Month: June 2009

Super Air Nozzle Preserves Beverages

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Its getting to be that time of year.  The temperatures are rising and Summer is quickly approaching.  On a hot, sunny afternoon, nothing sounds better than an ice cold 20-oz bottle of your favorite soft drink.  How disappointing would that be if you were to open it up, only to find out that it had gone completely flat, or worse yet, that some of it had evaporated or leaked out? 

Well, I spoke to a company last week who is building a system for a bottling plant to eliminate such unfortunate events.  These problems are almost definitely caused by a bad cap, either cracked or loose.  So, the bottling company was looking for a solution to remove improperly capped bottles from their conveyor line once they had been detected by the upstream sensor. 

The bottles are of course full at the point at which they would be ejected from the conveyor line.  So, they were going to need a product that would provide a forceful enough stream of air to fully remove it, and concentrated enough to only remove the reject bottle.  A full 20-oz bottle of soda weighs approx 22oz.  So, I recommended our model 1104SS Stainless Steel Super Air Nozzle. 

It will provide approx 33oz of force at our recommended 80psi of inlet pressure.  So it will be more than sufficient to completely remove the rejected bottle from the line so it will not disturb the other bottles.  At a distance of 6″ away from the bottles, the air stream will be just under 3″ wide, so it will cover the entire width of a single bottle, again without disturbing the other bottles in the line.

The installation of this nozzle will virtually eliminate any badly capped bottles ending up in the hands of the consumer, and putting a bad taste in their mouths about a certain brand of soda.

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com

Cabinet Cooler Keeps Nerves Calm

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We have a customer whose business it is to dispose of various types of nerve gas. They dispose of it by an incineration process. Thus, they must monitor the emissions coming out of the exhaust stack to make sure that the combustion process is complete. The monitoring of the exhaust gas is carried out by electronics mounted in an enclosure off to the side of the exhaust stack. Frequently, these electronics will fail due to overheating as the box is located outside and exposed to direct sun. It also receives a good amount of heat transmission from the exhaust stack as well.

When the electronics become overheated, an alarm goes off warning the operator of the condition and they no longer have monitoring capability. Due to the nature of what they are incinerating, this is an unacceptable condition.

We performed the necessary heat load calculations and recommended Model HT4825SS High Temperature Cabinet Cooler System. Since installation of the new cooling system, the customer no longer has any heat related failures which were once an all too common and highly stressful occurrence.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Neccesity is the Mother of Innovation

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During these tough economic times, survivors are those that can think outside the box and cultivate products and services that go overlooked in easier times. I came across an innovative entrepreneur who had a solution that the big companies were willing to accept but not necessarily their customers.

Due to its longevity and freedom from maintenance, plastic is beginning to replace wood fencing. The problem with picket fencing that manufacturers are overlooking is that the glue does not always hold. There is nothing more disappointing after putting out a large cash lay than to have the slats fall off.

This entrepreneur developed a process to position and ultrasonically weld the slats to the rail. What he approached me with was a way to cool the the tooling. Since he was pushing the welder to its maximum, excessive heat builds up in the piezoelectric transducer and sonotrode. This is a common application for us so I suggested the model 5315 Cold Gun that produces refrigerated air from compressed air.

As with our other customers who have implemented this type of cooling, it worked flawlessly. I am in the market for fencing, but I think I will wait until the welded units become available.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com

So, you have gone through an energy audit, now what?

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

You hear it and read it everywhere these days. Energy savings is the route many companies are taking to help improve their bottom line. The first step in the process to energy savings is to perform an energy audit to know where the company stands in terms of energy consumption. Everything from lighting, to compressed air systems are reviewed.

OK, so the question goes, I have gone through the audit process and have developed a benchmark for the company with recommendations for what needs to be done. What do we do now?

In terms of the compressor system, the recommendations might be something like, “replace open blowing pipe fitting with engineered nozzle”, or “turn off compressed air to application when no longer needed between cycles”. But who do you go to for solutions to these very general suggestions?  The answer would be EXAIR Corporation.

We have spent the last 25+ years advising customers of how to improve the performance and efficiency of the demand side of their compressor system. The “demand side” being the points within the manufacturing process where compressed air is used to affect some result.

So, if you find yourself with a list of general recommendations about your compressed air usage, please visit our web site, call us or hop onto a chat session to get some really good ideas about the “nuts and bolts” of what to do in your specific applications.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com