Month: June 2015

Greeting Cards saved by 1″ Flat Super Air Nozzle

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

A greeting card manufacturer used a liquid coolant plastic nozzle to provide an air assist to divert greeting cards to an auxiliary straight conveyor. Without the air assist the cards would bounce and fly from the conveyor leading to a loss of products and more maintenance.  They used what they had on hand which was a coolant nozzle pictured below.

Coolant Type Nozzle
Liquid Coolant Nozzle uses 32 SCFM at 40 PSIG and 57 SCFM at 80 PSIG.

This nozzle was run at a fairly low pressure of 10 PSIG, but still used 7.8 SCFM at 10 PSIG.  The nozzle worked well, but if run for 24 hours over 250 working days, it costs $702 to supply air to the nozzle. The customer utilized (40) nozzles in their plant which cost them $28,080.  Also, the nozzles were incredibly noisy, since they were designed for liquid flow.

Our customer decided to upgrade to an engineered air nozzle after some time. They needed to cut their air consumption, but still get the job done.  They tested our 1″ Flat Nozzle, but with the standard 0.015” shim it used 5.7 SCFM of compressed air at 10 PSIG. This would be a savings, but after a quick conversation with our Application Engineers, the customer decided to install a 1″ Flat Super Air Nozzle with only a 0.005″ shim. This nozzle 1126-.005 only used 0.9 SCFM of compressed air at 10 PSIG of inlet pressure.  Replace their 40 liquid coolant nozzle would save them 6.9 SCFM per nozzle. 276 SCFM if all 40 nozzles were replaced. Saving 276 SCFM lowered energy bill for their air compressor by $24,840 anuually. Which would mean the simple ROI for $41, 1″ Flat Super Air Nozzle would be 17 days!

1126-9256wstaysethose
1″ Flat Super Air Nozzle model number 1126-.005 on a Stay Set Hose

Call an Application Engineer today to see how we can help you save thousands of dollars.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
@EXAIR_DW
DaveWoerner@EXAIR.com

Line Vac Removes Debris In Fuse Manufacturing

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

Over the last few months I’ve had the pleasure of working with an automation house headquartered in the U.S.  This company provides automation solutions to businesses from the states and abroad, and has a variety of applications, particularly for the Line Vac.  We began our discussions about transferring plastic pellet material into a multi-stage hopper atop a large machine, and progressed into other potential applications.

One of those applications was in the evacuation and reuse of sand used during a filling process for semiconductor fuses.  Fuses often contain high purity quartz sand as a granular filler.  The grain size distribution of the sand is of particular importance, as it provides room for vapors and gases to expand in the event of an arc.  So, making the most of the specified sand is a priority for the manufacturer.  The sand also offers a large surface area for efficient cooling and absorption of enormous amounts of energy.  In the event of an arc, the sand melts, forming a non-conductive body that prevents any further current flow.

Our customer in this application needed to remove the sand leftover at the top of the fuse after filling.  The existing setup provided no vacuum system, creating a mess of sand in, and around the filling station.

Line Vac Fuse 2
Semiconductor fuse filled with sand

The solution we came to was to install a 6078 or 6058 Line Vac, depending on the impact to the machine budget for each model.  (Note: The 6078 and 6058 Line Vac have identical performance, however, they are made of different materials – aluminum vs. 303 stainless steel – and thus have different costs.)  The Line Vac will vacuum the sand from the workspace, and convey it to a nearby container for reuse.

By recovering and reusing this sand, the machine area is cleaner, employees no longer have to sweep up and discard the spilled material, and the machine throughput can be increased.  Recovering the spilled material saves both time and money while increasing production capabilities.

With a Line Vac installed, we aim for a machine workspace that looks like this:

Line Vac Fuse 1
A nice, clean workspace

If you have an application that may benefit from an EXAIR product, or a discussion with an EXAIR Application Engineer, give us a call.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE

 

Dealing With The Unexpected

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Last year about this time, I used the bully pulpit of my weekly blog to update you on the success of our ninth annual Father’s Day Weekend Campout. If you hadn’t guessed, I’m about to fill you in on how awesome the tenth was, but first:

A fellow Boy Scout leader is fond of saying that, when you camp, the weather is always perfect. It may be perfectly sunny or perfectly rainy. Perfectly warm or perfectly cold. Perfectly wet or perfectly frozen. Regardless, it’s always perfect. Yeah; we don’t always like him.

If we’ve learned one thing, it’s to expect the unexpected. This year, it rained. Well, not the whole time. Friday evening was beautiful…we got the campsite set up and dinner cooked well in advance of sundown. My friend & his son had recently waterproofed their tent, and me & my boys had recently purchased a new tent. Both were successfully, and extensively, leak tested Friday night. And all day Saturday. ALL DAY.

This, of course, put a damper on our plans to zipline, which didn’t exactly bother me. I’m sure it’s a temporary reprieve; I mean, I know darn well what I’m doing next year for Father’s Day Weekend, and it CAN’T rain forever. It also, however, put an unexpected damper on our plans to kayak on Sunday. The weather was gorgeous…and fitting for the first day of summer. It was hot enough to make some horseplay in the river sound downright inviting…but the constant rain over the past week had swelled the river banks, and none of the docks were accessible. So we broke camp and returned home to dry our gear. And to look forward to next year.

As Application Engineers, it’s a big part of our jobs to not just expect, but eliminate the unexpected. At EXAIR, we have an impressive arsenal of tools at hand to do just that. Our Efficiency Lab is fully stocked and outfitted to test any of our products…or yours…for performance and effectiveness. We’ve got a wealth of data in our constantly growing Case Study Library. Our Application Database has over 1,000 instances of what will work in certain situations, and our notes on product returns from our 30 Day Unconditional Guarantee give us information on what WON’T work.

If you’d like to find out how our products…and their capabilities…can work for you, give us a call. I look forward to seeing how we can help.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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Small Threaded Line Vacs for Quick Transfers

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

EXAIR’s new small Line Vacs are perfect for small conveyance jobs. Years ago EXAIR discovered that our Line Vacs, which are designed to move small bulk products, are very versatile in a variety of application where compressed air is available. For instance view this video below.

In the video the Line Vac is seen shooting the string roughly 10 feet continuously.  This makes for a great demonstration of the Line Vacs power. In the video above, a customer need to be able to pull a tension on several spools (or cones) of thread. The Line Vac is able to easily accomplish this task, but the video also hints at other applications. Take for instance a web trimming operation were a 3/8″ or less strip of material is removed from the side of the web. A Line Vac can both convey the scrap trim and pull a tension on piece for easier cutting.

In the beginning of 2015 EXAIR introduced two new small threaded Line Vacs, the 140038 3/8″ aluminum threaded Line Vac and the 141050 1/2 aluminum threaded Line Vac. These Line Vacs will thread into a piping system to convey small parts,  scrap, trim and bulk materials that can pass through the inner diameter of the Line Vac.

Small Threaded Line Vacs
Small Threaded Line Vacs Convey Colored Plastic Pellets.

The Line Vacs use compressed air to create a small conveyance system.  The Line Vacs are perfect for moving any component, material, or trim that is smaller for its overall ID. The 3/8″ unit features a 0.19″ ID and the 1/2 unit features a 0.31″ ID. These ID’s are the smallest in the threaded Line Vac product line, other threaded model ID’s go up to 1.75″ (44mm). These small Line Vacs won’t work for every application, but they can be the right tool for the job.  Take the 1/2″ Stainless Steel Line Vac. It only uses 15% of the compressed air required by the 2″ Line Vac, but can still move a small amount of material 50 or 100 feet. Take a look at EXAIR’s site for information on how the Line Vacs may help you.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
@EXAIR_DW
DaveWoerner@EXAIR.com