During my forty years of involvement with distribution (companies that sell and service compressed air system products) as a Vice President of Sales and Marketing and Account Manager, I have witnessed a tremendous amount of change in the compressed air industry. As much as we like to reminisce about the good old days, it is quite apparent that the resources, capabilities and knowledge of distribution today are significantly better than ever before.
In continuation of our series examining the application of storage in a compressed air system, this article will focus on another type of supply side storage concept: demand (dry) storage. Before discussing the definition, application and use of demand storage, I would like to reiterate that contrary to current thought, consideration should be given to control (wet) and demand (dry) storage being separate storage solutions based on their primary purpose
While control storage was originally an integral component of a reciprocating air compressor installation, this article will only briefly explore that application. The content of this article will focus instead on rotary screw installations since the rotary screw air compressor has essentially replaced the reciprocating as the compressor of choice in industrial applications. It should also be noted that in compressed air systems where reciprocating and rotary screw air compressors are operating together, control storage should always be utilized.
