“Compressed air is our lifeline. Everything here runs on air,” explained Curtis Wood, facilities team supervisor at HAECO Americas (HAECO). “The pneumatic tools, the rivet guns — all of those things are run by compressed air. We need high-volume, quick, very clean air, and we need it to be very stable.”

HAECO Americas Airframe Services provides aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to major commercial and military clients. On any given day, one of the multiple hangars at the Greensboro, North Carolina, facility might harbour an aircraft from large commercial airlines, private operators, or the U.S. government. The Greensboro complex is nearly 1,000,000 square feet, with each hangar sprawling over 2 acres under roof.

The rigors and demands of the applications, in conjunction with the sheer scale of the facility, make the compressed air system at HAECO’s Greensboro facility a challenge just to maintain — let alone improve upon. However, Curtis Wood and his team at HAECO managed to do just that, with the help of Patton’s, Inc., a compressed air equipment supplier, and ELGi USA. In an on-going modernization project, the team of engineers has gradually improved reliability of the system and its energy efficiency — all the while adding sophisticated control and data-logging capabilities.

Compressed air is used to power nearly every application. “When you walk around in this place, you hear [compressed] air everywhere,” Wood explained. “It’s all around you.” And, since the mechanics work in confined spaces, the compressed air needs to be treated for contaminants, such as water vapor and oil, making the supply of clean and reliable compressed air paramount for HAECO.

Each of HAECO’s hangars has its own compressed air system, which are under the process of modernization. Ultimately, the final systems will include two ELGi air compressors, an air dryer, a mist eliminator, a storage tank, and a flow controller. While each hangar is unique and demands fluctuate consistently, target pressures remain around 90 psi (8.27 bar), and compressed air flow requirements do not exceed 350 cfm for any hangar.