Author: Kirk Edwards

Director of Sales & Marketing at EXAIR Corporation.

Without Problems, What Would You Do With Yourself?

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One of my Dad’s outlooks on life goes like this; life is nothing more than a series of problems. If he did not have something to fix, negotiate, extinguish or solve he wouldn’t have much to do. The interesting part about his perspective is that problems are not a nuisance to him; they are simply part of the plan. He has relayed this message to me over the years in hopes of helping me react well to adversity; but sometimes it is hard to find a solution before the next problem arises. So when do you find the time to be proactive? 

For instance last week upon arriving home – I mean only moments after pulling in the driveway, my 6-year-old son wipes out while ramping his bike. Here is the result…

         

A badly smashed finger. OUCH! That was about a week ago, that fingernail is getting darker by the day and well on its way to falling off.

So what’s the problem? Sooth the boy and then the finger, check the ramp for integrity, check the bike for damage, find the damage and straighten the seat. Problem solved. 

Dad’s theory says if you don’t have an emergency or fire to put out, go work on the next problem (“The List”). So I took some time to check some other springtime equipment. I looked at the other kids’ bikes just in case. Then moved on to make sure swing set bolts are tight,  checked the trampoline springs (which really just means a good excuse for me to jump on it) and other springtime maintenance.

This, I know, is mirrored by our work lives as well. One fire after another must be put out. The normal workload piles up along the way. Many companies working with fewer people due to the economy. The projects on “The List” we get to in between putting out fires – or at least we should. In our work lives those emergencies bring to light other situations which also need attention. It takes focus and perspective not to get overwhelmed with putting out fires, but instead take advantage of time to fix other things on “The List” which also need attention.

We talk to customers on a daily basis who have an item on their list which says – Reduce Compressed Air Consumption. It is an item that falls down the priority list as the emergencies come up, as the product continues to roll out the door and as we get busier. Many times it is a large system approach to reduce compressed air consumption and that can be overwhelming.

Our EXAIR Efficiency Lab can help you in between putting out fires. We can tackle one little blow off area at a time and provide air savings feedback, including ROI for each little compressed air application. We can solve one of the problems on “your list” while you are called away for a different problem. The Lab’s Product Efficiency Survey is a tool used to provide EXAIR the information about your compressed air application, we can take it from there. The information we provide along the way can be tallied each time we optimize a small area of your system.

This tool will help you be proactive between putting out fires. It is after all, just another problem to get taken care of; And if you didn’t have any problems to solve what would you be doing anyway?

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

Calculate the Value of Your Compressed Air Savings

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Most everybody wants to know how much compressed air they can save when they use EXAIR products and how much money that air savings will equal. I will explain how to calculate air savings and dollars saved, hopefully with better results than this…

The basic formula for savings per hour is this:
 [ X – Y] x Comp$ x T = Saved Air Value
     With:
      X – Existing Air Consumption
      Y – EXAIR Product Consumption
Comp$ – Cost of Compressed Air per 1000 Standard Cubic Feet (SCF)
T – Time Frame of 60 Minutes
Saved Air – Air Savings in Dollars per Hour

To determine your existing air consumption you should
1. Measure your compressed air flow with a flow meter on the specific supply leg of your system.
2. Provide details about your compressed air system using the EXAIR Efficiency Lab and we will        measure or estimate your current consumption.

To determine the consumption of the EXAIR product(s), use the air consumption information provided in our catalog or website. If you would like assistance determining air consumption at a pressure other than 80 PSIG (standard pressure in the catalog or web), please contact us.

If you don’t know your actual cost of compressed air per 1000 Standard Cubic Feet (SCF), a reasonable average to use is $0.25 per 1000 SCF.

EXAMPLE: Drilled Pipe vs. Super Air Knife @ 80 PSIG
[ X – Y] x Comp$ x T = Saved Air Value

18″ drilled pipe w/ 1/16″ holes every 1/2″ (37 holes) = 140.6 SCFM (standard cubic feet per minute)
18″ Super Air Knife = 52 SCFM

[140.6 – 52.2] x [0.25/1000] x 60
88.4 x .00025 x 60
.022 x 60
= $1.33 saved per hour

Once you have the value of saved air per hour ($1.33 in this example) you can determine dollars saved per week and year depending on your schedule.
40 hour work week = $53.20 saved per week
52 weeks per year = $2766.40 saved per year 

Not bad results for a $300.00 investment! You can see additional details about this example HERE. And for an automatic calculator which shows dollar savings and return on investment calculations CLICK HERE.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   


  

 

 

EXAIR Super Air Knife Prevents Rejects and Press Damage.

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We have a customer who produces automotive stampings and assemblies. Within their process they have a welding cell which places a weld nut on to the stamping.

Within the cell an M6 nut is placed on the stamping and held in place with a magnet. An automated vision inspection is done to determine if the nut has been placed on the stamping. If all things are OK, the nut is welded to the stamping and it moves into a punch press for further modification.

If the vision inspection does not see the nut, another one is placed on to the stamping. The problem is the magnet is strong enough to hold a misplaced nut as well and when another nut is placed on to the stamping there is the potential for the misplaced nut to still be on the stamping. A misplaced nut moving into the next step of the punch process will damage the punch and the product.

EXAIR supplied a 6″ Super Air Knife to provide a blast of air over a wide area after the weld process and the magnet has been removed. This 6″ wide area blast of air makes sure that the entire area a misplaced nut could be is blown clear, removing any chance that a nut will damage the punch or the product.

This is a case where a simple, low-cost solution prevents a complicated and expensive problem.  

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com

Meet or Exceed OSHA Requirements

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EXAIR pays very close attention to providing safe products for the operators of our products. We pay particular attention to a couple of OSHA’s standards; CFR 1910.242 (b) and 29 CFR 1910.95 (a).

OSHA Standard CFR 1910.242(b) deals with compressed air for cleaning and states the following; Compressed air shall not be used for cleaning purposes except where reduced to less than 30 p.s.i. and then only with effective chip guarding and personal protective equipment.

More specifically to the standard OSHA states ” The only restriction on air pressure is that, on dead-ending the exit orifice, the static pressure shall be less than 30 PSI.” That is where EXAIR comes in, we have engineered all of our blow off products so that there an alternate route for any air flow which may be blocked to go. There is an alternative pathway for the air to flow through if it is somehow blocked, thus no possibility for dead ending.

This design meets the OSHA standard and also allows operators to maintain full pressure through a manifold, air line or air gun which produces the highest velocity to do better work when compared to a regulated air gun or a lower pressure. Of course we always recommend proper eye protection and safety gear when there is potential for chips and debris to fly around an operator.

With the exception of our largest Super Air Nozzles – All of our products fall well below any decibel threshold which would require hearing protection. In fact we manufacture some of the quietest compressed air products in the world. The chart found at this link shows maximum allowable noise exposure according to OSHA 29 CFR- 1910.95 (a).

You will see EXAIR publishes noise levels for any product blowing directly into a work environment. These noise levels are all measured 3 feet away from the product orifice at a 90 degree angle to the orifice in our testing facility, ensuring true and accurate information. And we also note any product which exceeds this OSHA standard and state the exposure time allowed to their sound level. And again we recommend hearing protection when necessary.

EXAIR products can help you meet or exceed these OSHA requirements. Let us help you before OSHA gets to you.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com