Yet another EXAIR customer has taken advantage of the EXAIR Efficiency Lab. For those that do not know, the EXAIR Efficiency Lab is a service that EXAIR extends to our customers, to compare their current compressed air process to our engineered compressed air products. For example, you simply send your existing nozzles to us OR an Efficiency Lab Survey and we will do our best to replicate your conditions. Then we will cross reference your current product performance to our catalog products and see where we can help you to conserve your compressed air and benefit from an EXAIR product.
This customer was currently using a “Nozzle” in an array of 11 nozzles per line to blow off debris from their manufacturing process. The customer was continuously running 2 lines during production which gives a total of 22 nozzles using compressed air. The nozzle they were using was actually a pipe nipple that had been formed into a somewhat flat shape to disperse the air a little more. A picture of one of these nozzles is below.
When the nozzle arrived at EXAIR we first documented what exactly it was then we started to bench mark the customers process. At the pressure the customer was operating the nozzle was consuming 137.45 standard cubic feet per minute of compressed air. This allowed the crimped nipple to generate 5.7 lbs. of force from twelve inches away and give off 109 dBA of noise from three feet away. The other key part of information to this application is that the ambient temperature of the part being blown off was approximately 2,000°F and the crimped nipples were positioned within a few inches of the part. Because of this we had to consider the temperature greatly in our recommendations.
Once benchmarked, we then began to test our comparable products at the same operating pressure as the customers existing process, and form a recommendation for the customer. The recommendation is not only saving them compressed air but also reducing the noise level of the operation and become OSHA compliant. The nozzle that best fit was the model # 1113SS. Each nozzle is able to save the customer nearly 46.5 SCFM of compressed air when it is operated just below their operating pressure of 88 PSI. The stainless steel nozzle can withstand temperatures of 1,000°F and will also lower their sound level from 109 dBA to 96 dBA. And though the crimped pipe was able to achieve 5.7 lbs of force the 1113SS will produce 4.5 lbs. of force from twelve inches away, more than enough to solve the customers application of removing scale from an extruded pipe.
The key savings for this customer is the fact that when they implement the 1113SS nozzle into their system they will be saving over 1,000 SCFM of compressed air for their operation. Using a cost of $0.25 / 1,000 CF of compressed air, the customer saves $120.00 USD per 8 hour shift or $30,000 per year. That is a considerable amount of savings and is simply achieved by implementing an Engineered Nozzle into one application in the facility.
If you have an existing compressed air application and want to know if there is a better way, take advantage of the EXAIR Efficiency Lab. We’ll find the better way for you to utilize your compressed air.
Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com