I recently had a customer contact me asking about some of our products, mainly our small Air Nozzles.  When asked what their application was for the nozzles I learned they were trying to reduce their Air consumption and had no idea what their current system was using.  I mentioned that we offer the EXAIR Efficiency Lab which is a free service where you can send your existing nozzles or blow off to us and we will evaluate it in our lab then recommend an EXAIR product that will improve the current system.

After explaining this all to the customer they said they are going through an entire system audit and this would be perfect for their needs.   I gave them the information and within a few days I had the nozzles, shown below, on my desk with a letter of what application each nozzle has and also what their operating pressure is.

 

The customer explained to me that they are using the aluminum block in several different applications, one as a blow off, one as a product kicker, and one to help stir up dust so a vacuum can remove it.  I then went to the Efficiency Lab and performed a test run on the aluminum block.  I performed the test several times at 90 PSIG to ensure my data was legitimate.  The block was flowing 19.75 SCFM of compressed air, giving off 103 dBA at three feet away from the block and approximately one pound of force. 

I took this information and cross referenced our catalog.  With the application descriptions for the block and the flow data I determined that our Adjustable Air Jet Model 6019 would be an easy substitution for their aluminum block.  This would keep the one pound of force they were using to help move the product along with blow it off while only using 18 SCFM at 80 PSIG and emit 83 dBA.  On top of the fact that our Engineered Adjustable Air Jet meets or exceeds the OSHA requirements for dead ended pressure, which means they will not have the risk of an operator getting injured with the compressed air from the jet.

The second blow off they were using is a copper pipe that has to be manually welded to a fitting.  This blow off was used to assist in both part blow off and moving the part down a line.  The pipe would consume 8.54 SCFM at 90 PSIG with .5 lbs. of force while emitting 86 dBA.  Our comparable nozzle would be the 1110SS which will consume 8.3 SCFM at 80 PSIG with .5 pounds of force and only emit 75 dBA.  This nozzle like all of our nozzles meets or exceeds OSHA requirements for dead ended pressure.  Also they will still save compressed air while running a lower pressure and noise level.

The final blow off the customer sent is a small inner diameter stainless steel pipe that was consuming 2.14 SCFM at 90 psi while giving off .5 pounds of force and emitting 70 dBA.  For a solution to this blow off we suggested our 1010SS Micro Air Nozzle with the pressure regulated down to match similar flow characteristics of the small pipe. This allowed us to maintain performance while still lowering noise and meeting the OSHA dead-end pressure standard. 

With several machines in place and dozens of nozzles there is a large potential to cut energy costs along with make the shop quieter and help with OSHA compliance. If you have a blow off system that you aren’t sure if it’s the best method please take the time to look at our Efficiency Lab.  We are here to help you with not just new applications but to improve existing ones also. 

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
brianfarno@exair.com