Month: November 2009

Super Air Knife Separates DVDs and Blu Ray Discs

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I spoke to a controls and automation company recently who was working on a project to separate packaged DVD’s and Blu-Ray discs on a conveyor.  The two packaged products were intermixed on a conveyor, but needed to be separated prior to labeling, to ensure that the correct label was put on each package.  They were planning to achieve separation by ejecting the Blu-Ray discs off the line, and allowing the DVDs to continue into the labeler.  Then the collected Blu-Ray discs would be sent to a separate labeling machine.

Because the cases were laying flat on the conveyor, a flat air pattern would work well to achieve the proper ejection off the belt.  A Model 110003 3″ Aluminum Super Air Knife was selected as the best choice for the application.  It has instantaneous on/off response.  So, the airflow can easily be precisely controlled by a PLC or sensor, and a solenoid valve.  It also has a precise, forceful, and uniform airflow pattern.  This will ensure that only the Blu-Ray discs were ejected, and that they were fully ejected, to prevent any process interruption. 

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com

Compressed Air Energy Tip – Regulate End Use Pressure

Published on by Kirk EdwardsLeave a comment

If you begin counting the number of places you are using your compressed air utility, you will quickly recognize it as a large part of your manufacturing process and necessary.

Keeping the use of your compressed air system as efficient as possible can lower your energy costs, increase the life of the compressor and system components, and increase the areas where the compressed air can be used effectively.

Keeping your end use pressure levels as low as possible while still getting the job done plays an important role in the performance of your compressed air system. End use products like pressure regulators and engineered blow off products can help provide a supply of compressed air which is reliable and consistent.

Be aware of your end use applications and pay attention to the required pressure level for a successful application. A pressure regulator will play an important role to adjust your system to a reasonable pressure. You may discover no need to always operate the end uses at full line pressure.

You may have also changed some of your manufacturing processes along the way. These changes may allow you to remove some end uses or change them to be more efficient applications of compressed air.

Click Here for the U.S. Department of Energy action steps to get you on your way.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

SCFM vs CFM

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There is a general lack of understanding of how compressed air flow is measured. Liquids being non compressible, can be measured by a direct reading because their mass does not change with pressure. They can be expressed in units of cubic feet/minute (CFM).

Gases though, being compressible , will have different masses depending on how much they are compressed. Thus when measuring gasses, some standard pressure needs to be established for comparison. The universally accepted pressure is atmospheric. A gas expressed in units of SCFM is the volume it would occupy if released to atmospheric pressure.

Some examples:

 If you had 1.0 cubic foot of air under 100 pounds of pressure, when released to atmospheric pressure it would occupy 6.8 standard cubic feet.

If you had 3.4 cubic feet of air under 30 pounds of pressure, when released to atmospheric pressure it would occupy 6.8 standard cubic feet.

These examples demonstrate two measured volumes at different pressures are in fact equal in mass and why direct measurements of gasses have to be converted to some standard pressure when doing gas flow calculations.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com