The QWIK-PURE oil-water separator could change condensate management in the compressed air industry.
At its facility in Atlanta, Georgia, BEKO USA produces and assembles its DRYPOINT® M and CLEARPOINT® lines.
Long before smart was a technology buzzword, BEKO Technologies was making smart products. In 1982, founder Berthold Koch advertised “the drain with a brain.” The first step in making products that could manage themselves, the company introduced BEKOMAT®, an electronic sensor control drain.
The first compressed air systems didn’t use drains at all, but accepted a certain amount of oil and water in the compressed air as a necessary evil. After that came a hand valve that let the operator drain moisture by hand at pre-determined collection points. That in turn led to the earliest drains, which opened and closed even when not needed, often creating pressure drop.
The search for a better drain led first to mechanical drains that used a float to open when needed, then Koch’s electronic sensor control drain.
“The difference between the floaters and the electronic was that the electronic is much smarter. So, it doesn't only know that it has to open, it also knows when it's not opening, or when it's failing,” explains Tilo Fruth, President of BEKO Technologies. “When mechanical float drains get stuck in the open position – due normally to solid particles in the condensate – they become a significant compressed air leak source.”
While two to three times the prices of other drains, Koch’s innovation was a success and came to dominate the market. Its intelligence came from a capacitive sensor that measured the level of condensate in a reservoir. As the industry came to see the value of energy efficiency, plant operators understood the drain’s price was easily justified by the money it saved.
“Berthold Koch was a little bit of an Elon Musk in the condensate technology world,” Fruth says. “He took risks to invest constantly in new innovations.”
Tilo Fruth speaking at the Best Practices EXPO and Conference.
Solving Problems in Condensate Management
Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine spoke to Fruth in his company’s new Smyrna, Georgia, location. It recently purchased and renovated a facility where its desiccant dryers are now being made. With the company releasing its QWIK-PURE® line of oil-water separators, this felt like a good time to discuss the company’s history of innovative products.
After the company’s success with an electronic sensor controlled drain, the next problem in need of a solution was what to do with the collected condensate. It was too oily to run down a sewer system. Plant operators needed a simple way to remove the oil, and so the company became the first to mass-produce oil-water separators. Originally marketed as the ÖWAMAT – a name that came from combining the German word for oil and water – the debut model was nothing more than a container with an activated carbon insert that removed the oil and left clean water. It sold in the hundreds of thousands, but changes in industrial lubricants made oil-water separation more difficult. The company switched to polypropylene filters that could better capture these lubricants. Operators found oil-water separators often overflowed, creating an oily mess. In response, the company introduced a flow control retrofit that could detect overflow conditions.
Compressed Air Desiccant Dryer Inspired by Innovation
At the same time, BEKO Technologies introduced the idea of self-managed devices to compressed air dryers, developing a desiccant dryer that could respond to environmental conditions and change how it worked. Introduced in 2022, the DRYPOINT® XFi was inspired by Fruth’s test drive of a Tesla.
“I love innovative companies,” Fruth says. “The Tesla fascinated me because I never drove one. I wondered how far it could really go. What technology is really in it? At that time, six, seven years ago, the car was already driving almost alone. You had to leave your hands on the steering wheel, but the car did everything by itself. I saw how it adjusts to its environment. It sees the red light, it sees the street, it sees other cars. I asked myself, why can’t we build a dryer that does things like that, just translated into our needs?"
That was the start of the DRYPOINT® XFi, which uses an array of sensors to monitor its conditions constantly.
“We put so many sensors in that we completely measure everything, not only the pressure dew point,” Fruth says. “We added over 10 sensors into the unit to measure everything from pressure, humidity, pressure dew point and temperatures of ambient conditions, as well as operating conditions. It takes those measurements on multiple spots.”
If the dryer is in a humid environment, it adjusts to run one way, and if conditions are dry, it adjusts another way, controlling its blower, heater and the amount of purge air used, all without an operator.
The DRYPOINT XFi.
Adding Intelligence to Oil-Water Separators
The next target for an intelligent offering was the oil-water separator. These devices have a problem, Fruth saw, in that they all eventually overflow if not properly maintained and they don’t give you warnings if they fail or when they need to be maintained.
The goal was to create a smart system in sufficient quantities to be competitively priced. If BEKO Technologies could create a smart oil-water separator that only costs 10% more—or that costs more upfront but less for replacement cartridges—plants would welcome it.
The QWIK-PURE® was in development for five years, but in that time, the price of smart technology dropped so the company was able to create a competitively priced product. The initial plan was to control the system with a capacitive sensor and a pump. The separator would measure how much condensate went in and control the system with a pump, always pumping the same amount of condensate. However, the price of the pump was an obstacle, so the company instead used a belt, a more affordable option. The oil-water separator works with an inexpensive plastic piston valve with a few O-rings. It uses low-pressure compressed air, rather than an electric motor and belt, to open and close the system. The condensate is collected in a reservoir until it reaches a certain level. When the capacitive sensors show the tank is full, the unit closes it and pushes the condensate through the filter cartridge.
“We now have the capability of not only controlling the flow, we also measure how much condensate goes through the system,” Fruth says. “We can tell the system not only when you have to service it, we can also state when there's an alarm and the system isn't working.”
The unit’s intelligence comes from its Flow Regulation Control (FRC), a control panel mounted at the top of the unit. Its LED display lets the operator see the system status at any time. The FRC is Wi-Fi-enabled, so its data can be accessed remotely via a browser. LEDs on the FRC tell how saturated the cartridges are, and the system sends an alert when the cartridges need to be replaced. It will also issue an alarm in the case of a malfunction.
The QWIK-PURE® changes the standard oil-water separator architecture. Rather than condensate flowing into a large container with a filter in it, condensate passes through a depressurization chamber and then past the FRC, which monitors the amount. It then flows into cartridges that contain a pre-filter and a primary filter. Oil is trapped by the filters, while pure water passes through. The unit uses gravity and low-pressure compressed air (under 5 psig/0.3 bar) to move condensate through the chambers.
Maintenance is simple, as cartridges remove with a twist and new ones click into place. Replacing a pair takes 20 seconds. Because the system is modular, users can add more when needed. As a plant expands with new air compressors, it can grow its oil-water separator by snapping new filter cartridges in place. The standard unit can increase to nearly nine times the capacity. Changing cartridges is a no-mess operation as condensate is concealed in the cartridges.
The QWIK-PURE® oil-water separator.
Many Models, but One Cartridge
The company has created two lines of QWIK-PURE® oil-water separators: the CS Series and the iCS series. The CS Series uses the same cartridges and modular design, but lacks the FRC control panel. The CS Series offers 100 scfm, 200 scfm, and 400 scfm flow rate coverage, while the iCS Series offers 550 scfm, 1,100 scfm, 2,200 scfm and 3,300 scfm flow rate coverage. Both lines have a minimum condensate temperature of 41°F (5°C) and a maximum of 140°F (60°C), and both have a maximum operating pressure of 232 psig (16 bar). All units use the same cartridge, simplifying inventory management.
This oil-water separator also solves the challenge of varying environmental conditions, increasing flow and of certain lubricants needing longer to separate. In summer months, large condensate flows can overwhelm some separators. Additionally, certain lubricants, especially synthetics, need a longer filter contact time to separate. This unit’s built-in intelligence ensures condensate gets the treatment it needs every time.
“A lot of systems don't see the need to adjust operations. They spill oily water in the system because they have a high demand of condensate. It's summer, they're running on the normal shift. In the morning, they turn everything on full-load, but then there’s less condensate in the second and third shifts. The system does not adjust to them at all. Our system does because it is smart,” Fruth says.
Part of the solution comes from BEKO Technologies’ use of polypropylene filters instead of activated carbon. Whereas mineral oil separates from water and is easy to remove, synthetic oils or polyglycols tend to emulsify. The company’s polypropylene filters do a better job of dealing with emulsions. The material is also lightweight, so empty cartridges weigh seven pounds, and full cartridges weigh under 55 pounds.
“I would not easily say it's a great system if it isn't,” Fruth says. “I think the QWIK-PURE® iCS is really something new to the world, and we are very proud of it.”
An LED control screen shows the QWIK-PURE® unit’s status.
The QWIK-PURE® has a modular design for easy expandability.
About BEKO Technologies
BEKO Technologies, Corp. (BEKO USA) is the American subsidiary of BEKO TECHNOLOGIES GmbH, which is headquartered in Neuss, Germany. As part of the organization's global operations, it maintains a 50,000-square-foot and 28,000-square-foot production facility in Atlanta and Smyrna, Georgia, respectively. BEKO USA is the American headquarters and has been responsible for producing products and providing superior customer service for all of the Americas since 1990. For more information, visit https://www.beko-technologies.us/en-us/.
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