Month: December 2018

Winter Coats Under the Tree for Matthew 25 Ministries

Published on by Kirk EdwardsLeave a comment

One of the other things we do well around here (beside making awesome products) is giving back to our community. Our late founder Roy Sweeney began, and our current President Bryan Peters continues, a focus upon the needs of others.

Today, we are bringing these 35 winter coats over to Matthew 25 Ministries so they can be distributed to anyone in need. Matthew 25 serves our local community very well, as well as nationally and worldwide.

A handful of our employees used their volunteer day to give their time to a Disabled American Veterans event earlier this year and recognized a need for warm coats. That need caused the idea to gather coats this winter.

EXAIR provides this volunteer day for all employees to get paid and volunteer their time toward a cause of their choosing. We have all been impacted by the time spent and the stories we have heard about how valuable a day these have been for all involved.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the coat drive! EXAIR, as a company, is thankful and grateful we have such great and generous people to work with who recognize the value of helping others. You guys are the best! Enjoy the Holidays and Merry Christmas.

Super Air Knife Plumbing Kits Ensure Proper and Optimum Operation

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The EXAIR Super Air Knife is a Highly Engineered and intelligently designed point of use compressed air powered device that delivers a 40:1 air amplification ratio!  This simply means that for every one part compressed air supplied to an EXAIR Super Air Knife it will entrain 40 parts ambient air into the exiting compressed air stream.  Almost as good as “money for nothing”!  Also the EXAIR Super Air Knife is designed to provide an even or “laminar” flow of air.  This is due to it being an intelligent, highly engineered compressed air product.

However if an EXAIR Super Air Knife is not connected to the compressed air supply with the appropriate number of inlet ports being fed, poor and/or erratic performance is likely.  This would manifest itself as uneven air flow and lower performance from the air knife.  In order to make this plumbing easier we offer optional plumbing kits for all Super Air Knives starting with the 24″ length all the way up to the 108″!  The 24″ and longer Super Air Knive’s require that compressed air must be supplied to multiple air inlets along its length for optimal performance.  This will ensure that the air flow is laminar and the force is even across the entire length of the Super Air Knife.  All our products are shipped with an installation guide referencing the proper recommended pipe sizes for various lengths of supply pipe.

The Plumbing Kits for Aluminum Super Air Knives provide properly sized Nitrile/PVC Hoses, Brass Fittings and a Pressure Gauge which monitors the inlet pressure to the air knife.  If the gauge shows a pressure drop when the Super Air Knife is turned on this indicates that there is an air starvation issue.  For the 303SS, 316SS and PVDF Air Knives the Plumbing Kits contain 5/8 OD SS tubing X .034 wall thickness tubing and SS fittings.

AirKnifePlumbing

So when ordering your next Super Air Knife be sure to designate the Plumbing Kit to ease your installation and to ensure top performance.

When you are looking for expert advice on safe, quiet and efficient point of use compressed air products give us a call.   We would enjoy hearing from you!

Steve Harrison
Application Engineer
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Super Air Nozzles and Stay Set Hoses to Replace Open Tubes

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I recently worked with an company that performs energy audits and they were working with a food company to review and propose ways to reduce the energy consumption throughout the plant. One area where we were able to help was on an onion peeling machine, shown below:

Vegetable Peeler Wide
Onion Peeler With Screw Conveyor and Blow off Tubes

The area of machine in question used a screw conveyor and friction source to help loosen the peels and fifteen (15) 1/4″ O.D. open ended tubes, which were noisy and unsafe, to blow the peels completely off and away form the onion. The auditor was able to install an air flow meter on the system and found that the machine was consuming 220 SCFM of compressed air for this operation.

Vegetable Peeler Detail
(15) Total, 1/4″ Tubes Used to Blow Air and Help Remove the Peels

We proposed to replace the tubes with a 6″ Stay Set Hose and the model 1103 Mini Super Air Nozzle.  Each model 1103 Mini Super Air Nozzle will consume just 10 SCFM of 80 PSIG compressed air. Attached to the 6″ Stay Set Hose, the nozzle can be placed exactly where needed and aimed appropriately. A strong blast of air rated at 0.56 lbs (9 ozs.), and ultra quiet at 71 dBA, the Mini Super Air Nozzle delivers the results needed.

1103-e1543953915424.jpg
Model 1103 – Mini Super Air Nozzle

1103 Performance

1103 Pattern

9256
Model 9256 6″ Stay Set Hose

The Stay Set Hose has “memory” and will not creep or bend, simply install the 1/4 NPT fitting into the compressed air supply side, an thread the 1/8 NPT Mini Super Air Nozzle into the other end and position as needed!

Fifteen (15) of the Mini Super Air Nozzles will pass 150 SCFM of compressed air compared to the current usage of 220 SCFM, resulting in a 70 SCFM drop, or a 31.8 % reduction.  At a typical cost of $0.25 per 1000 Cubic Feet of Compressed Air, the nozzles would save $1.05 per hour of operation. Rate of Return yields a full pay-off in just 43 days of operation (24 hours per day operation)!

If you are looking for ways to save on compressed air usage in your facility that is safe to operate and quiet to use, we will have a solution for you.

If you have questions about any of the 16 different EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Product lines, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or any of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer
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Class III Hazardous Areas

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

The National Electrical Code, or NEC, classifies hazardous areas into three different categories; Class I, Class II, and Class III.  To use equipment in or around these types of areas, caution has to be taken in order to not cause an explosion or fire.  In the U.S., the Underwriter’s Laboratory, UL, can certify products that can be used safely in these hazardous areas.  EXAIR received our UL Classification for our new product line; the HazLoc Cabinet Cooler Systems.  Under certain guidelines, the HazLoc Cabinet Coolers can be used in Class I for gases and vapors, Class II for flammable dust, and Class III for ignitable fibers and flyings.  In this blog, I will be discussing the Class III classified area.

For a fire or an explosion to occur, we need three things as described in the fire triangle; oxygen, fuel, and an ignition source.  For Class III areas, that fuel is a build-up of material like fabric lint and fine wood shavings.  These small fibers can float and collect on equipment in the surrounding areas.  This collection of material can easily ignite and cause a fire from a spark or a heat source, like kindling.  These fibrous materials and flyings are not explosive, but as a collection, they are a fire hazard; the reason for the Class III designation.  This newest hazardous classification is generally located within the textile and woodworking industries.

The ignition source (the second leg of the fire triangle) is generally from electrical equipment, heat, and static.  Arcs and sparks from motors, contactors, and switches can easily ignite Class III materials; as well as high temperatures from equipment.  NEC and UL segregate this hazardous location into two divisions.  Class III Division 1 is in an area where fibers/flyings are handled, manufactured, or used.  Class III Division 2 is where the fibers/flyings are stored or handled other than in the process of manufacturing.  In both divisions, it is important to protect your electrical systems from these small fibers floating in the surrounding air.

EXAIR's Hazardous Location Cabinet Cooler

The EXAIR HazLoc Cabinet Cooler Systems are designed to keep your electrical panels cool within hazardous areas like Class III because system shutdowns from electrical overheating are costly and potentially dangerous.  If you would like to discuss the details about the EXAIR HazLoc Cabinet Coolers, an Application Engineer at EXAIR will be happy to help you.

 

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