Month: April 2011

EXAIR Product Videos

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

There are many ways to find information about the EXAIR product line. We have the website, catalog and some formal videos. We  also like to offer to all of our customers the tried and true option to discuss any questions they might have on the use, maintenance, and installation of any EXAIR product even though the media may change from phone to e-mail or live chat.  Expanding the way you can find some of this information is our next committment and we are going to start posting some more informal product videos.   They will all be done by our Application Engineers and will cover a variety of topics and products.   Such as utilizing a Universal Air Knife Mounting System, how to install and use an Electronic Flow Control, show Vortex Tube cold air production and so on. One Vortex Tube video is shown below and was submitted on one of Kirk Edwards’ blogs.

We have come up with a few ideas ourselves but would like to enlist some help from you –  our customers, blog readers, Facebook friends,  and Twitter followers.  Tell us what you would like to see.  As long as we have the means to set it up and make it happen in-house we’ll put the topic on our list.  If you’re local to Cincinnati and want us to come to your site and make a video there we may be able to work that out too.  Just contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_BF

Miles and Miles

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

A phrase I’ve often heard is “Go the extra mile”.  I’ve heard it so much it’s almost over-played, but the meaning is still relevant.  

Consider this: If you start where you are right now and apply the habit of going the extra mile, you will inevitably be in better and better positions.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, fortunes are seldom acquired overnight, and being your best takes dedication and proper direction. 

Throughout this last week I’ve been involved with several applications that deal with measurements or values that I don’t normally encounter, one of which needed a specific speed of air (in MPH) from our air amplifiers.  Not only was the speed specific, but the distance away from the amplifier was also specific.  This meant that the speed of the air had to be calculated using the diameter of the airflow at the specified distance.  The distance was outside of our empirical data on hand, so I had to go to the test lab.

A quick setup and a few repeatable tests proved worthwhile to determine the values I needed.  Using the test data and the desired speed, I calculated the appropriate airflow needed at the specified distance.  I then determined the amplification ratio necessary to achieve this air volume and provided this information to the customer in form of a necessary model number and a variety of setup options.

It was gratifying to be able to help this customer, and it felt good to provide something that wasn’t expected, but it’s a standard in the engineering department at EXAIR.  We back up our products and we support our customers along the way.  And along the way we’ve found that it’s never crowded along the extra mile.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
leeevans@exair.com
@EXAIR_LE

Compressed Air Is Cool

Published on by Russ Bowman

Recently, I had the pleasure of assisting an engineer whose company makes honing tools.  One particular item is a large, heat treated, alloy steel part.  When it comes out of the furnace, it’s over 1,700°F.  Needless to say, it has to cool off quite a bit before they can do anything with it.  He was doing the best he could with some large shop fans when he called me to pursue the possibility of doing it quicker with engineered compressed air products.  His goal was to cool the part to 600°F in fifteen minutes.

For those of you without an engineering background (or for you engineers who “phoned it in” during Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow), there are 2 components to convective heat transfer: temperature differential, and flow of the cooling medium.  Increase either or both of these, and you get better results.

In this particular case, the temperature differential between the part (1,700°F) and ambient (80°F) is already huge.  Now, a Vortex Tube device could cool the air an additional 50° or so, but that wouldn’t really have much overall effect.  That left us looking at increasing the air flow.

We considered several options, but the Super Air Knife’s 40:1 amplification ratio made it the obvious choice for maximizing flow, while minimizing consumption.   I didn’t do the CAD drawings (although CAD is my favorite video game), but I supplied my customer with the 3D models he needed to design his system.  He incorporated three 12” Super Air Knives, supplied with plumbing kits.  He mounted them with our Universal Air Knife Mounting Systems.  It made for a very nice looking little rig.

Based on the initial data, my heat transfer calculations were in the “close but no cigar” range – making some conservative assumptions, I figured it could take as long as half an hour to reach 600°F.  When all was said & done, though, the cooling performance was a great improvement over the fans, and even better than my calculations indicated it would be – the system actually cooled the part to 200°F in twenty minutes.  Which was curious, because I actually paid attention in, did well in, and, dare I add, even enjoyed HT/FF.

As I come to grips with my failure to know everything, I’m encouraged that the as-yet unknown variables were skewed in our favor.  Yeah; compressed air is cool.  Even cooler than I thought.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
Web: www.exair.com
Blog: http://blog.exair.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/exair_rb
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

Finding Team Players

Published on by Leave a comment

Many moons ago in a previous life, I attended a seminar on “Hiring & Firing” . The thing that stuck with me over the years is the disparity between the criteria for hiring vs. that for firing. According to a survey of  the top 10 reasons for hiring, technical skills topped the list and personality was nearly last. Interestingly, of the top 10 reasons for firing, technical competence was last and personality was first. The point the lecturer was making is the need to do a better job at hiring. If you are not firing for the same reasons that you hire then you need to evaluate your priorities.

Today many companies administer personality as well as aptitude tests. Some go as far as to use the Rorshach ink spot test.

EXAIR Corporation prides itself in its selection of employees. Not only are they technically competant, they are team players willing to go the extra mile for each other and the customer.

Teamwork is one of EXAIR’s hallmarks and what has made us so successful in serving our customers. The way we handle ourselves is obvious to even those that have not  met us face to face. Here is a tweet I received exemplifies the perception of us.

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RPMconsultants @bernardtmartin #FF @EXAIR @EXAIR_JP @EXAIR_KE @airknives @EXAIR_BF << how a company works as a TEAM ★★★★★8 Apr

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If you would like to challenge our team with your application, call us at 1-800-903-9247 and ask for an application engineer.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer

Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax   (513) 671-3363
Web: www.exair.com 
Twitter: www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair