Month: July 2009

How Do You Handle Rejection?

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

No one likes rejection, whether in personal life or in industrial processes. It usually means something isn’t right. But, rejection is a fact of life. It does have to happen sometimes and when it does, we want to make sure it happens well and with plenty of force!

OK, so now you have reasoned that my introduction has more to do with part rejection than with the personal variety.

A customer charged with setting up an inspection conveyor for plastic bottles was looking for a non-contact way in which he could reject the non-conforming bottles. The bottle size ranged from 1 liter to 2 liter PET type. The bottles are empty and running single-file on a 12 inch wide conveyor. The customer was looking for a way to create the non-contact removing force on the bottle.

In comes the EXAIR Model 1122 2″ Super Air Nozzle. This nozzle has the capability to produce a whopping 22 ounces (624 g.) of force onto a target 12 inches away. The nozzle was oriented in a vertical manner alongside the conveyor in the area where the rejection process needed to occur. The nozzle was coupled to a fast-acting solenoid valve  which provided necessary timing control so the nozzle blew the right bottle off the line.

Once installed, the air nozzle reject system was able to knock every single non-conforming bottle off the line exactly as planned. There was no issue with bad product getting through the inspection process. The nozzle replaced simple pipe nipples and was able to produce much more repeatable results with less noise and air consumption, two side benefits the customer had not planned on.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Super Air Knife Replaces Drilled Pipe, Saves Air, $$$

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Now more than ever, it is important to cut costs and increase efficiency wherever possible.  A customer contacted us recently, looking to improve their linear blowoff situation.  They were currently using a 48″ long pipe with six 1/4″ diameter holes drilled in it, evenly spaced.  The air supply pressure was approx 80psi. 

One 1/4″ diameter hole at 80psi will consume approx 69scfm.  So, six of these holes will require a whopping 414scfm of air!  Using an industry standard cost of $0.25 for every 1000 cubic feet of air used, this means that they were spending $0.10 each minute to produce the required compressed air.  This adds up to $48.00 per 8-hour shift. 

As soon as I heard the words “48” drilled pipe”, I knew exactly what I was going to recommend to this customer.  Our 48″ Aluminum Super Air Knife.  It will provide a uniform curtain of air across the entire 48″ width, rather than the 6 small high spots of airflow on their drilled pipe. 

Also, the Super Air Knife only requires 2.9scfm per inch of length at 80psi of inlet pressure, or approx 139scfm for the whole 48″ knife.  Using the numbers above, it will cost them approx $0.035 per minute to operate this knife, or $16.80 for an entire 8-hour shift.  This corresponds to a cost savings of 65% !

Based on a purchase price of $745.00 USD and assuming one 8-hour shift per day, the cost savings they will achieve will pay off the purchase cost of the knife in just under 24 working days. 

Armed with all of the above savings information, it became a no-brainer decision for this customer to go ahead and purchase the knife, to begin seeing the savings immediately. 

All of EXAIR’s compressed air products are designed to replace inefficient and costly blowoffs.  So, if you have another application where you are looking to save compressed air and energy costs, then please let us know.  We would be glad to help.

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com

Rely on EXAIR to Recognize the Details

Published on by Kirk EdwardsLeave a comment

Our customer called with a Line Vac product in mind. He wanted to use the 2-1/2″ Aluminum Line Vac to move his perlite material 50′. He was going to use a 10 Hp compressor which he had sitting idle in another portion of his facility. He only needed to move the perlite one time and the time it took him was not critical.

EXAIR recognized that the 2-1/2″ Line Vac was not the best suited for his application because it used more air than he had available with his compressor. We discussed and decided to go with the 2″ Line Vac. We recognized this because of our knowledge of the compressed air industry.  One of our goals is to realize the customer’s air capacity and recommend a product which will work with the capacity.

We continued to discuss how much perlite he would like to move, and it was an amount so large he expected to move it over the course of the next couple of months. The volume he wanted to move would have worn through two or three aluminum Line Vacs, so we recommended a stainless steel model for abrasion resistance. We recognized this because of our employees with decades of experience.  Another goal of ours is to recommend the best product material for a specific application.

EXAIR also recognizes the importance of getting a complete system from one vendor. The time it would take to source a compressed air filter/regulator and some transfer hose, in this example, will cost more time and money than purchasing all of the necessary pieces directly from EXAIR. We have recognized this and provide our customers with all the necessary components for compressed air products. This includes filter separators, pressure regulators, oil removal filters, transfer hose, mounting options, positioning products and more.

After our customer had decided to purchase a Line Vac kit and hose they also requested an e-mail which included the credit card invoice and tracking number which we readily and quickly provided. We recognize these details make for a smooth transaction for our customers.

Every customer has different details which make a difference to them; EXAIR is very good at recognizing what these details are and provides them.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

Removing Static From Panel Decal

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We have all been annoyed with the static cling when removing the cellophane wrap from CD’s. That stuff seems to stick to everything no matter how hard you try to shake it off.

A customer of ours had a similar experience in their manufacturing process. They vacuum form a thin film onto a part giving it a wood grain texture. The film has so much static charge  that when the operator would remove it  from the stack, it would attract itself to them and anything nearby. This made it almost impossible to load it into the press causing misalignment and wrinkles.

Since their customer supplied the base product, the loss of perfectly good parts due to misapplication of the decal was unacceptable. They were threatening to cancel the order.

Installing two model 7192 Ion Air Cannons, one above the stack and the other over the operator press area,  the static issues were eliminated. This all but eliminated the scrap and saved the account with their customer.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com