A common item that can be found in a majority of machine shops is the blue or gray knuckle-jointed hose used to dispense coolant on lathes and CNC machines. EXAIR also uses this same hose with our Cold Guns and Adjustable Spot Coolers for applications that cannot or do not wish to use liquid coolant as a means of keeping the heat down on their tooling. Since the cold air discharges at atmospheric pressure, this is an acceptable application. Another application is using this style of hose as a compressed air blowoff. This is NOT a proper use of the hose and is not only a considerable waste of compressed air but can also pose a safety hazard. Using this method for compressed air blowoff is not compliant with OSHA 1910.242(b) (a directive we blog about).
I was recently contacted by a customer in Indonesia that was using an array of (6) of these knuckle-jointed hoses with a ¼” round nozzle attachment for a blowoff operation. The customer had a series of rubber pads used in the construction of a toy castle. The pads were brought along by an overhead conveyor and a design was printed on the head of the pad. The nozzles were used to dry the ink before the pad made it to the next part of the process. This was a new product line and the processes involved were being evaluated for potential places to save on compressed air rather than adding overall capacity to their system. After using a variety of EXAIR products for other blowoff applications, they came back for another engineered solution.
After testing both a 1009-9280 (Adjustable Air Nozzle w/ 30” Stay Set Hose) and an HP1126-9280 (1” High Power Flat Nozzle w/ 30” Stay Set Hose), the customer determined that the airflow pattern from the 1” Flat Nozzle was more conducive to drying the rubber pad and purchased the remaining units to replace their original method. The compressed air savings was noticed immediately!!
For the old operation, they had to regulate the pressure down on the hose to 25 psig so that the hose wouldn’t break apart. (1) This hose , with a ¼” round nozzle, will consume 52 scfm at 25 psig of supply pressure. With (6) of these they were consuming a whopping 312 scfm!! Since the HP1126 is compliant with OSHA directive 1910.242(b) and will not break apart at higher pressures, they were able to operate at 80 psig while only consuming 17.5 scfm. They saved more than enough air for their new process and are evaluating whether or not they can turn off one of their smaller 25 HP compressors.
The new setup with the EXAIR engineered solution was able to save them 207 scfm of compressed air. Assuming a cost of $.25/1000 scfm and a 40 hr work week, this translates to an overall savings of $6,458.40 per year off of their utility bill.
207 scfm x 60 minutes x 8 hrs/day x 5 shifts/week x 52 weeks/year =25,833,600 scf
25,833,600 scf x ($.25/1000 scf) = $6,458.40
If you’re using an inefficient compressed air blowoff in your facility, give us a call. An Application Engineer will be happy to evaluate your process and determine the safest and most efficient solution. With same day shipment for stock items on orders placed by 3:00 pm EDT, we can get a solution out to you by the following day!
Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD