Air Wipes Are Only For Hose, Pipe and Tube….Right?

January 15, 2009 — ndraker

There’s no doubt that the Air Wipe has become a very handy product for applications where you have a continuous extrusion of some sort running through the center to be cleaned or cooled.

Well, there’s another very good use for the Air Wipes that I would like to talk about today. That use is assisting in cleaning functions for automated dispensing tips and for tips of spray guns used in painting processes.

The Air Wipe can be mounted in such a way that the dispensing tip be inserted through the center and the corresponding suction generated around that nozzle will pull off any residual material. It works very well for materials that might be viscous and stringy when a purge operation is required every so often. It also works well for painting robots going through a color change process. The residue can be blown into a catch bin or other container to keep the unused material contained as necessary.

So, if any of you have applications where caulk, adhesive, flux, paint or some other similar material is being dispensed from a nozzle, the Air Wipe may be worth your consideration for the periodic purge or cleaning routine.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Posted in Air Wipe. Leave a Comment »

Bye Bye Humidity, Hello Static Cling

January 14, 2009 — esmortimer

Well folks, it’s official, we are right smack dab in the middle of static season.  Not even 3 days into the new year, I had already had 2 calls for static elimination help on conveyor applications.  Fortunately, I was able to suggest an easy solution for both customers.

One of the customers I spoke to is a pad printer.  They needed a way to remove dust and other airborne particles that could settle on the surface to be printed, and create a flawed print.  Since they were working with fairly small parts, for their application I recommended a 6″ Super Ion Air Knife and power supply.  This will not only eliminate the static charge that is causing the dust to stick in the first place, it will also blow the dust right off the surface of the parts, making a nice clean surface ready for printing on.

The other customer who contacted me  makes fabrics for the pulp and paper industry.  They needed a way to remove static from a continuously moving web of a very fibrous material.  Due to static charges, the web was clinging to the rollers and wrapping around, instead of traveling along the rest of the path.  Since the material is still in a fibrous state and not fully bonded at the trouble area, airflow was not wanted, because it would disrupt the web.  So, an Ion Bar was a better choice in this application.

The material web is about 100″ across, so a standard length bar would not work.  However, Exair does have the capability to manufacture custom length bars up to 120″ overall length.  So, they will be able to remove static from across the entire width of the material, using a single continuous Ion Bar and power supply.

If either of these scenarios rings a bell for you, or you have your own static electricity problem that we may be able to help with, please let us know.  Feel free to post it in a comment right here on the blog, so other users may also be able to benefit from hearing how a particular application problem was solved.

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com

Posted in Static Elimination. Leave a Comment »

Refreshing, Even if it is Wastewater Sludge Foam

January 13, 2009 — Kirk Edwards

I have seen plastic pellets in my daydreams, heard the sounds of tumbling media resonating in my ears, had my olfactory senses awakened by assorted spices and grains - all because they are common materials we move (daily) with our Line Vac product line.

So when I had the chance to deal with wastewater sludge foam, all my senses were peaked with caution and unfamiliarity!

Our subject, maintenance supervisor at a municipality wastewater treatment plant, was having issues with the heavy, black wastewater sludge foam escaping from between the floating cover and the wall of the digester tank. It had been left as is until it created an environment no-one wanted to deal which meant additional cleaning time and maintenance.

Our Line Vac, which typically deals with dry bulk product, provided a solution to pick up the sludge foam from the troublesome areas around the tank, recombine it into liquid as it ran throught the tranfer hose and dump it back into the digetser tank through a port in the floating lid.

I must first admit my skepticism about the application, but with our 30 day trial it makes it easy to deliver product without risk to the customer getting stuck with something that doesn’t work. But I was proven hasty in my judgement when the customer provide the positve feedback about the success of the application.

I found the refeshing novelty of a new application for an established product line quite nice – and found the relief of not processing a used Line Vac exposed to wastewater sludge foam. Doesn’t it just make you want to cry? (thinking of the smell that is)

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

Posted in Uncategorized. Leave a Comment »

Every Once in a Blue Moon

January 8, 2009 — ndraker

I’m sure you have all heard the expression, “Every once in a blue moon”. This was the expression I used when customers would ask about using Vortex Tubes for heating applications. While Vortex Tubes can be used for heating, their propensity for cooling applications tends to be the more common use. The main reason is that the majority of the airflow tends to come out on the cold side, for most applications. When you adjust the Vortex Tube to allow more hot end flow, the nature of how the tube works causes the hot end flow temperature to not be as hot as it is at lower hot end flow settings. We refer to this as the Cold Fraction Setting.

So why do I bring this up?  I have worked with a couple of people  recently that were interested in the hot end flow from a Vortex Tube. I’ll explain each briefly below.

First application involves the use of a Vortex Tube hot flow as the source of heat for a special box used in cold locations such as ships and oil drilling platforms in northern climates. This special box can accept buckets of material such as paint, oil or other bulk materials used in these areas. The heater box keeps the materials warm and flowable so they can be used as needed.

Second application involves purging a special flange used for monitoring exhaust stack gases. A laser is used to view through the inspection port and the hot air from the Vortex Tube keeps the lens from fogging up so the laser can get a clear view through the stack for accurate readings.

The majority of Vortex Tube applications will probably remain on the cooling side of things, however, I wanted to share these couple of applications with you to give your imagination a jog in case you may have something similar and may be stumped about how to figure out how to get things heated up.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Posted in Vortex Tubes. Leave a Comment »
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