The supply side of a compressed air system has many critical parts that factor in to how well the system operates and how easily it can be maintained. Dryers for the compressed air play a… More
Understand the ROI of Your EXAIR Products With Our FREE Efficiency Lab Service
Many facilities may not have the means to test the air consumption of their blowoff solutions. With compressed air being the most expensive utility in a manufacturing facility, it’s important to identify places where you can save money on your overall operating costs. EXAIR manufacturers a wide variety of products intended to help you reduce your compressed air usage. If you’re not able to accurately measure the consumption in your own shop, we invite you to send the products into EXAIR for testing.
All you have to do is contact an EXAIR Application Engineer and ship them straight to our warehouse in Cincinnati, Ohio. Once we receive it, our engineers will complete some in-depth testing to determine the compressed air consumption, sound level, and force that your current solution provides. With this information, we’ll be able to compare it to an EXAIR Engineered solution. This way we ensure that you receive the best, safest solution possible also capable of saving money through reduced air consumption and improved efficiency. We’ll send you back a comprehensive report that’ll help you to make the best decision for your company.
This video below shows our EXAIR Efficiency Lab and some examples of the different types of products we’ve tested in the past:
This service is something that we offer to our customers completely free of charge. This way, you can rest assured that in going with a new solution from EXAIR, you’re getting the most bang for your buck. Oftentimes, it’s not known just how much some of these products cost to operate. It’s just compressed air, air is free right?? Compressed air is certainly not free, but in fact rather costly as a 4th utility in an industrial plant.
Making sure that you understand the products used within your various applications is even more critical in a time where everything in life is rapidly getting more expensive. By ensuring you’re using the best possible blowoff solutions for your processes, you can save a dramatic amount of energy that would otherwise be wasted.
If you think there’s anything in your facility that could be using too much air, we’re here to help. Reach out to an Application Engineer for more information on how we can help save you money!
Tyler Daniel, CCASS
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD
Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles
EXAIR’s Atomizing Spray Nozzles atomize fluids (most commonly water) in a range of spray patterns for a variety of uses. They combine liquid and compressed air to create a mist of atomized liquid that can be easily adjusted to meet the need of your application. All models use stainless steel construction for durability and corrosion resistance. Atomizing spray nozzles are available in 1/8 NPT, 1/4 NPT and 1/2 NPT sizes.
EXAIR’s atomizing nozzles are available in 3 basic families:
Internal mix nozzles mix the liquid and air inside the air cap and produce the finest atomization. Internal mix nozzles can be used on liquids with a viscosity up to 300 cP. Both air and liquid sides are pressure fed.
External mix nozzles have the highest flow rates and allow the air and liquid flows to be adjusted independently. These nozzles are best where precise liquid flow is needed. External mix nozzles can be used on liquids with a viscosity above 300cP. Both air and liquid sides are pressure fed.
Siphon fed nozzles require no liquid pressure and can be used with gravity fed liquids or liquids from a siphon height as much as 36 inches (91 cm). Siphon fed nozzles can be used on liquids with a viscosity of up to 200cP.
Using EXAIR atomizing nozzles, you can coat, cool, treat and paint a variety of of products. Used with water, they are an efficient way to cool hot items in your automated process. These nozzles are also an excellent choice for dust mitigation.
EXAIR also has No Drip Atomizing Nozzles. No Drip Atomizing Nozzles work the same way our standard atomizing nozzles do, but have the added benefit of positively stopping liquid flow when compressed air is shut off.
Sound levels for individual Atomizing Spray Nozzles are not noted in our catalog and are determined by the actual fluid pressure, surfaces being treated and surrounding enclosures used in conjunction with the Atomizing Spray Nozzle(s) to form the system will determine the actual sound level. Max temperature is 400°F (204°C)for atomizing Spray Nozzles. All Atomizing Spray Nozzles are CE compliant.
If you have a specific application or project requiring Atomizing Spray Nozzles and need help, please contact any of our qualified Application Engineers.
Eric Kuhnash
Application Engineer
E-mail: EricKuhnash@exair.com
Twitter: Twitter: @EXAIR_EK
So Many Holes
I remember the book and movie about a young teenager who gets sent to a prison/ work camp that all they do is dig holes. Yeah, there’s a much deeper story line there and that isn’t the point of this blog. The point is, that movie is all I thought of when I encountered this customer’s nozzle solution. Their ejector nozzle on a recycling conveyor was using too much air and was too noisy.
Upon receiving the nozzle to do a free EXAIR Efficiency Lab, we were absolutely amazed at the level of care taken to make something like this. The nozzle was purpose built and definitely got the job done, it also drained their compressed air system at times and made a lot of noise while it did the work. So what did this nozzle look like, now keep in mind, this was not the customer’s design, it was a solution from the machine manufacturer.
For an idea, the customer nozzle was a 3″ overall length, and had a total of 162 holes in it. There were two inlets for 3/8″ push to connect tubing. The holes were very cleanly drilled and we used a discharge through orifice chart to estimate the consumption before testing. Operating pressure were tested at 80 psig inlet pressure.
Our estimations were taken from the table above. We used a pin gauge to determine the hole size and it came close to a 1/32″ diameter. With the table below we selected the 1.34 CFM per hole and used a 0.61 multiplier as the holes appeared to have crisp edges.
Then, we went to our lab and tested. The volumetric flow came out to be measured at 130.71 SCFM. This reassured us that our level of estimation is correct. We then measured the noise level at 95.3 dBA from 3′ away. Lastly, we tested what could replace the nozzle and came up with a 3″ Super Air Knife with a .004″ thick shim installed. To reach this solution we actually tested in a similar setup to the customer’s for functionality as they sent us some of their material.
Now for the savings, since this customer was focused on air savings, that’s what we focused on. The 3″ Super Air Knife w/ .004″ thick shim installed utilizes 5.8 SCFM per inch of knife length when operated at 80 psig inlet pressure. So the consumption looks like below
That’s an astounding amount of air saved for each nozzle that is replaced on this line. The line has 4 nozzles that they want to immediately change out. For a single nozzle, the savings and simple ROI looks like the table below.
That’s right, they will save 115.02 SCFM per minute of operation. These units operate for seconds at a time so the amount of actual savings is still to be determined after a time study. In videos shared, there was not many seconds out of a minute where one of the four nozzles was not activated. Once the final operation per minute is received we can rework our calculations and see how many hours of line operation it will take to pay back each knife purchase.
If you have any point of use blowoff or part ejection and even have a “nice looking” blowoff in place, don’t hesitate to reach out. These are still very different from our Engineered Solutions. We will help you as much as we can and provide test data, pictures, and even video of testing when possible.
Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF
Pressure Regulators
At EXAIR, a large part of my job is to discuss your applications and make recommendations based upon which of our products would best help your application. In doing so, we always review your air supply to ensure that you have enough air to run our products. For instance you may need an Air Nozzle. This seems simple enough right? Surely you have enough air for this? Well, if you are buying our Atto Super Air Nozzle (left) you probably do, as this is a small nozzle that consumes 2.5 SCFM. However, you may need our large Super Air Nozzle Cluster (right) that will consume 168 SCFM. So as you can see it’s important that we discuss the amount of air you have at the point of use.
Another part of my job is to help customers trouble shoot issues once they have installed our products. I can proudly say that rarely is it an issue with the product itself. The most common cause of malfunction is with the air supply at the point of use. I have seen companies with massive air compressors not be able to supply 30 SCFM. Why? Well just because you have a lot of air coming out of the compressor, doesn’t mean you have a lot of air at the point of use. Other machines and tools down the line, as well as leaks and turns may have depleted the air supply long before it reaches your station for this application. This is the reason why we always recommend our Pressure Regulators with Gauge as seen here:
It’s pretty obvious why we would want you to have a gauge at the point of use, but the importance of the pressure regulator is many times overlooked. Many of our products need to have a certain pressure of air along with the proper SCFM to function efficiently. Some of these are products include some of our Industrial Housekeeping Products and Cabinet coolers. But, many of our products will function perfectly, and even be more efficient for your application with less airflow and psi. To find the best pressure and flow, we use a rule of thumb of starting at 80 psig and dial it back (or up) 5 psig at a time, until the best fit is found.
Most facilities have airlines running throughout, and they are all pushing the same psi and airflow. It is easy to just tap in and drop a line to the new point of use for the new tool. But, if there are 10 machines in line before this one, the air supply at machine 1, is much more than at machine 10. There are also leaks, turns, buildup in the line, and other air flow restrictions that are most likely in the way… This is why you will need a gauge and a pressure regulator at each point of use…
Also, when you drop a line to run a Super Air Knife (or any other EXAIR product) it may be coming off of a 100 psig line. You may only need 40 psi to run this 12″ Super Air knife. At 40 psig you will be pushing 21 SCFM. If this can clean, dry, or move your material as needed, then why use the 100 psig coming from the shop line? At 100 psig, that same 12″ Super Air Knife will use 42 SCFM. That additional SCFM has a rough cost of about $10 per day (running 24 hrs day with cost per kWh at $0.10). As you can see from this simple example, the pressure regulator is a no brainer to save costs and increase efficiency in the product itself.
There are many blogs written about your compressed air being the 3rd to 4th highest utility expense for many companies. In todays economic climate, it is important to use every efficiency possible. Using a regulator is imperative to control any type of flow, be it water, gas, electricity and even – air. Please give us a call to discuss any questions with your next application.
Thank you for stopping by,
Brian Wages
Application Engineer