Battery-driven portable screw compressor
The B-Air 185-12 (photo) is a new battery-driven portable screw air compressor. The B-Air 185-12 features 5–12 bars of pressure, a stable flowrate of 5.4–3.7 m3 /min and 55-kWh battery-storage capacity. With power delivered from its onboard power pack, a fully charged unit in operation is independent of the need for fuel or a local power source, and can perform for up to a full typical work shift. Making the switch from an internal combustion engine (ICE) to electric motor brings with it a host of benefits, including less downtime and maintenance requirements. Due to having far fewer moving (and therefore wearing) parts compared to a diesel-powered unit, the electric B-Air 185-12 only needs to be serviced every 2,000 h, as opposed to 500 h for a typical ICE-powered unit. The machine’s variable speed drive (VSD) and permanent-magnet motor drives down the total cost of ownership, automatically adjusting the motor speed to match air demand in real time and increasing energy efficiency by up to 70%, the company says. — Atlas Copco AB, Nacka, Sweden