A customer in Russia contacted our distributor in Moscow about an application to monitor the flow of melted glass. In their application, the end user had installed (4) camera “eyes” with thermal insulation to instantaneously measure the melted glass flow. But, the high ambient temperatures would cause the temperature of the camera lens to slowly increase during operation, eventually resulting in an overheating condition. This overheating condition rendered the cameras inoperable until they were cooled below a temperature of approximately 40°C (104°F).
What this end user (and application) needed was a suitable solution to cool the lens of the camera to a temperature below 40°C (104°F). A typical refrigerant based air conditioner wouldn’t work for this application due to space and temperature constraints, as the cameras are located close to the furnace with ambient temperatures of 50°C (122°F) or higher.
What did provide a viable solution, however, were High Temperature EXAIR Vortex Tubes. Suitable for temperatures up to 93°C (200°F), and capable of providing cooling capacities as high as 10,200 BTU/hr., these units fit the bill for this application.
After determining the volume of compressed air available for each camera, and after discussing the solution options and preferences with the customer, they chose (4) model BPHT3298 Vortex Tubes, using (1) Vortex Tube for each camera. The cold air from the Vortex Tube will feed directly onto the camera lens, keeping it cool even in the hot ambient conditions. This removes lost productivity due to machine downtime, which in turn increases output and reliability from the application process.
High Temperature Vortex Tubes provided a solution for this customer when other options were unable to deliver. If you have a similar application or would like to discuss how an EXAIR Vortex Tube could solve an overheating problem in your application, contact an EXAIR Application Engineer. We’ll be happy to help.
Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE