EXAIR’s Electronic Flow Controller (EFC) is a stand alone timing and control product for compressed air. The EFC combines a photo electric sensor, solenoid, and timing control to turn off compressed air, when a part is not present. The timing control comes with 8 different settings for delaying the opening of valve, delaying the closing of the valve, setting an interval, continuously operating or some combination of these settings. This flexibility makes it a great option for someone who is looking to control any compressed air device to conserve compressed air. It is a great option for a company that is implementing the Six Steps to Optimizing your Compressed Air System. The EFC is designed to implement the 4th step – turning compressed air off when it is not in use.
The EFC is certainly valuable when controlling EXAIR’s Long Super Air Knife. Here is an example: An automotive company blows off a 55″ tall body panel. A 60 inch Super Air Knife will use 174 SCFM of compressed air at 80 PSIG of inlet pressure. The body panels come by at a rate of two parts every minute, but each body panel is only in the air stream of the air knife for 20 seconds. This means for 20 seconds of every minute the air knife is running without doing any work. To stop wasting compressed air an EFC can be setup to open the solenoid for 20 seconds after the body panel passes the photoelectric sensor. This will save one third of the 174 SCFM or 58 SCFM. Typical industrial cost of compressed air is $0.25 per 1,000 SCF. This automotive plant runs 24 hours per day. The EFC would save 83,520 SCF of compressed air over 24 hours, which costs the automotive company $20.88. Over 250 working days in a year the EFC will save $5,220. This is huge savings for simple fast installation that can be installed in any intermittent compressed air application.
The EFC is a great solution for controlling your compressed air usage. The ROI for the EFC can be huge depending on the size of your compressed air usage, but in all cases, it is a key step to developing a efficient compressed air system.
Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
@EXAIR_DW
DaveWoerner@EXAIR.com