Month: June 2009

Food Conveying With a Line Vac

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Hopper loading is a popular application for our Line Vacs.  Last week I spoke to two different companies with very similar application requirements to do just that.

One company manufactures food processing equipment.  They were working on a project for a customer of theirs who needed to convey various small food pieces such as crispy rice, nuts, and pretzel bits from bulk packaging into a hopper.  The total distance to be conveyed was 20ft, and they were looking for a material flow rate of only a couple of pounds per minute.  So, I recommended our model 6964, 2″ Line Vac Kit, made of Type 303SS. 

The Line Vac will have no problem conveying over the 20ft distance, and will more than adequately convey the required amount of material in the desired time frame.  If the travel velocity of the food pieces is too high and begins to turn into crumbs, they can use the included pressure regulator to decrease the flow rate and velocity to a more manageable level.  The kit also includes an air filter to remove any water and dirt contaminants that may be in the air line.

The other customer I spoke to was a packaging machinery and materials manufacturer.  They were looking to convey rice from a bulk tub up to a hopper for packaging.  Their distance was only 12ft, just a bit less than the other customer.  However, they wanted the highest flow rate we could provide.  We do have Heavy Duty Line Vacs which have very high flow capacities.  However, they are not food grade.  This customer had more strict material requirements, and required Type 316 Stainless Steel rather than our standard, Type 303SS.  So, I recommended the model 6964-316, the same unit as for the other application, except in 316SS.    The 2″ Standard Line Vac will provide the best combination of high vacuum level and high material flow rate, for the best performance. 

Both customers will be satisfied with the low-consumption, low maintenance, and hands-free operation that the Line Vacs will provide, to convey the food up to the machine hoppers.

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com

Chip Vac Replaces Electric Vacuum

Published on by Kirk EdwardsLeave a comment

You may have seen the ad we have placed in trade magazines over the past few years. It shows a guy carrying his electric vacuum to the dumpster, again, and again. The dumpster is filled with the ghosts of variously shaped and sized electric vacuums from jobs past. Illustrating, of course, the despair of a production man losing yet another electric vacuum.

Here is what we know; most electric vacuums are not made for continuous duty and will burn up prematurely when exposed to continuous duty. Our Chip Vac is a great replacement for vacuum jobs which are leaving a trail of broken electric vacuums.

I spoke with a customer who was in a dirty, dusty, continuous duty environment. They are a thermo-spray company applying powdered metal to the surface of printed circuit boards. They had just burnt up their second electric vacuum in two weeks. And though this result was not typical he was not happy about the two or three electric vacuums he was using per year.

With no moving parts to wear out or break, the Chip Vac can run continuously without requiring maintenance, cleaning or lubrication. There is no requirement for our Chip Vac to rest and cool down. Nor any required hearing protection from the noise produced by our Chip Vac.

This product mounts on to a customer-supplied 55 gallon drum and EXAIR provides the vacuum head, drum lid and necessary accessories for a successful application (MORE INFORMATION). It has the power necessary for heavy metal chips and unmatched durability.

Make you next burnt up electric vacuum your last burnt up electric vacuum by replacing it with EXAIR’s Chip Vac.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

Permanent Temporary Fix

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A major diesel truck manufacturer contacted me with a problem that they were having filling the radiators will coolant. If you have ever changed your own anti-freeze, you know that you have to run the engine and gradually fill the radiator to get out any entrapped air. This is not an option on the assembly line.

They had been using an expensive metered vacuum fill system that was prone to pump cavitation. The system went down and they had to come up with a quick fix until repair parts came in. I suggested our Model 6196 Reversible Drum Vac.  This is a venturi generated vacuum.  It is not susceptible to cavitation and can move 55 gallons in 90 seconds.

The tempory fix worked so well that they mothballed the metered fill system and continued to use the Reversible Drum Vac.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com