Line Vac Replaces Blower Operated Conveyor

July 9, 2010 — bdfarno

I recently received an e-mail from a customer stating that his Blower operated conveying system was not working very well for them and also they were worried about contaminants getting into the product from the blower motor sucking in air close to the floor. After discussing his product and seeing the pictures of the unit shown below, it became clear that this was the perfect application for a Line Vac to replace the Blower Operated System.

  

I discussed with the customer the bulk density of his unit and the volume he needed to convey along with the size of the existing pipe on the unit.   With the pipe already existing it was determined that placing a unit of similar size would be the easiest method.  The inner diameter of the pipe in the system was 3” so our 3” Aluminum Line Vac was a direct fit for the application.   The amount of material the customer was looking to move was well under the capacity of the Line Vac.  This mean he could conserve even more compressed air and install a pressure regulator that was included with the Line Vac Kit to reduce the flow of the unit to his needs.  The unit when operated at 80 PSIG will consume 68.5 SCFM of compressed air, and be able to pull -14.7“ of water column. 

The unit was easily retrofitted into his existing hopper simply by removing a section of the pipe and installing the Line Vac in line with the product conveyance pipe. 
• The main benefits this customer received by installing our Line Vac were:
• No internal moving parts to wear out or break (bearings, seals, motors)
• The unit does not need any extra space from his existing conveying line.
• The Line Vac doesn’t suck air in off his floor where dirt and debris are to move his product.  This means the risk of contamination is gone. 
• If the need occurs he can increase the flow of his product to far more than the blower system was capable of.

Not only does the customer have minimal preventative maintenance cost now he is also able to convey his product more effectively and efficiently as needed for his production. 
If you have a product you are currently conveying or would like to know more about our Line Vacs feel free to contact us. 

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com

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We’ve Come a Long Way Baby

June 22, 2010 — japanfalone

In seventies we thought we were on the cutting edge of technology if we had a touch tone phone and an electric (no battery operated ones yet) calculator with a square root key.

In the eighties we were in tall cotton with a networked computer system running a point of sale program offered by Radio Shack, life couldn’t get better.

In the nineties we had cell phones as big as a brick, PC’s with color screens and not the monochrome green, automated reorder systems for parts, equipment service tracking, and some of us were dabbling in something called the world-wide web thinking it might actually be used someday by customers looking for us.

Entering the 21st century, everyone is carrying around laptops, I-pads, flip phones with built-in cameras and all are interconnected. Service techs and sales staff can access equipment, customer and part records with just a few mouse clicks. Trucks get tracked and dispatched with the use of global positioning, and the internet has become an integral part of our business and personal communications.

At dinner parties, when asked what I do for a living, a frequent riposte is ” so you work for an old school brick and mortar company” In actuality nothing can be further from the truth. I counter question them as to how high-tech is their customer service.

  • Can their customers talk directly with technical staff by online chat, e-mail. phone, and FAX ? EXAIR customers can.
  • Can their customers attain product information, prints, manuals, and pricing 24/7 ? EXAIR customers can. All this is posted on the internet.
  • Does their company interact with their customers through social media? EXAIR interacts with customers through Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging.

By now the conversation has generated shuffling feet and lowered eyes because they have come to realize their company’s automated telephone system is akin to the “old school” electric calculator.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com

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Line Vac Paired With a Chip Vac Container

June 9, 2010 — bdfarno

The EXAIR Line Vac is used for a variety of applications across multiple industries and has proved to be very versatile.  One common application we have for these units is to remove chips, trimmings, or debris from an area of operation, like is shown below where chips from drive train differentials are removed using this setup with a 2” Line Vac. The Line Vac is positioned at the top of this custom assembly and the bottom shroud fits over the drive train casting. It has internal nozzles to positive air flow to direct the chips into the vacuum flow of the Line Vac.

For some of these applications the discharge port of the hose is just aimed into a bin or some form of a drum without a lid or filter anything to keep dust at bay. In other operations it may be going straight into something as small as a 5 gallon bucket.   Rather than blowing all of this debris, or sand, or dirt into air an open top container and risk it getting stirred up and released into the air, or missing the container and falling onto the floor you could channel it all into one container with one of our Chip Vac Containers.

 

            The Chip Vac systems are offered in 55 Gallon Drum, 30 Gallon Drums, and a 5 Gallon Container sizes.  Each of these is fitted with an EXAIR .1 micron filter bag that is both washable, and replaceable.  The advantage to using one of these Chip Vac Drum Lid Assemblies is that your debris can be contained into the correctly sized container for your operation and all of the exhaust air will be filtered by the .1 micron bag which means your trimmings, or chips, or sand will all remain in the container rather than blowing out onto the floor or going back into the atmosphere of your shop.

            The 30 Gallon Lid and the 55 Gallon Lid and 5 Gallon Lid all have a 2″ NPT Bung opening that you can adapt to fit your Line Vac hose size.  Pair the lid with a matching size drum dolly and when your drum is full simply remove the lid, wheel the full drum out of the way and a new empty drum in its place.

            We have seen this work in multiple applications as collecting sand from a drilling operation that was being performed on a sand casting, to material trim removal and metal chip removal from machining operations.   If you want more information on these or have a similar application feel free to contact me.

Brian Farno

Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com

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Chemical Safety Board Reports 281 Dust Explosions

May 24, 2010 — japanfalone

Although EXAIR Static Eliminators are not recommended for use in flammable areas, I receive a good amount of calls for static removal in flammable areas. Thus the purpose of my blog this week is not to promote EXAIR products but to educate on the perils of  materials that under the right conditions are the leading contributors to explosions. 

In the U.S. alone, during the period 1980 to 2005, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) reports 281 explosions caused by ignitable combustible dust atmospheres. They resulted in 199 fatalities and 718 injuries. (ref 1) Similar data was compiled in the UK, where the Health and Safety Executive reported 303 explosions over a nine-year period. And German records show 426 similar incidents over a 20 year period. (ref 2)      

Since their report was published, the CSB has repeatedly requested that OSHA take more action to regulate the safety of operations processing combustible and flammable powders. The 2008 sugar refinery explosion at the Port Wentworth plant of Imperial Sugar should be a warning to a broad range of industries and just how risky and relevant dust explosions are.      

Sectors with recorded incidents of combustible dust fires and explosions.      

     

Analysis of over 1100 events the following processes have been found to be the leading causes.

·  Dust collection systems

·  Powder grinding and pulverizing

·  Silo & container filling

·  Powder mixing and blending

 

Electrostatic discharges account for 10% of known primary ignition sources. Even though the majority of combustible dusts have higher minimum ignition energy (MIE) than flammable vapors, the amount of energy available from electrostatic discharges within contained environments will ignite the vast majority of combustible dusts.

Several contributing factors though, need to be present to support the ignition of a combustible dust cloud: 

  • A dispersed dust cloud-oxygen mixture that is above its Minimum Explosion Concentration (MEC).
  • Physical containment of the dust cloud that will lead to rapid pressure build-up.
  • A heat source with enough energy to ignite the combustible atmosphere

To prevent uncontrolled electrostatic discharges posing a fire and explosion hazard in powder processing operations, a thorough static audit should be conducted by qualified personnel. The audit should focus on investigating and identifying situations where a charge has the potential to accumulate on conductive and semi-conductive components.

For situations where there is a potential for components within the system to be isolated, dedicated grounding equipment should be installed to monitor and control the release of static electricity.”The American Petroleum Institute (ref 3) recommends that all connecting metal parts of  a vacuum collection system are conductive to less than 10 ohms

 I’ve only scratched the surface on this topic. Hopefully it has provided a greater appreciation for potentially dangerous applications in your facility and will prompt you to seek the assistance of a professional to insure proper installation of your equipment.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com

 

Foot notes:

(1) Report No. 2006-H-1 “Combustible Dust Hazard Study”, Chemical Safety Board (2006).
(2) Dust Explosion Scenarios and Case Histories in the CCPS Guidelines for Safe Handling of Powders and Bulk Solids”, Grossel, S.S., Zalosh, R.G., Center for Chemical Process Safety, (2005)
(3) API RP 2003: Protection Against Ignitions Arising out of Static, Lightning, and Stray Currents”, American Petroleum Institute (2008)

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