Customer called in, had a static elimination application he needed help with. It was a pharmaceutical packaging process where the anti-tampering sleeve was being applied to a bottle of supplements. The static on the sleeve / bottle was such that the anti-tampering sleeve would lift up off the bottle and only caught the cap of the bottle when it went through the heat shrink tunnel. Needless this was a big problem for the customer.

When I talked to the guy he said they were already using our static eliminators on the front end of the sleeve applicating machine. So, he already had the equipment he needed, it was just in the wrong spot within his production line. When we talk to folks about their static eliminating project, part of the discussion leads to where do you install the static eliminator for best effect?  The answer to that question is  it should be installed in the area of the process just up-stream of the problem area.  In this case, the problem area was the heat shrink tunnel. So, moving the static eliminating air knife over the line between the sleeve applicator and the heat shrink tunnel allowed for blowing onto the sleeves to force them down onto the bottle with ionized air which also eliminated any static that had been generated by cutting and applying the raw sleeve.
Once the ionizing air knife was moved to the right spot, everything with the anti-tampering sleeve worked just fine and it was in proper position when shrunk onto the bottle.

Neal Raker, Application Engineer

nealraker@exair.com

We all know that plastic and other composite materials can harbour quite a lot of static charge.  And movement or friction is a primary generator of this charge.  As the winter months continue to approach us, all sorts of static issues will continue to show their face. 

One call I received last week came from a customer whose company manufactures different types of material handling, storage, and transport products.  Part of their manufacturing process involves a pultrusion line that creates a 1-3/4″ OD continuous tube.  Once hardened, small slits are cut along the OD of this tube.  Because of both the travel motion of the tube and the slitting process itself, a static charge is continuously generated, and the shavings from the slitting process tend to stick to the outside of the tube.  This can cause false rejects in their inspection process.

So, I recommended that they install one of our 4″ Super Ion Air Wipes with Power Supply.  This unit will provide a 360° ring of ionized air to both eliminate the static charge and blow the chips off the surface of the tube.  This will allow a clean, static free part to advance to the subsequent stages of their manufacturing process.

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com

Who ever thought an industrial vacuum could be so green? And it is not only because our Chip Vac is being used to aid recycling. Some additional attributes lend themselves to its green-ness.

     1. No Moving Parts – The Chip Vac can last a lifetime without wearing out or breaking. There are multiple versions of a Chip Vac (Heavy Duty Dry Vac) for heavier more abrasive products to ensure a long lifetime.
     2. Use With Multiple Drums – Switch the drum lid assembly from one drum to another as you machine different materials. This allows you to keep the materials separate and optimize the efficiency of your scrap metal recycling.
     3. No Electric Motor – no worries with continuous operation, no motors to throw away and replace, lower sound levels than an electric motor for a friendlier work environment.

This particular application utilized the Chip Vac on a cedar lathe operation. The customer can sell both their cedar product and the waste cedar chips. They used to brush the chips off the machine and off of the floor into a dust pan to place them in a large bag. Now they simply place a large bag into the Chip Vac drum. Once the drum is full, they seal and remove the bag for sale at a later date.

The Chip Vac has sped up the reclamation of the cedar chips and simplified the process.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

A dyeing machine builder was using gas-powered sump suckers to change fluids throughout their facility.

They spewed fumes throughout the plant, creating environmental issues; constantly needing LP fuel tanks changed and at the most inconvenient times. Batteries would run low, requiring a jump-start or replacement.

They purchased an air powered EXAIR model 6196 Reversible Drum Vac to compare performance. The results were impressive. The Reversible Drum Vac was  faster, quieter, smaller, safer, and with no smelly exhaust.

There was also a cost advantage. The cost of the Drum Vac was less than they spent on general maintenance and fuel for the gas-powered ones. Payback was within a few months and will continue to provide savings in the future as the Drum Vac has no moving parts and will operate indefinitely.

 The customer was so pleased that he provided us this testimonial:

Exair,
I just received our reversible drum vac. It works great and looks like it will last a lifetime.We replaced two gas-powered sump suckers that constantly needed LP fuel, a battery boost (or a new battery) or oil change etc. Yours is faster, quieter, smaller, safer and no smelly exhaust.

 I spent less money on the Exair than I would have had to spend on general maintenance and fuel for the old mechanical ones. Payback will be quick.

Another customer satisfied with an EXAIR “built to last” product. 

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com

Imagine if you can, the chassis of a 20,000 lb. bus or large RV being strapped to a dynomometer for a performance test. This is exactly what one of our customers does albeit on an infrequent basis, but often enough that they have to be concerned about an overheating condition that appears in the tires. The tires are running over the same surface on the dyno drum and the thousands of interactions of the tread slipping over the drum cause friction and heat. In time the tires overheat and can fail.

In the past, the customer has “shaved” the treads off the tires they use, but that is time-consuming and problematic to say the least. The customer could also look into investing in a newer dyno with through-the-roll cooling, but they are very expensive and for the rate of use, not a viable option for this company.

So, cooling the surfaces that generate the heat is the next option and that is where EXAIR comes into play. Since all the chassis are of a dual, rear wheel configuration, we have 4 points to cool, 2 per side.

One of the requirements of the cooling system was that it be compact so it could fit in under the chassis on a fixture without interfering with the test. After discussing the options, the customer decided to go with (4) model 5315 Cold gun Systems, to cool the tire/drum interface. The customer tried it and the Cold Guns were able to keep the tires and drum cool.  Even under high load, the temperature only climbed to a little more than warm, which was totally acceptable.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

I spoke to a controls and automation company recently who was working on a project to separate packaged DVD’s and Blu-Ray discs on a conveyor.  The two packaged products were intermixed on a conveyor, but needed to be separated prior to labeling, to ensure that the correct label was put on each package.  They were planning to achieve separation by ejecting the Blu-Ray discs off the line, and allowing the DVDs to continue into the labeler.  Then the collected Blu-Ray discs would be sent to a separate labeling machine.

Because the cases were laying flat on the conveyor, a flat air pattern would work well to achieve the proper ejection off the belt.  A Model 110003 3″ Aluminum Super Air Knife was selected as the best choice for the application.  It has instantaneous on/off response.  So, the airflow can easily be precisely controlled by a PLC or sensor, and a solenoid valve.  It also has a precise, forceful, and uniform airflow pattern.  This will ensure that only the Blu-Ray discs were ejected, and that they were fully ejected, to prevent any process interruption. 

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com

If you begin counting the number of places you are using your compressed air utility, you will quickly recognize it as a large part of your manufacturing process and necessary.

Keeping the use of your compressed air system as efficient as possible can lower your energy costs, increase the life of the compressor and system components, and increase the areas where the compressed air can be used effectively.

Keeping your end use pressure levels as low as possible while still getting the job done plays an important role in the performance of your compressed air system. End use products like pressure regulators and engineered blow off products can help provide a supply of compressed air which is reliable and consistent.

Be aware of your end use applications and pay attention to the required pressure level for a successful application. A pressure regulator will play an important role to adjust your system to a reasonable pressure. You may discover no need to always operate the end uses at full line pressure.

You may have also changed some of your manufacturing processes along the way. These changes may allow you to remove some end uses or change them to be more efficient applications of compressed air.

Click Here for the U.S. Department of Energy action steps to get you on your way.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

There is a general lack of understanding of how compressed air flow is measured. Liquids being non compressible, can be measured by a direct reading because their mass does not change with pressure. They can be expressed in units of cubic feet/minute (CFM).

Gases though, being compressible , will have different masses depending on how much they are compressed. Thus when measuring gasses, some standard pressure needs to be established for comparison. The universally accepted pressure is atmospheric. A gas expressed in units of SCFM is the volume it would occupy if released to atmospheric pressure.

Some examples:

 If you had 1.0 cubic foot of air under 100 pounds of pressure, when released to atmospheric pressure it would occupy 6.8 standard cubic feet.

If you had 3.4 cubic feet of air under 30 pounds of pressure, when released to atmospheric pressure it would occupy 6.8 standard cubic feet.

These examples demonstrate two measured volumes at different pressures are in fact equal in mass and why direct measurements of gasses have to be converted to some standard pressure when doing gas flow calculations.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com

Have you ever wondered how companies who require large volumes of very clean water (cleaner than what you get from the tap) get it? They use special filtering systems. Some of which are referred to as ion exchange filtering systems. There are others referred to as reverse osmosis filtering systems as well. Those of you who have whole house filtering systems that you maintain might know what I’m talking about.

These filtering systems rely on a special resin through which the water is passed in order to remove the impurities. Over time, the resin’s ability to lock onto the impurities declines and so it must be changed. For industrial applications, the vessels in which the filtering resin is housed are rather large and not very accessible. This makes changing the resin a real challenge.

In comes the Line Vac, an in-line compressed air conveying product. The Model 6063 Line Vac in 1-1/2″ hose size can be used to suck the resin out of the filtering vessel in about 1/2 the time it took to do it using more manual/conventional methods. And again, when it comes time to re-fill the vessel, simply reverse the Line Vac around to suck the material out of the super sacks and blow it up into the filtering vessel.

Are you responsible for similar filtering media changeouts?  Perhaps you should look into a Line Vac as well.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Those of you already familiar with our products know that using a Line Vac to move a powder is typically not an ideal application, as there is great potential for a dust cloud on the outlet due to the high velocity with which the Line Vac moves material.  However, a customer who called me last week has already adapted his system to deal with this problem, and was looking for an even faster way to accomplish his task.

The customer is a manufacturer of animal grooming products such as clippers, etc.  They make many of the component parts via plastic injection molding.  Thus, they needed a way to move the bulk molding compound powder up to the hopper.  They were currently using our model 6083 1.5″ Line Vac to do the job.  This was an improvement over their previous, manual process.  However, they were looking for even faster material transport.

Thus, I recommended our model 150150 1.5″ Heavy Duty Line Vac.  Installation of this unit will require virtually no modification of their current system, since it is the same size unit.  However, the Heavy Duty Line Vac has significantly higher material conveying capacity.  Thus, they will be able to further increase their material flow rate, and thus production throughput. 

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com