Month: May 2016

Save Money By Not Using A Thermostat? Well…

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I’m going to let the cat out of the bag right now and tell you that a Cabinet Cooler System with Thermostat Control costs more to purchase than one without.  So yes, by passing on the Thermostat Control, you WILL save money on the purchase.  But that may be your ONLY realization of any money saved.  Let’s consider:

Recently, a customer submitted a Cabinet Cooler Sizing Guide – our simple guide for gathering key pieces of information about the state of customer’s enclosures. An EXAIR Application Engineer can quickly & accurately calculate the actual heat load of an electrical enclosure, and specify the appropriate Cabinet Cooler System, when given the information.

You can submit your data via email or fax, or you can call an EXAIR Application Engineer for immediate assistance.
You can submit your data via email or fax, or you can call an EXAIR Application Engineer for immediate assistance.

I calculated the total heat load of their enclosure to be 2,200 Btu/hr, so I specified a Model 4340 NEMA 12 Cabinet Cooler System rated for 2,800 Btu/hr, with Thermostat Control.  At this point, we’re occasionally asked about the down-side of not using a Thermostat.

The calculated heat load of 2,200 Btu/hr is 78.5% of the Model 4340’s 2,800 Btu/hr cooling capacity.  That means, theoretically, the Thermostat Control will turn off the compressed air supply 21.5% of the time:

40 SCF x 60 min x 8 hr x 5 days x 52 weeks x 21.50% = 1,073,280 SCF
min hr day week year year

At EXAIR, we know, first hand, the benefit of saving a million Standard Cubic Feet of compressed air.  We use a general thumbrule which holds that 1,000 SCF of compressed air costs $0.25 to generate.  So here it is, in dollars and cents:

1,073,280 SCF x $0.25 = $268.32 annual savings
year 1,000 SCF

In this example, the Thermostat Control will pay for itself within the first year.

Summer is approaching in the Northern Hemisphere.  If you’d like to find out more about how EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems can protect your electrical and electronic components from heat damage, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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Video Blog: Super Air Knife with Plumbing Kit Installed

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

 

This short video features our new Stainless Steel Plumbing kits. Ordering a Super Air Knife with the Plumbing Kit installed, provides the best performance and makes for an easy installation.

 

 

Please contact an application engineer for assistance @ 800-903-9247.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

EXAIR Describes the Process of Static Eliminators

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

4 R UMAX PL-II V1.4 [3]

 

One of our overseas distributors provides solutions for a customer who has bought quite a few of the Ion Air Guns for their production. The customer raised a question for which our distributor requested help to answer. The customer asked, “What exactly is going on in the process, when you blow ions on an item?” There is a large interest in these products and they are interested know more. It is not, that they are afraid of the procedure, they just wonder what physically happens, so my question to you is: Could you write an explanation on what happens within the static eliminating equipment when it is energized?

For the answer, you have to go back to high school science class to remember the definition of an ion. An ion is an an electrically charged atom or group of atoms formed by the loss or gain of one or more electrons. Put simply, it is an atom with either extra or fewer electrons than it is supposed to have normally. This excess or deficit of electrons makes the molecule attract electrically to atoms or molecules with the opposite charge. Too many electrons = negative charge. Too few = positive charge.

Gases can form ions as a result of an electrical charge. Gas ions are defined as such: one of the electrically charged particles formed in a gas by electric discharge or the like. The atoms we are creating with our static eliminators are oxygen ions or “ozone”. Due to the AC waveform of the electrical supply, the power supply generates 50 Hz signal that produces both positive and negative ions, depending on the phase of the electrical supply. In this way, our static eliminators produce ozone which can eliminate static of either polarity.

What happens at the atomic level is the ions we create are attracted to and combine with the electrostatic field present on material which has a static charge. The electrostatic field present on insulating materials is present because of two possibilities. Either there was some contact & separation of materials, friction (like rubbing a balloon on the hair), or there was a separation of two insulating materials which were previously in intimate (close) contact with one another (like peeling a protective film from a surface). When this happens, the electrons will move from one material surface to another based on their potential to gain or lose electrons (reference Triboelectric Series). The balance of the surface electrons becomes unbalanced as the electrons at the outer layers will be knocked out of their home orbit and take up with another atom to make it negative, thus leaving the previously neutral atom in a positive state.

When one applies a static eliminating ions from one of our products on to an application where static is causing a problem, they are providing those needed electrons to help the charged material balance itself out. The reason that it happens to insulating materials is because they cannot conduct an electrical signal and so the electrical charge remains on the surface until it is dissipated by active means like our static eliminators or by natural means (a much slower process) where air molecules floating around the charged surface will lower the overall charge to a point until it reaches a point of electrical balance. So, our ionizers (also known as static eliminators) simply speed that process up immensely and eliminate static charges in a fraction of a second. 

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

 

Step on It – Improve Cycle Times by Using Your Foot

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

I visited a manufacturing plant that made die-cast components for an automotive company. One of the operations was to deburr an outer edge of the part with excess flashing formed.  The component is in a visible area to customers, and for cosmetic reasons, the flash had to be removed.  I listed the steps of the operation below:

  1. Grab metal part from bin and place part onto fixture.
  2. With both hands, hit dual operational buttons. (4 seconds)
  3. A cylinder would come down and pinch the edge of the flashing, removing it.
  4. Release buttons to retract the cylinder. (10 seconds)
  5. Inspect the part and place into finished bin. (3 seconds)
  6. With a compressed air gun, clean trimmed flash and debris from sharp edge of fixture (3 seconds)
  7. Repeat operation.

The complete operation took 20 seconds, and in an 8 hour shift, they could deburr 1,440 pieces a day.

1910 Blowoff Station
1910 Blowoff Station

My suggestion was to use our model 1910 Instant Blowoff Station. This Blowoff Station comes complete with a model 1100 Super Air Nozzle, a 12” Stay Set Hose, a Magnetic Base, a foot pedal valve, and two 10 feet (3 meters) compressed air lines.  EXAIR Blowoff Kits can be customized to suit your application. You may choose different nozzles, a single or dual port Magnetic Base, and different lengths of Stay Set Hoses.  It gives you the flexibility to match our products to your application.

In manufacturing, little processes like trimming, deburring, coloring, etc. for cosmetic reasons adds additional time and cost to the parts. Even though these steps can be quick, it can still add up to be significant time within the process flow.  By installing the EXAIR Blowoff Station, this manufacturer could combine two steps in the operation.  During the inspection of the part, the operator was able to press the foot pedal to blow off the sharp edge on the fixture. With the strong Magnetic Base and Stay Set Hose holding the nozzle at the correct location, it made this a hands-free operation.  They were able to save 3 seconds on each part.  It doesn’t seem like much time, but throughout a day, they were able to increase productivity by 17.6% (or it saved 17.6% on labor for a cosmetic procedure).

When it comes to removing debris, EXAIR has a great range of products. We can do it very efficiently, quietly, effectively, and even hands-free.  If you have any issues with added cost caused by visual defects, you can discuss your applications with one of our Application Engineers.

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