Category: Air Wipe

How To Determine Which EXAIR Product Is Right For You

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment
Expert Testing, Professional Results
Expert Testing, Professional Results

Those of you who are frequent readers of the EXAIR blog (we appreciate your loyalty and fine taste, by the way) probably know a little something about our Efficiency Lab. This is where, upon request, we will perform a controlled test of a compressed air product that you’re currently using, and provide a comprehensive report, comparing it to a suitable EXAIR Engineered Compressed Air Product.

It’s a service that we provide at no charge, and to “sweeten the pot,” our goal is a 24-hour turnaround on the testing, from the time we receive your product.

For some folks, however, seeing is believing…and sometimes, critical elements of a particular application just can’t be duplicated in our facility, so a “real world” trial becomes the only way to find out for sure. That’s where our 30 Day Unconditional Guarantee comes in. If you’ll commit the time to give us a try, we’ll commit to allowing you to do, risk free.

Give any EXAIR catalog product a 30 day trial, risk free.
Give any EXAIR catalog product a 30 day trial, risk free.

This was exactly the case with a manufacturer of cable cleaning equipment, who sought an efficient, quiet compressed air solution to dry the cable upon exiting their machinery. Some of the cables that these machines service are very small in diameter, so they wanted to evaluated both an Air Wipe, and an Air Amplifier.  Both had theoretical advantages:

Air Wipes come in sizes from 1/2" to 11".Air Wipes come in sizes from 1/2″ to 11″. The Air Wipe’s 360° converging flow provides for positive contact with the material, which uniformly wipes the entire surface with high velocity air. Its split clamshell design also eliminates the need to thread the material through it.

Air Amplifiers entrain enormous amounts of "free" air, at ratios of up to 25:1!
Air Amplifiers entrain enormous amounts of “free” air, at ratios of up to 25:1!

The Air Amplifier’s compressed air consumption is lower, its operation is quieter, and it’s less expensive.

After trialing both a Model 2430 ½” Aluminum Standard Air Wipe and a Model 120020 ¾” Super Air Amplifier, the Air Amplifier proved itself out, and became their standard offering on this machine.

For 31 years now, EXAIR Corporation has established and maintained a formidable reputation for being easy to do business with. In Application Engineering, we support this by committing to making sure you get the most out of our products. If you have an application, or an idea, you’d like to discuss, give us a call. We can’t wait to find out how we can help.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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There’s More Than 1 Way To Blow Some Air

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Just today I spoke with a customer who is threading the ends of pipes and needs to blow the coolant and chips out of the threads.   The pipes range from 4″ to 9 – 5/8″ Diameters.  They are all threaded then fed into a trough and pushed down line to the next operation.

PEO ACWA
A machine with an out-feed roller conveyor similar to the pipe threading machine mentioned.

The photo above is not the exact machine but you can see where if this was used to process piping the different diameter pipes would all sit at the same level.  One option could be to use a Super Air Wipe  for this application but then the smaller diameters would not pass through the center of the Air Wipe, instead they would pass through the bottom half of the airflow which may not give optimal performance. Instead, I suggested to use 4 of our 6″ Super Air Knife kits and 2 of our Electronic Flow Control units.

 

2 - 110006 - 6" Aluminum Super Air Knives coupled together w/ a 110900 SAK Connector Kit
2 – 110006 – 6″ Aluminum Super Air Knives coupled together w/ a 110900 SAK Connector Kit

I  suggested that we make two pairs of knives for this blowoff setup by coupling two of the 6″ Super Air Knives together.  Once they are coupled together like is shown above, we could mount the two coupled air knives vertically along the trough and blowing at a 45° angle toward the center of the conveyor.  The plumbing of the two bottom knives will be to one EFC while the top two knives will be plumbed to the other.    The sensors will then be set up at two different heights, lower knives to sense the bottom of the pipe and the upper knife sensor will be set just above the bottom 6″ knife.

The reason for using 4 – 6″ Super Air Knives and 2 EFCs instead of 2 – 12″ Super Air Knives and 1 EFC is to save the most compressed air possible.   By enabling them to turn the top two 6″ Super Air Knives off automatically when they are running below a 6″ diameter pipe.  Then when a larger pipe is processed the top knives will also kick on with the lower knives and provide a uniform blowoff of the product.

So if you have multiple sizes of product being processed on the same line and don’t think any one solution will work, contact us and see if we can’t come up with our own recipe.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

Machine image courtesy PEO ACWA Creative Commons

 

Force And Flow…Which One Is The Right Tool For The Job?

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

If you’re even a casual, occasional reader of the EXAIR Blog, you know we write an awful lot about efficiency…namely, the ability of engineered products to conserve compressed air, while optimizing its effectiveness. Oftentimes, these blogs are inspired by a conversation we’ve had with a user of simple and inexpensive (but wasteful and unsafe) blow off devices, such as open-end tubing, or drilled pipes. The first thing the caller wants to talk about is the force produced by one of our products…will it be the same as what’s being currently used?

The quick answer is no. In fact, if you’re looking for maximum force, there’s no better way to get it than simply blowing compressed air out the end of an open pipe. This has to do with nothing more complicated that grade school science – converting the potential energy (due to the compression of the air) to kinetic energy (what happens when it’s put into motion.) See, with an open-end blow off, almost all of the potential energy is converted to force. Plain old brute force. And it works GREAT for blowing stuff around…the larger the opening, and the higher the supply pressure; the more air will flow, and faster. Thing is, to produce a good blow off, you don’t need maximum force.

EXAIR’s Intelligent Compressed Air Products are engineered to use some of that potential energy of the compressed air to entrain large amounts of “free” air from the surrounding environment. That’s the purpose of the jets recessed between the fins of our Super Air Nozzles, and the Coanda profile of our Air Knives, Air Wipes, & Air Amplifiers.

EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products such as (left to right) the Air Wipe, Super Air Knife, Super Air Nozzle, and Air Amplifier are engineered to entrain enormous amounts of air from the surrounding environment.
EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products such as (left to right) the Air Wipe, Super Air Knife, Super Air Nozzle, and Air Amplifier are engineered to entrain enormous amounts of air from the surrounding environment.

These designs reduce the amount of compressed air that is used, which reduces the load on your air compressor, which makes everyone happy (OK, maybe not that happy, but pretty happy still.) They also mean that your blow offs will be quieter, and safer.

Perhaps your application calls for higher force. If that’s the case, EXAIR’s Air Knives, Air Amplifiers, and Air Wipes can be fitted with thicker shims for additional flow and force. So can our Flat Super Air Nozzles. And our largest High Force Super Air Nozzles are capable of generating up to 23lbs (10.4KG) of force.

Perhaps, though, your application calls for the highest force that can only be achieved with an open-end blow off. If that’s the case, you can still meet OSHA compliance through the use of extra protective equipment, pressure relief valves, guarding devices, etc. But the costs of those measures can make the cost of engineered products pale in comparison, so I highly recommend you make sure of what you need.

If we can be of any assistance with that, give us a call.  We can discuss your application, and get you the right tool for the job.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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Video Blog: What Can Air Wipes Do For You

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

Below is a short video showing the cleaning power of a Standard Air Wipe. EXAIR has a variety of sizes from 1/2″ to 11″, and the air wipes are available in aluminum or stainless steel. Air Wipes are often used in the manufacturing processes for pipe, tubes, extruded profiles, wire and cable.

For help with your Air Wipe application, please do not hesitate to contact an application engineer at 1-800-903-9247.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
Davewoerner@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_DW