ELGi has launched revolutionary stabilisor compressors for the industry

17 March 2025

ELGi Equipments Ltd, one of the global leaders in air compressor manufacturing, has set a target of reaching revenue of around $2 billion by FY35-36. In the short term, the Coimbatore-based company is aiming for revenue of $450 million by FY25- 26 as part of its Strategic Business Plan announced in FY21. The company’s FY24 revenue was around R3,273 crore, which was a 5.3 per cent increase from the previous year. In fact, the company, known for its product development and innovations, intends to be among the top three global players from the 6th position at present.

In order to accelerate its growth further to achieve its set goals, the company, having a fully integrated production base for air compressors, has decided to introduce a range of innovative solutions for its customers in coming years.

ELGi has recently introduced what it calls a revolutionary stabilisor technology for industrial air compressors. This breakthrough innovation eliminates pressure fluctuations, enhances reliability, and offers up to 15 per cent energy savings, positioning the company at the forefront of technological advancements in the global air compressor market. Designed to revolutionize the way compressors operate in plants with dynamic air demand, the stabilisor system aims to address the long-standing challenges of unstable compressor performance, inefficiency, and excessive wear caused by frequent load/unload cycles

Fail-safe solution

The new stabilisor system directly competes with VFDs – a more expensive alternative offered by competitors. Unlike VFDs, which dynamically adjust compressor speed but cause instability and failure risks, ELGi’s stabilisor system provides a fail-safe solution, ensuring that even in the event of a malfunction, the compressor continues running smoothly without disruption. To meet diverse operational needs, the stabiliser system, will be made available in India and across the globe this year itself in two versions

“This pioneering compressed air stabilization technology, developed by our R&D team, will revolutionise the air compressor operation. The stabilisor system employs a first of its kind ‘Recirculate and Recover’ principle, seamlessly aligning compressor capacity with plant air demand through controlled recirculation and recovery techniques. By stabilizing airflows within the system, the stabilisor system minimises load/ unload cycles, ensuring extended equipment lifespan, optimises energy use, achieving up to 15 per cent energy savings in typical applications, while reducing system inefficiencies, maintaining superior performance across varying demand patterns,” says Jairam Varadaraj, Managing Director of ELGi Equipments which has a modern R&D infrastructure, backed by over 180 people.

“With its energy-efficient design and potential to reduce wear-and-tear, the stabilisor aligns with global sustainability goals. Its implementation in industrial plants represents a shift towards greener, more cost-effective manufacturing processes,” adds Varadaraj, who believes that going forward, the company, continuing its transformation process, will focus on coming up with new solutions which can resolve customers’ problems in a more holistic manner.

Venu Madhav, director technology, Elgi Equipments states, “The stabilisor system utilises precision-engineered progressive and on-off valves to recirculate excess capacity within the system. This system leverages stabilisation zones and low-pressure recovery techniques to balance airflow demands dynamically, minimise energy losses by targeting pressure points with minimal differences all while maximizing overall system reliability.”

Over the last decade or so, the company has built one of the most integrated production bases (foundry, motors and even manufacturing of machining machines) for air compressors and is now also looking to bring all its facilities at a single location in Coimbatore with a total investment of around R650 crore.

ELGi set up a modern foundry in 2013 to manufacture its own special castings for its air compressors. Among other applications, the castings manufactured at the foundry are used to make ELGi’s proprietary eta-V airends. The company produces close to 14,000 airends a year that power its wide range of compressors. ELGi is perhaps the only company in the world with a foundry that makes metal castings for its own airends. “We have made huge investment in putting up this foundry. The investment has paid off since it has given us control over quality and production cost. This in turn has given us the confidence to assure our customers of product excellence,” says Varadaraj.