Month: August 2013

A For Ingenuity, F For Performance

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Over the past month or so, I have had several customers taking advantage of the EXAIR Efficiency Lab.  This one that came in really stood out to me though.  This is a 48″ long Steel pipe that was custom designed and made by the customer.  The unit has slots that we believe were EDM’d into the pipe.

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The customer was using this to blow debris off sheets of steel.   Once we got the pipe hooked up and set to run we were only able to generate 3.5 psig inlet pressure to the pipe.   The measured consumption was 176.55 SCFM at 3.5 psig inlet pressure.  They were utilizing 80 psig inlet pressure, needless to say it was slightly overkill for the application.    At 80 psig the pipe would consume over 1,400 SCFM of compressed air.

We were able to replace the pipe with a 48″ Super Air Knife Kit that still produced the necessary force to remove the debris from the steel, and only consumed 139.2 SCFM at 80 psig.   The customer was able to save 1,252.8 SCFM and reduced the noise level drastically.   The amount of air saved is equivalent to a little more than a 300 HP compressor.   The amount of air saved is equivalent to 31.3 cents per minute of operation.

We get surprised (still) every now and then at the amount of compressed air customers are willing to use for applications. This example was a surprising one. But, now we have a customer who knows that EXAIR knows how to save compressed air and keep the plant running…while staying OSHA compliant…while reducing noise levels.

These guys took some time and spent some money to make this custom homemade blow off pipe. Needless to say, something that costs more and is custom, isn’t always better.  If you have a compressed air application in house and would like to see how you can optimize it, contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Supervisory Control Systems

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

SCS Interface

Like I like to do, I’ve been doing some reading about compressed air and compressed air control.  A few weeks ago I wrote about throughput control and I’ve been going over a case study about supervisory control systems (SCS).  These are the devices which dictate primary and secondary compressor system operation to maximize not only throughput, but efficiency too.

In the same blog mentioned above I discussed the methods used to control a compressor, and the other side of that equation is the actual controller which is giving the commands.  These supervisory type of controls are happily routed through a PLC so that, for example, when the discharge flow spikes, a suction throttle valve can be cycled on to restrict the intake flow.  A feedback loop that functions in real time, with controlled set points, can take a compressed air system to the next level.

In the photo at the top of this blog a sketch of the SCS for a hybrid system is shown.  This is from a case study which walks through the blending of a centrifugal compressor and a reciprocating compressor.  On the surface this sounds like it may be complicated and in actuality it’s extremely complicated.  Apparently the biggest problem is heat accumulating as a result of load fluctuations.  In addition to the heat load, there’s the logic needed to allow each compressor to start in sequence, independently, or manually.  For this application, the solution was found using two main lines and two sub lines of ladder logic.  Simple and clever at the same time!

SCS Ladder Logic

Do you have a similar setup to share or interest in this particular case study?  Email me at LeeEvans@EXAIR.com and we can correspond directly.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE

Seeing is Believing

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

My wife and I are searching for our first home this week, which has been an eye-opening experience in many ways.  There are so many things that you have to learn about financing, home inspection, layouts, locations and insurance.  There is insurance or warranties for the home, title, and asbestos, but that is for another day.

The thing that my wife and I both noticed is that we wouldn’t look at any houses that didn’t have pictures available.  We just assumed that if they didn’t have pictures available the place wasn’t worth our time.  The one house without pictures that we did visit was disaster.  The one photo of the outside of the house was very old, but there were no pictures of the inside of the house. When we got a closer look at the outside of the house, the paint was peeling, the yard was a mess, and the screen door was locked.  We couldn’t get inside to see the rest of the house.  This leads me to be very hesitant to consider any purchase without seeing at least a photo of the unit.  If you are trying to sell a product and you don’t have photos readily available it seems safe to assume that since it wasn’t important enough to the sellers to put the photos online, it wasn’t worth my time looking at the place or product to find out what they were trying to hide.  I’m very weary of any sale of product were I can’t see what I’m buying.

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At EXAIR.com, we provide all of the specs for our products to anyone who would like the information on our products.  In our Application Database, we feature many of the applications that we have in our thirty years of experience of making compressed air products.  The CAD Library has detailed dimensional drawings for all of our products.  Finally in the Video Library all of our products are explained and shown in action.  We strive to provide you the most information about our products  available.  Furthermore, we allow you to take advantage of a 30 day trial on all cataloged products – not only can you see it first, you can use it in your application!Capture

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
davewoerner@exair.com
@EXAIR_DW

Summer…Here For A Limited Time…

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

All good things must come to an end, they say, and this summer is no exception.  My sons returned to school this week, both attending the same school, on the same schedule, until my eldest enters high school next year.  This coming Monday is Labor Day, the Official© End of Summer.  And that means that our Boy Scout Troop will start wearing their “Class A” uniforms, instead of the “Class B” t-shirts that are authorized for June-August meetings.

In most of the Midwest, this is also the weekend that most pool owners will “winterize” and put their covers on.  I have a good friend who purposely has a party on the 2nd or 3rd Saturday of September, to blatantly flaunt this convention, but he’s just delaying the inevitable.  I’m going anyway.

At EXAIR, we also know summer as “Cabinet Cooler Season.”  It’s no secret, or surprise, that inquiries – and sales – for Cabinet Cooler Systems will pick up when the ambient temperatures rise…that’s the “external heat load” part of the equation in action!  Of course, some places have elevated ambient temperatures even in the months that end with an “R”…places like boiler rooms, blast furnaces, bakeries, etc.  And I’ve had the pleasure to talk to callers who want to protect electrical panels in two out of three of those places, just today.

One other thing that’s coming to an end this week is our seasonal Cabinet Cooler Systems Promotion.  That’s right; you’ve got just a few more days to get a free AC Sensor with a qualifying Cabinet Cooler purchase.  So, if you’re considering a Cabinet Cooler System, now’s the time.  We can quickly and easily calculate your enclosure’s total heat load with just a few key pieces of data.  Use our online Cabinet Cooler Sizing Guide to get it to us, or email it in.  For immediate service, call us with the data…we’ll do it while you wait. These products are in STOCK and we can ship same day on orders we receive before 3:00 pm Eastern.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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