Special condensate drains

cav: Beko offers special Bekomat condensate drains in addition to its standard range of products. Why and what for?

Fischer: These special solutions have been developed for applications that are not adequately covered by the existing products on the market. For example in various fields, particularly in the chemical and petrochemical industries, extremely aggressive condensates may be produced during the compression of inert and process gases. Therefore the housing material must offer maximum resistance to corrosion. Then there are also areas of application where only explosion-proof housing materials are allowed. Or in some cases the process may require condensate drains for use on multistage compressors.

cav: Among these special devices there are also electronically level-controlled, vacuum-type Bekomat condensate drains developed specifically for discharging condensate and other media from vacuum systems. What are the distinguishing features of this vacuum-type design?

Fischer: With these special Bekomat condensate drains it is possible to remove condensate from containers, pipes and other units at pressures ranging from 0.1 bar (a) up to maximal 1.8 bar (a). The sensor system and the electronic control are designed in the same way as for our standard Bekomat devices. This means that the operational reliability and the quality of the technology also come up to the same high level.

cav: If, in the case of multistage compressors, the condensate is not reliably discharged from the intercoolers, it will get into the next compressor stage. Here, Beko recommends the special condensate drain Bekomat LA/LP. Could you please describe the principal advantages of this device?

Fischer: The letters LA come from the German Leerlastableitung, meaning no-load discharge. The no-load state is a particular operating state of turbo compressors where the pressure may be as little as 1 bar (a). Any condensate or cooler leakage water is discharged through a special pressure-controlled no-load valve. The letters LP stand for low pressure. It refers to a Bekomat device with a standard valve for a minimum pressure of 1.4 bar (a). There is also scope for different combinations of these Bekomat characteristics. That’s a decisive advantage because it enables us to offer a suitable drain for every type of discharge function. As a result, the compressor is protected against the dreaded droplet bombardment of the impeller and against other negative impacts of condensate in the various units of the system. To sum up: the compressors can maintain their optimum running performance, the lifetime of the impellers is not shortened, and excessive operating and maintenance costs are also avoided.

cav: What special devices do you offer for application in hazardous areas?

Fischer: Actually, we can supply explosion-proof versions of all our special Bekomat designs. This includes condensate drains for vacuum conditions, for extreme condensate quantities and discharge during no-load operation. All our special devices are Atex certified to BVS 03 ATEX E 214 X with classification II 2G EEx ib IIB T4.

cav: With large compressors in the chemical and petrochemical industries the amount of condensate generated is often very high. Do you also have condensate drains for this performance category?

Fischer: Yes, this can be handled by Bekomat 8 or 9. Depending on the given pres-sure, these drains are capable of discharging more than 10 000 litres per hour.

cav: Beko claims that in some areas of application its special condensate drains are glo-bally without competition. Could you explain in greater detail what you mean by this?

Fischer: Contrary to standard condensate drains for normal compressed air systems, these special devices are not produced in large quantities. In fact, they often have to be modified to meet the customer’s individual requirements. Beko covers this segment as a supplier of condensate technology products for virtually all operating conditions. It is our aim to offer our customers a sound, technically reliable and cost-effective solution. This means our customers can obtain condensate technology products from a single source across the whole spectrum of applications in the field of compressed air or compressed gas technology.

cav: What is the percentage of your sales stemming from special condensate drains and what are your expectations in this respect?

Fischer: The sale of these devices accounts for only a fraction of total sales; our main business comes from the standard condensate drains. However, the sector of special Bekomat devices should not be underestimated for reasons of product policy. It shows that we are the all-round condensate specialist, and we believe that our customers expect us to continue providing them with these solutions.

cav: Are there any new developments in the pipeline, are you working on other special models?

Fischer: Yes, there are of course always further developments which are, in this sector, mostly driven by customer requirements. Extending the pressure range, for example, is something else we are considering at present. After all, condensate technology was the original base from which our company grew.

cav: What development trends do you see in general with regard to condensate drains?

Fischer: There is a clear trend nowadays towards cheap devices existing in the market alongside condensate drains with a high technical standard. It will be up to the customer to judge whether these devices will really be the most cost-effective solution in the end. We have found, unfortunately, that fast decisions motivated by lower investment costs always result in troublesome – and expensive – corrections. On our part, we consistently back high quality and low operating costs in the customer’s plant. In addition, the cost optimization of our products is a major permanent objective for us, especially with new solutions.

cpp 403

„Our customers can obtain condensate technology products from a single source across the whole spectrum of applications.“

Näheres zu den Bekomat-Kondensatableitern

VDMA Fachbereich Kompressoren