Month: January 2020

Max Refrigeration vs. Max Cold Temp Vortex Tubes

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Here at EXAIR, our vortex tubes are offered in two separate series. The reason for this is to optimize the performance of the cold air temperature drop when operating with opposite ends of the cold fraction chart. The maximum refrigeration vortex tubes, 32xx series, perform optimally when they are set to a greater than 50% cold fraction.  The maximum cold temp vortex tubes, 34xx series, perform optimally when they are set to a less than or equal to 50% cold fraction. The cold fraction is discussed more in-depth within this link from Russ Bowman, Vortex Tube Cold Fractions Explained. This blog is going to explain a little further why one series of vortex tubes would be chosen for an application over another.

Cold Fraction
EXAIR Vortex Tube Performance Chart

Maximum refrigeration (32xx) vortex tubes are the most commonly discussed of the two types when discussing the optimal selection of the vortex tube for an application. The 32xx series vortex tubes achieve a maximum refrigeration output when operated at 100 psig inlet pressure with around  80% cold fraction. This would give a temperature drop from incoming compressed air temperature of 54°F (30°C). The volumetric flow rate of cold air will be 80% of the input flow which means only 20% is being exhausted as warm exhaust air. By keeping the flow rate higher the air is able to cool a higher heat load and is the reason the vortex tube is given a BTU/hr cooling capacity.

Vortex Tube Hot Valve Adjustment

Maximum cold temperature (34xx) tubes are less common as their applications are a little more niche and require a very pinpoint application. Rather than changing the temperature inside of a cooling tunnel or cooling an ultrasonic welding horn, the max cold temp vortex tube is going to have a minimum cold flow rate, less than 50% of input volumetric flow.  This minimal flow will be at temperature drops up to 129°F (71.1°C) from the incoming compressed air temperature.  This air is very cold and at a low flow. A 20% cold fraction exhausts 80% of the input volume as hot air. This type of volume would be ideal for sensor cooling, pinpoint cooling of a slow-moving operation, or thermal testing of small parts.

In the end, EXAIR vortex tubes perform their task of providing cold or hot air without using any refrigerants or moving parts. To learn more about how they work, check out this blog from Russ Bowman. If you want to see how to change the cold fraction, check out the video below. If you would like to discuss anything compressed air related, contact an application engineer, we are always here to help.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

The Impact of Cold Temperatures and Lower Humidity on Static Electricity

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

This time of the year it is not uncommon to feel a slight shock after walking across a carpeted surface and touching a door knob. This little “jolt” is a result of fast-moving electrons leaping from your body to the door knob, or vice versa. As your feet shuffle across the surface of a rug or carpet, your body will either gain or lose electrons. Touching a conductive surface then causes these electrons to leap from one place to another. This is known as static electricity.

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If you notice, this happens to occur much more often during colder winter months (if you’re one of those fortunate people to live outside of this sensation we call “cold” please don’t rub it in!). The reason that you experience static shocks more frequently during winter is due to the relative humidity. At colder temperatures, air does not hold as much moisture as it does when it’s warm and moisture helps to conduct electrical charges. Even though you’re heating your house to a similar temperature, the air that is being drawn into your home and heated is still the dry cold air containing less moisture.

The amount of moisture in the air is expressed as relative humidity. This value is given as a percentage of water vapor in the air, compared to how much it could hold at that temperature. In conditions of lower relative humidity, static charges build up much easier. When the relative humidity is high, there’s a higher concentration of water molecules present in the air. These water molecules “coat” the surface of the material, allowing electrons to move more freely and form a layer over the material. This layer of water molecules acts like a lubricant, reducing the forces that cause static to generate. This is why static is much more noticeable during the winter months.

Gen4 Static
Gen4 Static Eliminators

There are many applications that static only appears when the seasonal climate changes. Issues can manifest in the form of nuisance shocks to operators, materials jamming, tearing or curling, product sticking to itself and to rollers, dust clinging to product, and many more. If static is causing problems in your processes, we have a wide variety of Static Eliminators available from stock. Don’t just deal with the problems until humid conditions return, get a permanent solution in place that’ll neutralize the static and eliminate a troublesome application. Contact an EXAIR Application Engineer today and we’ll help to diagnose the root cause of the problem and recommend the best solution.

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

 

Photo courtesy of Ken Bosma via Flickr Creative Commons License

Video Blog: Compressed Air Sensor/Solenoid Control for Maximum Efficiency

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

The Electronic Flow Control, or EFC, is an EXAIR Optimization product to reduce air consumption in your facility.  Saving this electricity that is used to make compressed air will save you money and will help you to “Go Green”.  The EFC has 8 different modes that uses a timing sequence with a Photoelectric Sensor to turn on/off a solenoid valve.  In this video, I will go through each mode to demonstrate how the Electronic Flow Control will perform.

John Ball
Application Engineer

Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Adjustable Spot Cooler Removes Tackiness from Plastic Tubes

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
Black PVC Tube

A manufacturing plant contacted EXAIR to help them with a “sticky” situation.  This company extruded PVC tubes that would be used as fuel lines on small engines.  Plasticizers are typically used to add flexibility to plastic materials.  For the PVC material above, a plasticizer was added to make it softer and more elastic.  The issue that they saw was the outer surface of the tubes were tacky from the plasticizer and heat which made it difficult to handle in packaging the tubes.

This company extruded many different diameters, but they wanted to target their most difficult size, the smallest tube.  The dimensions were given as 0.187″ (4.7mm) O.D. by .0934″ (2.4mm) I.D., and the feed rate was close to 4 feet/min (1.2 meter/min).  The problem area that they explained was at the end of the production line where the extruded tubes were cut by a blade cutter into 12” (305mm) lengths.  The tubes would then fall into a collection bin for batch processing.  Since the collection bin was setup at a slight upward angle, they wanted the tubes to gather toward one end of the bin.  Since the tubes were still hot and sticking to each other, the operators had to individually handle each tube which was counterproductive and time-consuming.  After our discussions, I suggested that cold air could harden the PVC tube enough by removing heat and help to “set”  the platicizer.  Since they manufactured different sizes and feed rates, we needed to have adjustability as well in our cold air device.

How the Adjustable Spot Cooler Works

One of our most versatile spot cooling instruments is the EXAIR Adjustable Spot Cooler.  This system uses the Vortex Tube technology to convert compressed air into a cold air stream without any moving parts, refrigerants, or motors.  The Adjustable Spot Cooler is a low-cost, reliable, maintenance-free way to give spot cooling for a myriad of industrial applications.  For this customer, this product gave them the versatility that they were needing.

EXAIR stocks these units with either a single or dual point hose kit, a magnetic base, a filter separator, and two additional generators.  The control valve at the end of the unit adjusts the output temperature down to -30 oF (-34 oC) with a turn of a knob.  The generators are specifically engineered to control the amount of compressed air that is used.  Both types of controls will allow this customer to “dial in” the correct cooling capacity for the operation.  The filter separator included with the system will clean the compressed air to keep the unit and the product free of dirt and debris.  The magnetic base which this customer really liked makes the Adjustable Spot Cooler portable for use in different areas.

3925 Adjustable Spot Cooler

I recommended the model 3925 Adjustable Spot Cooler because it had the dual point hose kit to blow cold air on both sides of the tubes.  Since this company had different tube diameters and thicknesses, adjustability was very critical.  If the tubes got too cold, cracks could occur from the blade cutting machine; and, if the tubes were too warm, the tackiness on the surface of the tube would remain.   Once they installed the Adjustable Spot Cooler, this company was able to increase their packaging line for the different size PVC tubes.  Now the operators could reach into the collection bin and grab many aligned tubes instead of individually separating and sorting.

If you have a “sticky” situation, the EXAIR Adjustable Spot Cooler may be a product for you.  The company above was able to have their tubes slide together in the collection bin.  Many applications could be improved by adding cold air.  And, if you have a similar situation, an Application Engineer at EXAIR will be happy to discuss a solution.

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

 

Photo: Black tube by NIMR London.  CC License 2.0