Category: Air Amplifier

History of Machining Technology

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At the time of the industrial revolution, Europeans and Americans approached machine tool design differently. In England,  there was no shortage of skilled labor. Rather than replacing workers, their machines made work more precise. Machines served to make talented artisans better. Meanwhile, in sparsely populated America, the needs of a new nation required rapid and simple means of production. In America, machines served to produce more with less labor.

antique

Next to Cincinnati, the largest concentration of machine tool builders was Milwaukee. Cincinnati was the birthplace for names like LeBlond, American Tool Works, Lodge & Shipley, and Cincinnati Milling Machine. Cincinnati is also the birthplace of EXAIR Corporation, an industry leader in Intelligent Compressed Air Products ® .

With its humble beginnings downtown on Findley Street producing air nozzles, EXAIR’s product line has since expanded into air knives, air amplifiers, vortex cooling, vacuum generators, atomizing spray nozzles, and static eliminators.

EXAIR has received many prestigious awards for product innovation. We are proud of our heritage, our community, and our employees who make it all happen.

We would welcome the opportunity to help you with your compressed air applications. We genuinely appreciate the opportunity! We can be reached at 1-800-903-9247 or click on the live chat icon in the upper left hand corner.

Joe Panfalone

Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax (513) 671-3363
Web: http://www.exair.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

If You Can’t Stand The Heat…We Can!

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

We field an awful lot of calls from customers who are seeking to cool something down. Some need to get a freshly heat treated, red-hot metal object down to a temperature where they can handle it safely. Others need to cool something to below room temperature, perhaps to solidify a coating that was applied at an elevated temperature. Sometimes, it’s an electrical enclosure that houses sensitive components that need to be protected from high heat.

Oftentimes, the environment is at ambient temperature, and the application can be solved by using our cost effective and efficient aluminum-constructed products. Other times, they’re going into aggressive surroundings, with an elevated temperature. For those situations, many of our products are available with higher temperature limits:

*Aluminum Super Air Knives (with polyester shims) can withstand temperatures up to 180°F (82°C). If that’s not good enough, they’re available, in all sizes, in stainless steel (including the shims), which makes them good up to 800°F (427°C).

*Standard Air Wipes, made of aluminum w/polyester shims, are likewise good to 180°F (82°C). The Super Air Wipes (which use SS shims) are good to 400°F (204°C) in aluminum, and 800°F (427°C) in stainless steel.

*Super Air Amplifiers, and aluminum Adjustable Air Amplifiers, are rated to 275°F (135°C). Stainless Steel Adjustable Air Amplifiers can operate in areas up to 400°F (204°C), and we even offer a 1-1/4” High Temperature Air Amplifier that’s good up to 700°F (374°C).

*Super Air Nozzles are available in Zinc Aluminum Alloy – good to 250°F (121°C), PEEK plastic – good to 320°F (160°C), and 316SS – good to 800°F (427°C).

*While the aluminum and stainless steel Line Vacs have comparable limits to our other products – 275°F (135°C) and 400°F (204°C) respectively, the High Temperature Line Vacs boast the highest temperature limits of any of our products…good to 900°F (482°C).

*Cabinet Coolers are sometimes necessary because of high internal heat loads (for example, an enclosure housing a variable frequency drive), but oftentimes, they’re needed because of the external heat load. We have High Temperature Cabinet Cooler Systems for areas with ambient temperatures above 125°F (52°C), up to 200°F (93°C) for use in boiler rooms, near furnaces/ovens, etc.

Regardless of how hot it gets, odds are, we have a product that will work for you. If you have questions about how EXAIR can solve your compressed air application – hot or not – give us a call!

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
Web: http://www.exair.com
Blog: http://blog.exair.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/exair_rb
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

History of Compressed Air

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The first use of compressed air did not come from compressors but the human lung. Healthy lungs can exert a pressure of .3 to 1.2 psi. Primitive people used the power of their lungs to propel darts from a blow gun. We use our lungs to blow off debris, stoke a fire, create sounds by voice and by musical instruments.

Around the third millennium B.C. , people began to melt metals such as gold, copper, tin and lead. Higher temperatures were needed requiring large volumes of air to stoke the furnaces: more than what the human lung could provide. Egyptian and Sumerian metallurgists used the wind directed through pipes for their work. Eventually tbellowhese were replaced by hand-operated bellows and then around 1500 B.C. the more efficient foot bellows came into use.

Bellows driven by foot or by water wheel proved a reliable compressor for more than 2,000 years. But as blast furnaces developed, so did the need for increased air compression. In 1762, John Smeaton built a water wheel-driven blowing cylinder that began to replace the bellows. Inventor John Wilkinson introduced an efficient blasting machine in England in 1776 and age of pneumatic energy became universally embraced.

Thus far, air compression was used mostly for the mining and the fabrication of metals. Blowing machines supplied a combustion blast to metallurgic furnaces and ventilation to underground mines. The idea of using compressed air to transmit energy became popular about 1800 when the newly invented pneumatic rock drill was used to connect Italy and France with an 8-mile rail tunnel under Mt. Cenis. This was a super feat for its time and garnered international interest spawning a flurry of inventions from air operated motors to clocks to beer dispensers.

Many engineers theorized compressed air as the energy distribution system of the future. However, electricity advocates held strong to their belief that pneumatic plants would eventually be trumped by electricity. Neither side was truly right and the debate still festers today. Much emphasis is being placed on energy conservation and the use of compressed air. The argument holds true today as it did back then, compressed air is a viable sources of transferring energy and will not go away. It’s prudent use of compressed air, as with any energy source, that is paramount.

Engine block blow off

The use of drilled or open pipe is energy wasteful. For 30 years EXAIR has been helping conserve compressed air with their engineered nozzles. These are designed to provide greater volumes of air than the volume of compressed air used which is a green alternative to drying, cooling, and blow off applications.

If you are interested in conserving your compressed air, one of our application engineers would be happy to assist you. Feel welcomed to give them a call at 1-800-903-9247 or click the chat icon in the upper left hand corner of this page.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax (513) 671-3363
Web: http://www.exair.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

HOT!

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

HOT!

I had the opportunity this week to help determine the best products to cool a conveyor in dire need of lower temperatures.  Not quite as hot and large as the image above, but similar.  Originally Kirk Edwards provided guidance to the end user and recommended Super Air Knives to bring the conveyor temperature within range.  They worked wonderfully.

Now, there was a second point on the conveyor line which was determined to also need cooling.  After discussing the potential to use a series of Super Air Amplifiers, the end user decided to stick with the Super Air Knife setup known to work well – a decision which I fully supported.

I’ve also had the opportunity to entertain and train our Thai distributor this week.  Neal Raker and I brought Vichai Srimongkolkul of OilPure Technologies up to speed on our new products and have excellent in depth application discussions.

For our international users we offer the same support and technical guidance as an end user in the United States, as well as local support through our network of competent distributors.  If you are one of our many blog readers located outside of the US and need application assistance, never hesitate to send an email or call us directly.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE