Month: July 2014

Keep it Cool…And Clean…And Dry

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

Summer is in full swing for us in the U.S.  The temperatures and humidity are high, the sun is shining, and EXAIR Application Engineers are calculating heat load for overheating electrical enclosures to help customers determine which Cabinet Cooler system will remove the heat and eliminate associated problems. With the variety of applications for EXAIR Cabinet Coolers comes a variety of problem solutions.  For example, we may cool the temperature of an enclosure, and, we may also prevent dust or water from entering the enclosure.

Cabinet Cooler Panel

This is exactly what EXAIR can offer in the application shown above.  As you can see, the enclosure has remained open in a dirty environment in an attempt to solve an overheating condition.  This, in turn, has allowed dirt from the surrounding area to enter the enclosure and infiltrate the electrical devices.  An attempt to solve one problem has created another.  By installing an EXAIR Cabinet Cooler, this end user is able to cool the electronic components AND keep the enclosure contaminant free, solving two problems with one device. Also note that keeping an electrical panel doors open exposes personnel to dangerous situations if they come in contact with the exposed wires and connections.

EXAIR Cabinet Coolers have the potential to end an overheating condition AND prevent dirt from entering the enclosure by creating a slight positive pressure inside the cabinet. There is no need to worry about water entering the enclosure if you are in a wash-down or high humidity environment because they are UL listed for NEMA integrities of NEMA 12, NEMA 4 and NEMA 4X. NEMA 12 integrity protects against dirt, dust, and oil. NEMA 4 integrity is dust tight, oil-tight, splash resistant and indoor/outdoor service. NEMA 4X integrity offers the same protection as NEMA $ but is available in 303 and 316 stainless steel to provide for food service and corrosion resistance. To find out more about what an EXAIR Cabinet Cooler can do for your application, contact an Application Engineer.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE

EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems Really Are As Easy As That

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I had the pleasure of assisting a caller recently who was looking for the “rest of the instructions” for installing an EXAIR Cabinet Cooler System. Frankly, I misunderstood the question, and offered to email the 2-page Installation & Maintenance Guide that ships with every unit. He told me he had that; he just figured there had to be more.

We went over the basic steps, and I even sent him a link to our Cabinet Cooler Systems video. The portion that shows how they’re installed is less than a minute. So, even considering preparation, gathering tools, lockout/tagout (safety first, you know,) and actual installation & plumbing, you’re still probably only looking at a fraction of an hour from start to finish.

You can seriously go from this (left) to this (right) in a matter of minutes.
You can seriously go from this (left) to this (right) in a matter of minutes.

In fact, I know this was true in this particular case, as he called me back within the hour to tell me that it was up & running…”as easy as that.” With EXAIR’s Cabinet Cooler Systems…and just about all of our other product lines…it really is just as easy as that. If you have a compressed air product application and want to find out just how easy it is to solve, give me call, and we’ll find out. Easy as that.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
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EXAIR Knowledge Base is Simple to Use

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

Last Sunday I received a call from my grandmother asking if I could stop by because she accidentally hit a button on her satellite TV remote and now she can’t get the picture to come back. She is 89 years old, so she still has one remote for each device (TV, Satellite and DVD) because that’s how my gramps liked it.

Pile of tv remote controls

I pulled in the drive and she was standing at the front door with the remotes in hand, grinning from ear to ear. Now, I didn’t know if the grins were because her “favorite” grandson (I am sure my brother and cousin would disagree) was visiting or if it was the type of mischievous grin my son gives me when he’s done something he shouldn’t.

As she began to explain every possible little detail that may have lead to her current dilemma, I had already realized what she had done. At the top of the satellite TV remote there is a switch that you slide across to select TV, SAT, DVD, AUX and she accidentally moved the switch to SAT and turned the power off to the satellite box. So I turned everything back on and got it back to where it was just to her liking.

I decided to reprogram her satellite TV remote so she could eliminate the other remotes and just have the one to master. Her response was classic – “Oh great! Why does everything have to be so confusing? I thought you were making it simple for me? Now I only have 1 remote BUT it has 100 buttons on it!!!” I couldn’t resist laughing but it did get me thinking…. Why does the remote have to be so difficult to use?

At EXAIR we try to make it simple for our customers to find the information they are looking for. By registering on our website, EXAIR.com, you will gain access to our full CAD and PDF libraries as well as our Application and Case Study libraries. These and other useful tools can be found under the “Knowledge Base” tab at the top of the page in the black menu bar.

Knowledge Base Website

Or if you have a specific application that you would like to discuss, please contact one of our application engineers.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

Vortex Tube Cooling: One Vortex Tube, Multiple Targets, Will This Work?

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

VortexTubes

I had this question posed to me the other day. The customer asks, “I have three, small, enclosed spaces that are all within about five feet of each other. I’d like to put vortex tube cooling into each space. Can I do it with one vortex tube or will I have to use three of them?”

Imagine if you will, the cold air output of a single vortex tube being split three ways and ducted into each of these small chambers. While it is definitely technically possible to do, it isn’t always a feasible idea from the point of view of lost cooling power. Also, anytime that you can split up the effect you are trying to create whether that be cooling with a Vortex Tube or blowing off a large target that has many features to it, generally it is better practice to divide the application solution up to be applied over multiple, smaller units rather than one large one.

In this customer’s case, he wanted to save money on the purchase of multiple vortex tubes by purchasing one model 3230 vortex tube and plumbing the cold air output to his three cooling chambers. The problem is that the ambient temperature outside the boxes is rather hot and also contains high humidity. How exactly is this a problem?  You might ask. The problem is in all of the heat lost in cooling down the cold air distribution pipe (the pipe, hose or tube delivering the cold air into the chambers) that lies outside each box. That results in a net temperature gain (higher temperature) of the cold air you are trying to use for cooling the chambers or enclosures. With that lost cooling power, the customer runs a risk of not having sufficient cooling power to offset the heat load in each chamber. There is also the issue of back-pressure being presented to the Vortex Tube itself from the cold air distribution piping. When subjected to back-pressure, vortex tubes will lose their cooling capacity. Finally, there is the problem of getting equal cooling power delivered to each chamber. In this case, the solution of piping cold air to each chamber would cause an un-even distribution of the cold air with the closest chamber receiving the lion’s share of the cooling, leaving the other two under-cooled.

So, what is a better way to do this?  The method I suggested to the client was to use three of our model 3208 (8 SCFM) vortex tubes, allowing for direct connection of the vortex tube cold air output to each chamber. The cold air no longer has to cool down the cold air piping thus leaving more cooling power for each chamber, there is no back-pressure issue, and finally and probably most importantly would be the total air consumed would only be 24 SCFM in this case (3 x 8 SCFM) vs. 30 SCFM with a single larger vortex tube. That is a 20% savings on compressed air use in a straight up comparison. Depending on how many hours a day the system would be used, the difference in purchase price could be made up by lower operating cost in less than a year.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com