Month: February 2016

A Bottling Company Using EXAIR Super Air Knives Finds Big Benefit in a Small Adjustment

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

Sometimes you just need a little adjustment.  I received a call from a customer that had 2 pieces of our model 110018SS stainless steel Super Air Knives.  They were blowing water off the bottles before labeling.  They increased their production rate to 300 bottles/minute, and they started seeing issues with the labeling process.  They determined that the bottles needed to be drier and wondered if we could help.  This customer has been using these air knives for over 5 years without any issues.  With the increase in production rate, they wondered if they needed to add a shim to increase the performance of the Super Air Knives.  I wanted to verify that he was maximizing the efficiency of the Super Air Knives before we started to make any changes.

Water blow off in a Bottling Operation
Super Air Knife in a Bottling Operation

The customer sent  me pictures of his operation for diagnosis (reference above), and I noticed that the Super Air Knives were blowing air right at each other. The position of each Super Air Knife from top to bottom was correct.  This is recommended for removing water in a counter-flow direction (when the bottles are traveling from the right side of the picture to the left side).  But the blowing direction was incorrect for optimal efficiency. For an application similar to this, we want to increase the contact time on the bottles.  The longer the bottles are in the path of the Super Air Knives, the more time we have in removing the water.  I sent him a picture of an application that was very similar to his (reference below).  It shows the Super Air Knives at the correct blowing angle.  As you can see, the Super Air Knives are aimed more toward the center of the conveyor, and not at each other.

Proper position on Super Air Knives
Proper position on Super Air Knives

In the first picture, I noticed that this customer also purchase the model 9060 Universal Air Knife Mounting System to go with his Super Air Knives. This mounting system is designed with stainless steel hardware for secure, precise positions, and it allows the air knife to quickly and easily be mounted and adjusted.  With a quick turn of the knobs, he was able to set the correct angle very simply, and improve his operation.  Sometimes you can step back for a moment and return to the basics to improve your system.  In this case, he did not have to add a shim to blow more air, but just reposition the Super Air Knives for a more efficient process.

Swivels, an accessory for our air nozzle product line, provide a similar function and allow customers to adjust air nozzles to their most effective position. If you believe that you are not getting the most out of your compressed air system, you can contact an Application Engineer at 800-903-9247.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Ion Bars Eliminate Static in Foam Web Production

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment
10. STATIC
Foam Web with ineffective Earth grounding

Our Greek distributor came to me the other day with a production issue for one of his clients. They manufacture foam in a variety of forms for many different end uses. In this particular case, the customer was working with a flat web of foam. As they are un-rolling and processing the foam, a decent amount of static charge builds up on the material which eventually causes discharges to the rollers in the machinery and to operators as well. The discharges are dangerous to personnel as they can be quite potent, causing a reflexive jerk back which can put the operators into a dangerous position with respect to machine components, not to mention that they are just flat out uncomfortable to receive. Another issue is that the discharges also cause blemishes on the surface of the white foam where they occur. Such blemishes are considered a defect and are therefore another reason that the customer wants to investigate active static elimination.

As you can see in the above photo, the customer has a couple of ground “probes” if you will, that ride on the surface of the foam web. They do this in hopes that the charges will “drain off” to Earth ground. While this kind of “passive” static elimination can be useful in certain circumstances, many times is just not sufficient to completely neutralize the material as needed for the process. We reviewed the line speed in the application and the web was moving at a reasonably slow 10 – 15 meters per minute. With this in mind, the EXAIR Ion Bar would be a perfect fit to provide the necessary ions to “actively” discharge the electrostatic field. By actively, I mean that the ion bar produces positive and negative ozone ions which are actively delivered and come into contact with the material. This causes the net charge to drop to a much lower level than simple grounding techniques just cannot get to.

We ended up recommending two pieces of model 7042 (42” Ion Bar) (one for each side of the web and model 7907 (2 outlet Power Supply, 230 VAC input) for the application. These bars have eliminated the blemishes on the foam web and removed the static shocks experienced by the operators.

With the very coldest of winter-time temperatures upon us now, it is what we term “static season” due to the low humidity in the air. Processes like this one can be rendered hopeless without the use of some form of active static elimination.

Are you in a converting business of some kind? Do you have static issues in your processes?  If so, consider contacting us for some help with your application. Static electricity in a production environment does not have to be a problem.

Neal Raker, International Sales Manager
nealraker@exair.com
@EXAIR_NR

Air Amplifiers Speed Up Cooling Of Cast Parts

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Do you like soup? I like soup. Especially on cold days in the winter. Living down south apparently ruined me for cold weather, because, even though I’ve been here in Ohio for 25 years, I still get a chronic chill in early November that won’t let go until about April. March, if I’m lucky. A nice, hot bowl of soup gives me a temporary respite from that dreaded chill, though, so yeah…I like soup.

Sometimes (OK; most of the time) I like it so much I don’t want to wait for it to cool (just slightly) to a temperature that won’t scald my tongue, so I resort to the age-old practice of blowing on those first few spoonfuls. Even though my breath is a fairly consistent 98.6F (give or take,) it’s still quite effective at transferring enough heat out for pain-free consumption. There are two reasons I’m thinking about this right now:

First reason: I’ve been working with an engineer at a large automotive plant…they were cooling a production run of metal cast parts with a series of fans. It ran pretty slowly, and they had a line of those pedestal mounted fans “waving at the parts as they went by.” The thought was, they could direct a stream of cooling air by using the focused flow of an Air Amplifier, and this might just allow them to speed up the line. And they were right. They tried a few Model 6041 1-1/4″ Aluminum Adjustable Air Amplifiers, with very favorable results. So favorable, in fact, that they ordered (40) more to outfit other casting lines in the plant, in arrangements similar to this:

With (16) models to choose from, EXAIR Air Amplifiers are a quick and easy way to provide a tremendous amount of cooling air flow from a compact, lightweight product.
With (16) models to choose from, EXAIR Air Amplifiers are a quick and easy way to provide a tremendous amount of cooling air flow from a compact, lightweight product.

Just like it might take more than one “blow” to cool off a spoonful of soup, they have installed multiple Air Amplifiers, in succession, on the lines, depending on the size, shape, and mass of the part. And the precise adjustability of the Adjustable Air Amplifiers allows them to dial in the optimum air flow, while minimizing their compressed air consumption. So the Production and Facilities folks are all very happy.

And (because I know you’re wondering) the second reason I’m thinking about conductive/convective heat transfer via air movement:

I trust you had already guessed what was for lunch today.
I trust you had already guessed what was for lunch today.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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EXAIR Knowledge Base Makes Problem Solving Easy

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

EXAIR makes every effort to solve your manufacturing problems, increase your efficiency and raise the bar on your safety practices. We try to do that immediately, today, right now and we’d like you to be on your way to an improved facility by tomorrow – that is why we stock all of our cataloged products and ship same day on domestic orders received by 3 pm. In order to do that it seems you would prefer to be working with a company that’s easy to do business with, and EXAIR is easy. One way we try and achieve this is by providing as much general information as we can under the Knowledge Base section of our website.  By taking advantage of the free registration, you gain access to a variety of helpful information that can help simplify your selection process and provide the final details to complete a particular project.

Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base can be found in the black menu bar at the top of our webpage.

Take, for example, our full CAD Library providing 3D models and 2D dimensional drawings in several different formats which can be used by MANY different programs. Whether you are looking for a .stp file for a 72″ Super Air Knife or the .dwg file for a medium sized Vortex Tube, the information is readily available for download without needing to place a call to our office.

Another useful tool is our Case Study library which features a database showcasing the  benefits of using an EXAIR product in place of existing inefficient or unsafe blowoffs. Just a few benefits to list would be compressed air savings, safety improvements, achieving OSHA compliance, an increase in production, lowering the decibel level in a work area or overall money savings. We are continually looking to add useful information to the library and can offer some EXAIR swag or an incentive in exchange for quantifiable data. (give me a call for details!)

Case Study (505x640)
Example of a Case Study Report.

Maybe your looking for a specific EXAIR solution to a common industrial process? I invite you to take a look at our Application Database. From conveying plastic pellets to a hopper or needing to remove noxious fumes from a coating application, the desired information might just be a simple click away.

These are just a small sample of the useful tools available for easy use. If you can’t find the information you’re looking for or have a specific application you would like to discuss, give us a call so we can help.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN