy- and cost-saving goals, and this not only for this year but also for future expansions to come. Another important element, the cost of an installation is not only the cost of the equipment: you have seen that with our low noise, low vibration ZD unit, you have the possibility to install the unit next to the blow mould- ing machine, offering flexibility and cost savings, as this reduces the need for expanding the high pressure piping or adding additional high pressure piping, but also removing the need for a high pressure compressor room fets elimi- nated. Saving our customers’ money on the total project cost for expansion. PETplanet: Flexibility and cus- tomisation are becoming increasingly important in bottle production. How can a compressor handle different bottle and production volumes and at the same time be energy efficient? Kris Vermeulen: This point is precisely the reason why we have our ZD Flex solution. With different bottles and different bottle sizes, comes of course different air volume require- ments. After all, a small bottle needs less volume of air than a big bottle to be blown. This is the main reason why we have our VSD version available, as this regulates the rotating speed of the ZD and so the flow. Our aim is to supply a system that meets our cus- tomers’ specific needs. PETplanet: To conclude, a ques- tion on the current situation. Als Mats Rahmström, President and CEO of the Atlas Copco Group, in his report for the second quarter of 2020, pointed out that the group is with- standing tough market conditions and keeping profitability and cash flow at good levels. With the pandemic still very much with us, how is the situa- tion today, a few months later? Kris Vermeulen: We need to be flexible in meeting our customers’ and the market’s changing needs. We remain optimistic that our ZD family will be able to provide the right response to this crisis and it is vital that we keep in constant virtual contact with our customers especially using our global sales and operations teams who are fully trained in virtual tools from demos on real time to fac- tory acceptance tests. PETplanet: Thank you very much! www.atlascopco.com