Month: November 2009

Super Air Knife Dries Railroad Spikes

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A company in the rail recycling industry contacted us last week looking for a solution to implement in a cleaning process for railroad spikes.  They collect the spikes, then need to wash and dry them before they are shot blasted to smooth out the finish.  Air drying while the spikes traveled along a wire mesh conveyor was not doing the trick. 

The conveyor was approx 2ft wide, so a 24″ Super Air Knife would work well.  And since the conveyor was wire mesh, a knife could be installed both above and below the belt, to allow the airflow to better hit all sides of the spikes for more effective drying.

Installation of 2pc of Model 110024, 24″ Aluminum Super Air Knives was a quick, easy, and inexpensive solution for this application.

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com

 

Terrific Energy Incentive Database Website

Published on by Kirk EdwardsLeave a comment

Here is another energy incentive database website similar to one we previously blogged about from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. We recognize everyone needs a hand every now and then to find information. It seems to me that as time goes on, more information is available in more places, except it is also jammed in between more useless junk and it can sometimes be hard to find.

Since much of our product line focuses upon saving compressed air, we like to help folks find some of this information. Many of these programs do offer incentive or rebates for optimizing a compressed air system.

It is easy to assume we all know where to get and find the information and resources we need. But then again I find myself needing to find additional resources on a regular basis. So in the spirit of helping each other along, here is a great resource on incentives and policies for energy efficiency across the United States.

You will find this new database from DSIRE (Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency) easy to navigate with good descriptions of the programs, making it simpler to choose which program may apply in your situation.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

Cooling Turn Rolls

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Customer needed a way to cool guide bars. They processes mylar sheets. In the process, the sheets pass over the tubular steel bars that act as guides. The friction is causing the bars to heat up and affects the mylar. The heat is causing the mylar to stretch and tension settings are disrupted causing jam ups.

I suggested blowing refrigerated air through the inside of the bars with a Model 3230 Vortex Tube.  This eliminated any heat build up and registry was maintained throughout the shift.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com

Just Move It Over Here and Voila! It Works!

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

A customer called in and 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 to say, 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