world tech

LISTENING PAYS

by
Merry Sue Baum

IR’s Industrial Air Solutions business

creates a world-leading air compressor
by listening to its customers.

©Roger Allyn Lee/SuperStock, Inc.

12
 Ingersoll-Rand is listening. Quite
intently, in fact. And it’s taking what
it hears to heart. The company is
designing and manufacturing prod-
ucts in direct response to what it
calls the “voice of the customer.”
The new Nirvana air compres-
sor is the latest example of this
intense customer focus. Its design
provides a lower life-cycle cost,
increased reliability and less impact
on the environment—three areas
identified by IR customers as critical
to compressor operation.
“Customer reaction to Nirvana
during previews has been excellent,”
says David Welch, global marketing
director of IR’s Industrial Air
Solutions business. “We’re confident
Nirvana will capture a significant
share of the market following its
introduction because we listened to
our customers.”
The Voice of the Customer
“We’ve always believed that the
sales force is the part of the company
closest to the customer,” says Welch,
who led the team responsible for
developing Nirvana. “So we first
went to our sales management
teams in the U.S., Canada, Latin
America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.”
The teams saw presentations on a
variety of Air Solutions products
being considered for manufacture,
then scored each against similar
products made by competitors.
Specific attributes and drawbacks of
each product were noted, and cus-
tomers’ reactions predicted. The new
air compressor that would become
Nirvana emerged as
the clear winner.
Next came cus-
tomer focus groups in
the United States,
Mexico, the United
Nirvana’s airend (shown in beige) is directly
Kingdom, Spain, connected to the motor, eliminating the need
France, Italy and for a gearbox. This arrangement increases
Nirvana’s reliability and decreases its footprint.
China using the
same presentation/
scoring process. “We
learned two very
valuable things from the focus
groups,” says Welch. “First, we found
our customers were extremely
pleased that we were listening to
them. Second, we learned that our
sales organization does, indeed, rep-
resent our customers quite well.
The sales teams’ responses closely
matched those of the customers.”
Both groups identified the top
three attributes an air compressor
should possess, in descending order,
as lower operating cost, increased
reliability and the investment price.
“Facts in hand, we set about to
design an air compressor that deliv-
ered these benefits—and more,” says
Welch.
Achieving Nirvana
When it came time to build
the air compressor, IR engineers
searched worldwide for state-of-the-
art technology. “We want to become
more global,” says Welch. “We want
to make products that can be used in
other parts of the world, as well as in
the United States. In order to do
that, we have to get more of our tech-
nology from Europe, where energy
March-April 2001 13
 The Little Motor That Could
Nirvana’s stator (below)
has 16 to 24 independ-
ent coil modules
instead of the continu-
ously wound windings
found in traditional
motors.
Industrial air compressors
use between 10 and 12 percent of
all the industrial energy con-
sumed in the United States,
according to the U.S. Department
of Energy. If compressors could
operate more efficiently, the sav-
ings would be enormous. The
energy-reducing features of the
Hybrid Permanent Magnet (HPM)
motor enable Nirvana to use, at a
minimum, 22 percent less energy
than conventional compressors.
The HPM motor is the
result of extensive re-
search by the Leroy-
Somer division of
Emerson. The new
rotor and stator
structures and in-
verter control are optimized to
achieve torque, power factor
and efficiency.
“Because there are no
bearings in the HPM motor,
friction is reduced, and friction
is the enemy of efficiency,”
explains David Welch, global
marketing director of IR’s
Industrial Air Solutions busi-
ness. “This motor runs much
cooler than others, and is 95 per-
cent efficient. Most other motors
run only about 90 percent effi-
cient. That’s a staggering differ-
ence and a tremendous operat-
ing cost savings.”
Another advantage is that a
variable speed drive inverter is
used to control the HPM motor.
Typical induction motors operate
at a fixed speed, which uses
more energy than is actually
required. The variable speed
drive inverter matches compres-
sor output to demand, which
uses only the amount of energy
needed and no more. In addition,
the HPM motor’s inverter has
what is known as a “soft” start—
it starts out very slowly then
gradually gets up to speed. Most
other compressors start with a
surge of energy, which often cre-
ates an electric utility demand
charge that costs the customer
more money and energy.
The HPM motor also is easi-
er to repair than conventional
motors. Instead of the continu-
ously wound windings found
within the stator of a traditional
motor, the HPM motor has 16 to
24 independent coil modules.
Each module can be diagnosed,
removed and serviced on site by
IR service technicians. That
means motor repair can be done
in 4 to 6 hours instead of the days
or even weeks required to repair
a conventional wound stator.

consumption and environmental impact are lead-

ing issues.”
In the case of Nirvana, an important piece of
technology came out of France. The IR engineering
group in Manchester, England, found the Hybrid
Permanent Magnet (HPM) motor developed by
Leroy-Somer, Inc., a French division of Emerson.
“We’re always looking for technology that is Nirvana’s modular design
lower in cost and higher in performance,” says includes a new separator
system (right). By elimi-
Welch. “The HPM motor fits the bill perfectly. It has nating discharge piping,
a number of features that increase reliability and all external piping and the
check and oil stop valves,
efficiency and lower maintenance costs tremen- the new separator sys-
dously.” (See the above sidebar “The Little Motor tem enhances reliability.

14
That Could” to learn more about the
advantages of the HPM motor.)
The unique ability of the HPM
motor to cycle on and off 50 times per
hour allows the Nirvana air com-
pressor to simply turnoff when the
air system pressure has stabilized.
The HPM motor is controlled by a
variable speed inverter that matches
compressor output to demand.
Compared to conventional compres-
sor-control schemes, Nirvana com-
pressors reduce energy consumption
by a minimum of 22 percent or more.
To further improve the reliability
of Nirvana, the separator tank is
made of cast iron, instead of welded
“We recently hired professional
sound experts to help us eliminate as
much noise as possible,” says Welch.
“There’s usually plenty of noise in an
industrial site, so we want to do our
part to help minimize it.”
Finally, Nirvana’s design was
rigorously tested by IR.
“The compressor has been thor-
oughly cycle and endurance tested in
the IR lab,” says Welch. “We don’t
use our customers for development
research.”
Manufacturing of 37 and 45 kW
(50 and 60 HP) and 55 and 75 kW
(75 and 100 HP) packages will begin
in April. That same month, Nirvana
will be introduced to the world at the
Hanover Industrial Fair in Germany.
Mission Accomplished
“By using the very latest in
motor technology and eliminating
many air compressor package com-
ponents, we’ve managed to accom-
plish what we set out to do,” says
Welch. “The Nirvana design delivers
lower operating costs and improved
reliability. We’ve met customers’
demands.”
Merry Sue Baum is a freelance writer based in
Nazareth, PA.

steel, making it much less susceptible

to fatigue. IR engineers also were
able to eliminate the motor bearings,
shaft seals, drive gears and the gear
case found in ordinary compressors
by mounting the compact HPM motor
directly onto the airend in a can-
tilever fashion. “This improves sys-
tem reliability because there are
fewer components to fail,” says Welch.
The lack of a gear box makes
Nirvana 30 percent smaller than
competing models. This compact
Engineered to
footprint allows the compressor to be address the needs of
installed closer to the point of use, customers, Nirvana
is scheduled to be
minimizing—or in some cases even introduced in April.
eliminating—the need for special
compressor rooms and costly piping
runs.
Nirvana is also quiet. Many
noise-making components, such as
drive gears and propeller-type cool-
ing fans, have been eliminated. The
latest noise-reducing techniques
have been incorporated as well.

March-April 2001 15