Leak load from the compressors themselves
When production stops, compressor power is mostly feeding leaks. Pulsenode C measures it in every quiet period, so leak load becomes a number you see every week.
Example engagement
The utility that runs all night for nobody
This representative distribution center's compressors never quite rest, even when the sorter is still. An ultrasound survey, permanent leak monitors and metered compressors would find where the air goes, and keep finding it.
Example engagement — a representative scenario built from typical deployment parameters. Figures are modeled, not reported results from a named client.
Air and energy at a glance
- Industry
- Warehousing & logistics
- Services
- Hardware
- Pulsenode U for the ultrasound survey route, plus 12 permanent leak monitors
- Pulsenode C on 3 compressors and 14 rooftop units
- Door and restraint signals from 80 dock control panels via remote I/O
- 2 Gatepoint G2 gateways
- Timeline
- 3-week Feasibility Sprint, 6-week Proof of Value, 8-week deployment finished before the peak-season freeze
Modeled results
~25%
less compressed-air energy (modeled)
1 of 3
compressors able to stay in standby (modeled)
80
dock doors with open time measured per shift
The situation
A quiet building with busy compressors
Picture a 420,000 sq ft regional distribution center: 80 dock doors, a conveyor and sortation system with pneumatic diverters, case erectors and sealers in pack-out, and three rotary-screw compressors in a room at the back. Two run at fixed speed; the third has a variable-speed drive and trims.
Compressed air is the utility nobody watches. The air is invisible, leaks hiss below the noise of the building, and the cost disappears into a single electric bill. Between waves and on Sunday mornings, with every conveyor stopped, the compressors still load and unload. That is air leaving somewhere other than through a tool.
The dock is the building's other open valve. A door left up between trailers in January lets heated air out as fast as the unit heaters can make it; in August it lets humid air in. Nobody leaves doors open on purpose, and nobody can see which ones stay open.
Constraints
Working around a building that ships every day
- Operations
- Two 10-hour shifts, five days, with weekend overtime and round-the-clock running in peak season
- Change freeze
- No physical or controls changes to conveyor and sortation from mid-November to early January
- Building
- 36 ft clear height; air headers run overhead along the racking, so repairing an overhead leak needs a lift
- Noise
- Conveyors, diverters and unit heaters make ultrasound of their own, so surveys and leak baselines have to account for it
- IT/OT rules
- The warehouse control system network is off-limits; Perflens equipment runs on its own segment with no internet connection
- Team
- One facility manager and two technicians; a report has to take minutes, not hours, to act on
Approach
From a utility bill to a leak list that stays short
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Feasibility Sprint
For a building, the Sprint is a desk study and a walk: a year of utility bills, compressor nameplates and controls, a sketch of the air headers, and an afternoon with a Pulsenode U and temporary power metering. Exit: a go, with a modeled saving and the conditions it depends on, chiefly that leaks found get fixed.
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Proof of Value
Pulsenode C on all three compressors logs power and load cycles around the clock, so every quiet period becomes a leak-load measurement. A Perflens technician walks the first ultrasound route with site staff, tagging each leak with location, photo and estimated loss. Success criteria, agreed in writing: a measured baseline leak load and a tagged leak list ready to repair from.
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Deployment
Twelve permanent Pulsenode U monitors go on the leak-prone zones the survey found, such as sorter air headers, filter-regulator stations and drop legs at pack-out. Pulsenode C goes on 14 rooftop units, and door signals come from the existing dock control panels. Everything is installed and accepted before the peak-season freeze.
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Care
Site technicians repeat the survey route quarterly with the same Pulsenode U. Perflens Care Essentials watches node health, and the monthly report puts leak load, door open time and rooftop-unit faults on one page.
What the system does
How the building's air and doors get watched
Ultrasound that finds the hiss
Escaping air makes turbulent ultrasound well above human hearing. A Pulsenode U survey locates leaks by direction and intensity, even overhead.
Permanent ears where leaks return
Fixed monitors on leak-prone zones learn each zone's quiet-period baseline and flag a rise, whether a new leak or an old one that has grown.
Leaks treated as work
Every tagged leak gets a photo, location, estimated loss and a CMMS work order, and stays open until a recheck confirms the repair.
Doors that report themselves
Open time per door per shift, and the doors left open with no trailer restrained, matched against zone temperature and heater runtime.
Rooftop units that admit they're struggling
Current signatures from Pulsenode C show short-cycling compressors, failed fans and units running flat out against an open dock.
Modeled results
Modeled first-year outcome
~25%
less compressed-air energy
1 of 3
compressors able to stay in standby as demand falls
Nightly
leak-load reading from compressor power, instead of a one-off audit
Modeled for a building of this size with three rotary-screw compressors, two shifts and air used mainly by sortation and pack-out. The baseline leak load is the compressor power drawn during quiet periods, typical of systems with no leak program. Assumes tagged leaks are repaired within a month, the route is resurveyed quarterly and header pressure is reviewed once leaks are under control. HVAC and dock-door effects depend heavily on climate and are reported, not included.
Phase two
After the leaks: what the data suggests next
- Header pressure. With leaks under control, test whether header pressure can come down without starving the furthest diverter. Lower pressure cuts both compressor work and the flow through every remaining leak.
- Compressor sequencing. Measured load profiles let a compressor contractor tune sequencing so the variable-speed unit trims and the fixed-speed units stop running unloaded.
- Compressor health. Pulsenode W on the air-end and motor bearings brings the compressors into condition monitoring.
- Dock habits. Open-time reports by door and shift make the conversation with operations specific: which doors, which hours, what it cost.
Related services
The services behind the scenario
Facility & Energy Operations Monitoring
Sub-metering, compressed-air leak detection, HVAC and refrigeration health, and environmental monitoring for whole buildings.
Read more
Predictive Maintenance & Condition Monitoring
Vibration and ultrasound monitoring that keeps compressors, conveyors and fans out of the emergency queue.
Read more
Warehousing & Logistics
Energy, equipment and parcel monitoring for distribution centers that run lean and ship daily.
Read moreFAQ
Questions we hear often
Can't we just hire a one-time leak survey?
You can, and it will find leaks. The trouble is afterward. Leaks return as fittings wear and lines get moved, and nobody notices until the bill creeps up. Metered compressors and permanent monitors show when leak load returns, so the next survey is triggered by data rather than the calendar.
Does any of this touch the warehouse control system?
No. The gateways sit on their own network segment with no internet connection, and dock signals come through separate remote I/O. The peak-season freeze still applies to physical work on the sorter air headers, which is why installation finished before it.
How accurate are ultrasound leak estimates?
Rough, and we say so. Ultrasound intensity depends on distance, angle and the shape of the leak, so a per-leak loss estimate is good for ranking repairs, not for billing. The compressor power measurement is the number that counts, because it shows the total leak load before and after repairs.
Find out what your compressors do on a Sunday
Send a year of utility bills and your compressor nameplates. On a discovery call we'll tell you whether a survey, permanent monitoring or both are worth doing.