Month: October 2016

Engineering Makes The Difference In Spraying Application

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

The Paint Line Engineering Manager for a major agricultural & industrial equipment manufacturer wanted to improve the efficiency of their paint lines. They had “halo” systems through which large parts passed for primer & paint coatings, which were equipped with inexpensive liquid-only spray nozzles:

Liquid-only spray nozzles lack the control and efficiency of engineered solutions like EXAIR's Atomizing Spray Nozzles
Liquid-only nozzles lack the control and efficiency of engineered solutions like EXAIR’s Atomizing Spray Nozzles

You can get a whole handful of these and it’ll still cost you less than one of our Atomizing Spray Nozzles will.  If you don’t have any particular concerns about efficiency, spray pattern adjustment, droplet size or flow control (and a lot of applications don’t require this, and that’s fine,) then these will work GREAT for you.  And again, they’re abundant and cheap.

That wasn’t the case here – turns out, good quality paint is expensive, and every drop wasted adds up.  Getting a fine, even coating on parts of different sizes & shapes, every time, requires precision control of the flow pattern.  And design of an automated system benefits from a wide selection of options to choose from.

Enter the EXAIR line of Atomizing Spray Nozzles.  With (90) models to choose from, we can cover (literally) darn near any spraying application you can come up with.  If you know what flow rate and/or spray pattern you’re looking for (like a Paint Line Engineering Manager would,) then selection is quick & easy.  Paint consumption is down, quality is up…and the reliability of the new system means they’re spending less time and resources on cleaning & maintenance. For the record, the halo system ended up looking like this:

EXAIR Atomizing Spray Nozzles provide efficient, reliable coating.
EXAIR Atomizing Spray Nozzles provide efficient, reliable coating.

If you’d like to find out more about how engineered products, like EXAIR’s Atomizing Spray Nozzles, can make a difference to your operations…and your bottom line…give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Cold Gun Keeps Analyzer 31°F Cooler to Prevent Failure

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

A few months ago I had worked with a customer on a finned heat sink, cooling application. The heat sink is part of their TOC analyzer which is a device that detects and measures total organic carbon levels found in a fluid sample. The part of the plant where the analyzers are located has several pieces of equipment generating heat in the ambient environment close to 110°F. When the temperature gets this high, the analyzers begin to overheat, resulting in faulty readings and they will ultimately shut down. They were wanting to install a device that could blow cold air across the heat sink on the analyzer to prevent it from overheating.

After discussing the application with the customer, I recommended our Model # 5315 Cold Gun Aircoolant System with two cold outlets. The Cold Gun produces a 50°F temperature drop from compressed air supply temperature and provides 1,000 Btu/hr. of cooling capacity. For example, if your compressed air supply temperature is 70°F you would effectively see 20°F air being discharged from the cold exhaust. The Dual Point Hose Kit splits the cold airflow into 2 separate streams, providing for a wider coverage area.

5315_SCGdual
Model # 5315 Cold Gun System with dual point hose kit

The customer decided to order a single unit and after a week of testing replied back…

“We tried one a week ago with excellent results! We are installing three more today.  The other five will be here today and tomorrow.

Thank you so much for your help! Our analyzer is running 31°F cooler than it had been with no more overtemp failures!”

It goes without mentioning, but this is the type of positive feedback we are thrilled to hear! It feels incredible when a customer takes time out of their busy schedule to acknowledge how EXAIR products provided the perfect solution for their needs!

BUT the story doesn’t end there… just last week, over 2 months since our last correspondence, the customer sent me another email that read…

“Just a follow up on the effectiveness of the cold air guns. We have not experienced a single failure of our TOC analyzers since the guns were installed two months ago.

The cold air solved the problem of our analyzer overheating — even during the hottest part of the summer.

Thank you for your excellent recommendation!”

I let the customer know how much we appreciated the awesome news and how happy we were to be able to solve their problem. At the end of the day, that’s what we strive for, to provide the best and largest selection of Intelligent Compressed Air Products on the market today.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

 

 

 

 

Communication Is Key

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Effective communication is a key interpersonal skill and learning how each of us can improve our communication is beneficial to all. Communication is a two way process, so improving communication involves both how we deliver and listen to the message. To best service our customers, EXAIR has many ways to share and receive information.

There are the standard methods, of course, that have been around for years.  Phone and fax are still very useful, and everyone has noticed that fax is slowly becoming less utilized. As dreaded as it may be, email is certainly a valuable way to communicate, especially as it allows ‘attachments’ such as photos, which as the saying goes, are definitely worth a thousand words. If video or 3D models are exchanged I am certain the number of words increases.

The newest technology for communication is via ‘chat’ which can be accessed from the EXAIR website. Here, you can chat with an Application Engineer and do something as simple as confirming a part number to something more involved like sizing a Cabinet Cooler System.

chat
Chat Live with an Engineer ‘Button’

The US Postal System is still a valuable communication tool, as we send out the EXAIR Catalog (currently volume No. 30) and the EXAIR-Mail (Number 109/Fall 2016 issue just went out), and some Purchase Orders still are dropped off by the Postman.

Another method of communication is face to face.  We have what we call the ‘Demo Room’ here at the factory in Cincinnati, OH.  In this room, we have every type of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products, in just about every size offered, ready for demonstration and testing to your application.  We’ve had visitors from all over the world come in and share face to face their applications and collaborate with us and test out the EXAIR solution.

exair_facility

There is also the EXAIR website, where we provide a plethora of information regarding the EXAIR product lines, CAD and PDF libraries, Case Studies, Presentations, and the Video Library just to name a few.  Also, here is where you can Request a Catalog, Sign up for E-News, and Check List Pricing.

Lastly, and since you are reading this you already are familiar with the EXAIR Blog – a great way for us to share with you our musings and thoughts, in a way that makes it a personal take on the EXAIR products and our interactions with our customers.

blog

Effective communication is very important to us and what we do here every day.  Feel free to utilize one or more of the Contact Us tools to communicate with us and we’ll be in touch!

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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EXAIR Air Operated Conveyors Helped in a “Sticky” Situation.

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

An office furniture manufacturing company wanted to increase their production by installing two new automated edge banding lines in their facility.  These lines are designed to glue a plastic film to the outside edge of laminated wood panels.  Each system contained four gluing stations, one on each side of the line, positioned 15 meters apart.  Their goal was to duplicate their existing lines but with less floor space (and haven’t we all heard this one).  They were having issues in fitting the same type of equipment inside that limited amount of space.  Since they could not change the automated lines, they had to look at their next biggest system; the vacuum conveying system.  It consisted of a motor, a vacuum pump, an accumulator, and a control panel.  So, it had a large footprint (reference sketch below).

From the vacuum system, they branched out with conveyance lines that were fitted with a large actuator valve to open and close at certain times for filling.  With this configuration, they had a centerline distance between lines of 11 meters.  This conveying system was not only large, but very expensive.  They had to find an alternate method in order to add their new process lines.  They took to the internet and came across the EXAIR Air Operated Conveyors or, Line Vacs.

Sketch of Vacuum System
Sketch of Vacuum System

During our discussion, they gave me their design specifications required for the application. The glue pellets were 5.5mm in diameter and had a bulk density of 1100 Kg/M^3.  The gluing stations would only use 50 kg/hr  per hopper at full capacity.  The opening of the hopper was positioned 4 meters from the ground level above the processing line.

Hot Melt Glue Beads
Hot Melt Glue Beads
Hopper
Hopper

With these requirements, the EXAIR Line Vac was the perfect product to use.  I suggested using one of a model 6982 Aluminum Line Vac Kit per hopper.   This kit comes with a 1 ¼” Line Vac, a mounting bracket, a filter separator, and a regulator.  They could mount them near the super sack of glue pellets, individually control each Line Vac, and convey the desired amount of material to each hopper.  At a 4 meter height and a maximum 15 meter distance, the model 6982 has the ability to convey nearly 150 Kg/hr at 5.5 bar.  The pressure regulator that is included in each kit could be used to “dial in” the required amount of material at the different distances.  With its compact size, 61mm diameter by 91mm long, it could fit nicely near the machines without taking up valuable floor space.

They were able to mount the Line Vac Kits next to the lines which allowed them to move the edge banding lines closer together.  They were able to decrease the centerline distance from the original system of 11 meters to a distance of 6 meters.   Thus, solving the above issue by gaining valuable floor space.  As an added value in conveying with EXAIR Line Vacs, they were able to reduce the cost by 1/10 of the original vacuum system.

Line Vac
Line Vac

The design of the Line Vac makes it very easy to mount, setup, and use right away. They do not have any moving parts or motor bearings to wear, making them very reliable and long lasting.  In addition to that, the cost comparison between the large vacuum system and the EXAIR Line Vacs has a great financial benefit as well.  If your company needs a compact, simple, inexpensive conveying systems to move product, you should contact an Application Engineer to see if we have an Air Operated Conveyor that will suit your application.

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