Author: Dave Woerner

I'm an Application Engineer with EXAIR. We manufacture compressed air-operated products to solve problems for industrial plants. Our product line includes Vortex Tube, Air Amplifiers, Air Knives, air-operated vacuums, ionizing products for static elimination, and liquid atomizing nozzles for product cooling, coating, cleaning and painting. EXAIR is an American-owned company located in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Intelligent Compressed Air Products: Pulling In Free Air

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Home of Intelligent Compressed Air Products
EXAIR is the home of Intelligent Compressed Air Products.

What is an Intelligent Compressed Air product? What makes it intelligent? Compressed air is typically a manufacturing facility’s most expensive utility. A standard cost is $0.25 per 1,000 Standard Cubic Feet (SCF) produced. Any pipe, manifold, or fitting can be modified to blow compressed air, but these homemade blow offs will be very noisy, waste a tremendous amount of compressed air and create an OSHA violation. In contrast EXAIR’s intelligent compressed air are engineered solution are quiet, use a minimal amount of compressed air and comply with OSHA safety standards.

Let’s take EXAIR Model 1100 Super Air Nozzle as an example. Connecting it to a 1/4 NPT fitting, will produce 13 ounces of force on a target when mounted twelve inches away, and use 14 SCFM of compressed air. To produce so much force using that little air, the Super Air Nozzle must be precisely designed and manufactured to maximize the entrainment of ambient air.

With the air nozzle we use compressed air to induce a primary air flow. This primary air flow is a high velocity jet of air that create low pressure area around the primary airflow entraining the ambient or free air. These air streams combine past the tip of the nozzle creating a powerful blast of air. The Super Air Nozzle can entrain air up to a ratio of 25 parts of ambient air moved for every 1 part of compressed air.  All of our Super Air Nozzle create this level of air entrainment.

AirflowAnimation
EXAIR Super Air Nozzle entrains ambient air up to a 25:1 ratio

In addition to entraining a significant amount of air, the Super Air Nozzle also reduces the noise level. Most homemade nozzles are not well constructed so, the hole(s) that allow the air to escape may have sharp jagged edge which will induce noise or turbulence. Even commercial nozzles with cross drill holes create a tremendous amount of wind shear which leads to an ear splitting compressed air squeal. The smooth design of the Super Air Nozzle creates a laminar flow of air that reduces the noise of the nozzle to 74 dBA. For reference a 1/4″ open tube can easily create noise levels over 100 dBA. Using a compressed air nozzle, can greatly reduce the amount of noise in and around your shop.

Finally, EXAIR Super Air Nozzle complies with OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.242, which requires that all nozzles that use compressed air over 30 PSIG must provide a point of relief in case the nozzle is dead ended. EXAIR Super Air Nozzle uses multiple orifices that are recessed, so that the air always has a path of escape. Many homemade nozzles do not have any provision to protect from dead ending, which means they do not comply with the OSHA standard.

EXAIR Super Air Nozzles are an important upgrade from a homemade nozzle and many times an upgrade for a commercial nozzle, because they entrain ambient air, reduce noise level, and comply with OSHA regulation.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
@EXAIR_DW
DaveWoerner@EXAIR.com

EXAIR Webinar: Simple Steps for Big Savings

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EXAIRvOpenpipe_200psqRed
EXAIR Super Air Nozzle Versus and Open Blow off

EXAIR will present a free webinar hosted by Design World September 15th, 2015 at 2 pm EDT ( UTC/GMT -4 hours). I will be presenting the webinar about Intelligent Compressed Air Products. What do we mean by Intelligent Products? We are referencing nozzles that are quiet, safe, and efficient. They are engineered and manufactured to improve efficiency and limit compressed air use by entraining ambient air. The smooth lines of these nozzles produce laminar flow that reduces wind shear creating a powerful quiet blow off.

The focus of the webinar will be to quantify the cost of homemade blow offs and the return on investment of upgrading these simple installations to an engineered solution. We will base our calculations on a 20 HP Air Compressor, an 1100 Super Air Nozzle, a 1/4 Open Copper tube, and $0.08 per kWH electricity cost.

In addition to the cost of compressed air, we will cover two safety issues. First, we will cover dead end pressure. OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.242(b) limits the dead end pressure to less than 30 PSIG. We will talk about what type of nozzles do not comply with this regulation, and how engineered nozzles are designed to meet this requirement. Second, we will talk about the noise exposure standard and the effects noise will have on your facility.

The main focus of the presentation will be cost of compressed air blow offs, noise, and important OSHA standards for compressed air. We will also touch on a variety of other compressed air topics. The presentation will be sponsored by EXAIR with 31 years of end-use compressed air product manufacturing and application experience.

CLICK TO REGISTER HERE

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
@EXAIR_DW
DaveWoerner@EXAIR.com

Formula 1 Racing Is Hot Work. Drivers Need To Keep Their Cool

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On July 25th, EXAIR products received some attention from Formula 1 fans. During the qualifying runs for the Hungarian Grand Prix, EXAIR Adjustable Air Amplifiers were used by at least two different drivers to cool down during adjustments in the pits. We first saw Kimi Räikkönen aka The Ice Man cooling off with an Adjustable Air Amplifier.

Ferrari
Photo Courtesy of Jonathon Farmer @jonathanF420 and @F1onNBC

We also receive a photo of Fernando Alonso using an air amplifier in the same application.

Fernando Alonso
Photo Courtesy of Lee Monahan and @F1onNBC

EXAIR’s Air Amplifiers use a small amount of compressed air to produce air flows amplified 24 times the compressed air flow used.  This can create flows that reveal Formula 1 cars in speed (up to 250 MPH). Force and flow for the Adjustable Air Amplifier is changed by turning the exhaust end (with knurled lockring loose) to open or close the continuous air gap. When the air amplifier meets the flow required for your application, the knurled locking ring may be tightened to lock the flow.

We have supplied products to a number of racing teams throughout the world over the years, but we did not know exactly how they were being used. To see these two great drivers using our product one is led to believe we may be the industry standard in yet another field. For those that may not know Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One Championship with Ferrari. Alonso has won the championship twice(2005, 2006). It is reasonable to inquire, how many others in the field are using EXAIR’s Air Amplifiers as well?

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
@EXAIR_DW
DaveWoerner@EXAIR.com

EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems Stabilize Relative Humidity

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EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems are able to cool your electrical panels using only clean, dry compressed air. Other systems such as cooling fans or heat exchangers use ambient air full of dust and humidity. The temperature of ambient air also fluctuates with the seasons and will be very warm in the summer months, which degrades their ability to cool as the temperature rises. One of the myths about compressed air cooling is that humidity from the compressed air source will enter the cabinet. A water/dirt filter separator will prevent condensate from entering the cabinet and since relative humidity is carried away with the hot air exhaust, relative humidity will stabilize to 45%. This video shows how quickly EXAIR’s Cabinet Cooler Systems will have an effect on relative humidity.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
@EXAIR_DW
DaveWoerner@EXAIR.com