Month: January 2013

Conquering a Large Scale Project

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

As I am typing this blog I can think of at least six other projects which I have deadlines that are constantly getting shuffled around.  Some are larger than others and if I let myself get off task I will end up feeling overwhelmed because all I will see is the entire list and the amount of work that is to be done.   This can very easily happen when you are faced with the task of reducing energy consumption in your facility.  The good news is that EXAIR is here to help!

Instead of looking at the amount of work that needs to be done, take a step back and look at the individual areas you can conquer in smaller chunks.  For instance, when looking at reducing the energy consumption on the plant, look to individual areas or users, such as the air compressor.

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If you can reduce the volume of air that the compressor has to generate to fulfill the demand side of the system then you will greatly reduce the amount of energy consumed.  This can be done by conducting an Air Audit on your facility.  While that may still seem like a large-scale project, look at the end uses in small amounts.  Are there any open pipe blow offs?  What kind of handheld blow guns are the operators using?  Do the triggers leak?  Are there areas that use compressed air continuously that don’t need to be?  What is the operating pressure of all point of use applications, do they need to use that high of a pressure?  Has a leak test been conducted on the system?  A single leak can cost a company thousands of dollars a year in compressed air cost.

IcecalvingfromHubbardGlacierAlaska-large

When you break the projects into smaller portions you find instead of dealing with an entire catalog of items, you are really only looking at one section.  Not only that but EXAIR can help with selecting the best product.  Maybe you have existing blow guns or nozzles and you have no idea how much compressed air they use.  Take advantage of our Efficiency Lab and you will not only find out the consumption of the units but what a valid replacement would be and just how much compressed air and money that replacement can save you.  Instead of feeling overwhelmed about where to start on those large-scale projects that involve compressed air.  Give us a call and allow us the chance to break that iceberg of a problem into a nice snow cone that can easily be handled.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Exterior Surface Cleaning with Super Air Knife

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

With the variety of technological tools at our resources nowadays, it’s common to receive application photos from the field.  It’s also becoming increasingly popular to receive videos, which are even better because they show the process in action.

The video above, for example, was taken on a smartphone and sent over in regards to a problem keeping a drum clean.  Originally, a cotton pad was used to keep the exterior of the drum clean and debris free.  The cotton pad was directly in contact with the drum and over a relatively short period of time, the pad would wear away.

The solution for this application was the Super Air Knife.  Keeping a very similar mounting setup, and aiming the output airflow 45° opposite to the direction of drum rotation, the Super Air Knife can be positioned to keep the drum clean.  And, this process now requires little to no maintenance.

If you have a similar application, or a not so similar one but want to send in a photo or video for advice, my email contact is below.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
leeevans@exair.com
@EXAIR_LE

Tips and Tricks To Improve Your – And Your Facility’s – Health and Welfare

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

If you tried to reach me yesterday, I wasn’t here…Monday afternoon, my right eye was getting a little red and itchy. I was hoping it was just allergies, but when I woke up yesterday morning, I had all the classic symptoms of conjunctivitis – that’s right; the dreaded pinkeye.  I’m a Sunday School teacher and a Cub Scout leader, so I should consider myself lucky that I don’t ALWAYS have pinkeye, strep throat, or at the very least, whatever cold seems to be going around at any given moment…it’s sure not for lack of exposure.

Fortunately, I was able to get in to see my doctor early yesterday morning, and if there’s a good thing about pinkeye, it’s that some antibacterial eye drops clear it up pretty quickly. My doctor reminded me, though, that if people wouldn’t touch their faces so darn much and would wash their hands a little more regularly, these highly contagious infections might be a little rarer. I’m going to be VERY conscientious of this, too. For at least a week or so, anyway. Old habits die hard (if ever), and it’s amazing what you can get used to not even noticing that you’re doing.

It reminded me of a recent conversation with a caller – he had some inexpensive, commercial-grade air guns which were strapped in place and had the triggers taped down, to provide a continuous, hands-free, blow off. He wanted to put something in place that would be safer (they discharged air through an open end, with no dead-ending protection), quieter, and more efficient with their use of compressed air.

With the same quickness and ease that my doctor was able to prescribe those eye drops, I offered the following solution:

*Model 1100 Super Air Nozzles to provide a high volume, high velocity air flow in a safe, quiet, and efficient manner.

*Stay Set Hoses for quick and easy positioning, to mount the Super Air Nozzles and direct their flow exactly where they want it.

*EFC Electronic Flow Control to turn the air flow on when it’s needed, and off when it’s not.

I got the feeling that those air guns had been strapped up and taped down for some time now…do you have any less-than-optimal compressed air blow offs that you’d like to do something about? If you’re stroking your chin right now while you think about, it, STOP IT! Unless you just washed your hands, that is. Even then, the safest and most efficient thing you can do – for your health and your facility’s – is to give us a call!

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

Another Vacuum Cup and Generator Application That Is Not Pick and Place

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

When we first started promoting and selling the E-vac Vacuum Generators, I have to admit that it was my thought that pick and place types of applications would be a large portion of what we do with this product line. Now that we have been at this product line for a while, we are finding that there are many customers out there who simply need to generate vacuum in order to do mundane things like holding product in place while a process is performed to the material.
I had one such case just the other day. A customer responded to an e-mail that I had sent to follow up on the product for which he was interested. He wanted to know more about the E-vacs. And in his reply he mentioned that his company made insulated glass panes for windows. An insulated glass pane is actually two panes of glass adhered together with the use of an air tight gasket that also acts as a spacer between the two panes of glass. Usually after assembly, the void between the two panes of glass is filled with Argon or some similar gas which has insulating properties.
The customer has a special table onto which they lay the “bottom” pane of glass to which they affix the seal / spacer. The customer wants to lock the pane of glass down onto the table to prevent it from moving during the assembly process, so they contacted me to see about possibility of implementing a single, 6” vacuum cup and an E-vac vacuum generator. The idea is to recess-mount the vacuum cup so that the lip of the cup is right at table height. Once the glass is lowered to the table, the E-vac is actuated and the vacuum cup contacts with the glass and pulls it down to the table. The following figures are a rough sketch of the idea.

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As part of the solution, I recommended that the customer use an EXAIR Foot valve model 9040 so he could operate the E-vac in a hands-free method so that he could maneuver the glass around as needed. Our smallest, non-porous E-vac model 810002M along with a 6” Vacuum cup and some vacuum tubing to connect the two together did the application very well. Customer is happy and is thinking of implementing this idea across the rest of his 20 production tables.
Neal Raker, Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com