Air Compressors for Universities
Compressed air is your campus’s fourth utility – just like electricity, water and gas. It runs your research labs, workshops and clinical facilities and without it, nothing would get done. Integrity in research, patient safety, sustainability and cost control: compressed air is a crucial part of your university’s efforts to achieve its educational and operational goals.
Requirements vary widely among your departments. Meeting these varied needs requires a zoned approach to ensure the proper quality and performance of air where it’s needed most to enhance safety and control costs, while helping your university to meet its sustainability objectives.
A Zoned Approach to Compressed Air on Your Campus
Research Laboratories: The Demand for Absolute Purity
In your chemistry, biology and medical research laboratories, the accuracy of results is everything. In these settings, compressed air is critical to enabling world-class science.
- Instrument Air: Delicate devices like mass spectrometers, chromatographs and other analytical equipment require completely clean, dry, and oil-free air. Otherwise, oil can contaminate detectors and invalidate test results.
- Gas Generation: Air is often the feedstock for on-site nitrogen generation for laboratory and industrial processes. This means the air you breathe can be the basis of a safe and reliable source of nitrogen for critical uses.
- The Standard: All of the above applications typically require air that meets the highest standard in ISO 8573-1 Class 0. This is the strictest class of purity, with 100% oil-free air being guaranteed by your compressor(s). This is why your facilities use oil-free compressors for critical research and medical applications.
Engineering & Technology Workshops: Powering Innovation
Your engineering departments require robust compressed air systems capable of delivering high volumes at stable pressures. Reliable airflow prevents project delays and ensures student teaching runs to schedule.
- Pneumatic Tools: Your system must power a wide array of tools without pressure drops that hinder performance.
- Automation and Robotics: Compressed air is fundamental to the pneumatic actuators and control systems used in your robotics and automated manufacturing research.
- Continuous Demand: These workshops have a high, continuous demand, making efficient and reliable rotary screw compressors the ideal solution.
Medical & Dental Schools: Ensuring Patient Safety
In your clinical training environments, compressed air is classified as a medical gas. Failure to ensure its purity poses a direct risk to patient health. The air must be sterile, hygienic, and exceptionally dry to power surgical tools, ventilators, and dental handpieces, with compliance to ISO 22052 being essential.
Facilities Management: The Backbone of Campus Operations
Your facilities department relies on general-purpose utility air to keep the campus running. Applications include powering maintenance tools, operating HVAC control systems, and aligning with building sustainability standards like BREEAM. This extends to specialised departments, where systems must be suitable for everything from air compressors in food science and hygiene applications to general campus upkeep.
Selecting the Right Technology for Your University
Problem: Fluctuating Demand Wastes Energy and Money
Your university's air demand is highly variable, peaking during teaching hours and dropping significantly overnight. A traditional fixed-speed compressor is extremely inefficient in these conditions, wasting energy and inflating your operational costs.
Solution: VSD Compressors for Efficiency and Savings
Variable Speed Drive (VSD) technology solves this by adjusting the motor speed to precisely match real-time air demand.
- VSD+ Matches Demand: Ends the wasteful unload cycle, cutting energy use by up to 50%.
- Real-World Savings: A 75 kW VSD+ compressor can save your university over £7,500 a year. Over a 10-year lifespan, that's a £75,000 reduction in operational costs.
Identify Savings: The first step is optimising your compressed air systems through comprehensive audits.Removes up to 70% of the water vapour.
Matching Compressor Type to the Application
- Oil-Free Scroll Compressors: The premier choice for your labs and medical facilities. Higher upfront cost, but essential where purity is non-negotiable.
- VSD Rotary Screw Compressors: The workhorse for your engineering workshops. Best for high-demand areas, but requires professional sizing to avoid inefficiency.
- Piston Compressors: Only for small, noncontinuous use; avoid using in labs or other critical teaching environments.
Whatever the compressor type, maintaining air quality with advanced filtration systems is key to protecting your downstream equipment.
Ensuring Safety and Compliance: The PSSR 2000 Mandate
Problem: An Overwhelming Compliance Burden
Your university may operate dozens of compressed air systems across different faculties. Each one requires its own Written Scheme of Examination (WSE) to comply with the UK's Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 (PSSR). This legal duty can quickly become overwhelming without expert support.
Solution: A Partnership with Control Gear
A specialist partner helps you manage this risk and stay compliant.
- Compliance Made Simple: We help prepare your systems for statutory examination by a "Competent Person."
- Expert Remedial Work: Our certified engineers carry out any required repairs to ensure your systems meet all safety standards.
- Peace of Mind: Control Gear helps you manage the administrative burden, mitigating operational and legal risks.
Why Work With Us?
Lifecycle Support for Maximum Uptime and Efficiency
Professional Installation and Pipework
Correct installation is fundamental to performance. We ensure your system is sited for proper ventilation and uses modern AIRnet modular aluminum pipework to create a leak-free distribution network, preventing energy waste.
Proactive Maintenance and Monitoring
Without preventative maintenance, your university risks costly downtime that disrupts both research and teaching schedules.
- Reduce Downtime: Our proactive service plans identify issues before they cause failures. We offer flexible packages like TotalCare and AIRPlan to fit your budget.
- One Partner for Your Whole Fleet: As an Atlas Copco Premier Distributor, Control Gear can service all major brands, giving you a single point of contact for your entire fleet.
- Stay Ahead of Failures: Atlas Copco’s SMARTLINK remote monitoring provides real-time data to ensure research continuity and prevent teaching disruptions.
Don’t let compressed air risks disrupt your teaching or research. Contact our specialists today for a tailored consultation. Control Gear – your compressed air partner for UK universities.
