Compressed air is often called the "fourth utility" in manufacturing — found in virtually every industrial facility and providing power for pneumatic tools, material handling, instrumentation, and process control. Despite its critical role, compressed air is also one of the most expensive utilities, with system inefficiencies — particularly leaks — responsible for 20–30% of total compressed air energy waste. Submetering gives you the visibility to find and eliminate that waste.

Why Compressed Air Monitoring Matters

A well-designed and properly maintained compressed air system can enhance productivity, reduce energy waste, and lower operational costs significantly. Key performance factors include: leak rates (typically 20–30% of output in unmonitored systems), pressure drop across distribution, point-of-use demand patterns, and compressor loading efficiency.

Without metering, compressed air is an invisible cost — billed only through electricity to the compressor motor, with no visibility into where air is actually consumed or lost.

Inline Compressed Air Flow Meters

Inline thermal mass flow meters are installed directly in the compressed air pipe and provide high-accuracy continuous flow measurement. They measure mass flow directly — compensating for pressure and temperature — making them the preferred choice for billing-grade measurement and leak quantification at system boundaries.

Advantages

Limitations

Insertion Thermal Mass Flow Meters

Insertion thermal mass meters are installed through a drilled access point in the pipe wall — eliminating the need to cut pipe or install flanges. They are ideal for large pipe diameters where inline meters would be prohibitively expensive, and for retrofit applications where system shutdown is not available.

Advantages

Limitations

Industrial Gas Submetering — N₂, CO₂, and H₂

The same metering technologies used for compressed air apply to nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen — gases critical to food and beverage processing, semiconductor manufacturing, pharmaceutical production, and clean energy applications. Precise submetering of these specialty gases enables cost allocation by production line or department, leak detection and loss quantification, process optimization, safety monitoring through threshold alerting, and ESG and sustainability reporting for Scope 1 emissions.

Key Applications