Category: Atomizing Nozzles

Using the EXAIR EFC

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

We like to tout the benefits of our intelligent and efficient compressed air products. For example, our Super Air Knife entrains ambient air at a ratio of 40:1, so for a moderate amount of compressed air, you will get large volumes of air blowing against your part. But another way you can be efficient is by turning your compressed air off – or at least only turning it on when you need it. For example, if you are drying parts moving along a conveyor, turning the air off in between parts will save even more compressed air. You only need to use the air when it is necessary. This is where EXAIR’s Electronic Flow Controller, or EFC, comes in.

Our EFC is great for automating processes involving compressed air use, by turning the air flow off when it’s not needed.  In fact, not only does it provide simple on/off control to blow only when a part is “seen” by the photoelectric sensor, there are eight distinct modes to incorporate delay on or off, flicker on or off, signal on/off delay, interval, or “One-Shot,” where the sensor detects the part, delays opening the valve per the timer setting, and blows for one second. The different modes are demonstrated in this video:

We include the EFC with our Deluxe Super Air Knife Kits for the obvious synergy with the Super Air Knives’ typical applications of cooling, drying and cleaning. However, there are many other EXAIR products and applications that could benefit from the functionality of the photoelectric sensor. Take our Line Vacs, for example. If a hopper is being filled with product that is being conveyed by the Line Vac, you can use the sensor on the EFC to turn off the Line Vac. Alternatively, you could use the sensor to detect when the hopper is almost empty and turn the Line Vac on.

We have had customers use our EFC to control the flow from our Atomizing Spray Nozzles. When the sensor detects the parts being coated, the EFC turns on the compressed air supply, allowing the Air Atomizing Spray Nozzle to apply a coating. Once the part has been coated, the EFC shuts off the air supply, not only saving on compressed air, but also the liquid used to coat its parts.

Our Electronic Flow Controls can accommodate flows up to 350scfm, so they can be used in a wide variety of applications. In fact, the more air volume you control with one of these, the faster you can amass savings and the faster your return on investment! If you would like to discuss how an EFC could save you money, give me a call!

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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From Damp To Soaked, Wide to Skinny, We Can Cover It

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Here at EXAIR our roots are planted firmly in efficient use of compressed air, a costly utility that is widely used within industry. We have continually expanded these offerings and, a little over a decade ago, we even branched out to include liquid spraying nozzles.

142 distinct models. 8 different patterns. Liquid flow rates from 0.1 to 303 gallons per hour. If you’ve got a spraying application, EXAIR has an Atomizing Nozzle for you!

As it sits today, we offer multiple families and sizes of both Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles and Liquid Atomizing Spray Nozzles.

Just like drying, or cooling with compressed air, when it comes to getting something wet, we have expanded that product offering pretty continuously over the past decade and will continue to do so. The benefit to you, our content consumer / customer, is that we have the ability to outfit your application with a wide variety of spray patterns and capacities to meet the need. Best of all, these are all in stock, meaning they ship on the same day for orders received by 2 PM ET that are shipping within the US.

We currently offer 44 different types of Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles ranging from 1/8″ NPT Internal Mix Narrow Angle Round Pattern up to 1/2″ Hollow Cone 360° nozzles. This means you can go from the amount needed to lubricate a drill bit during a peck drilling operation up to the amount needed to simulate a rainstorm in a 13′ diameter area. That’s only the models that still require a source of industrial compressed air.

On top of those, we offer the Liquid Atomizing Nozzles, which only require a source of pressurized liquid and which are currently available in 8 different styles, ranging from 1/4″ OmniStream to 1/2″ NPT HollowStream Atomizing nozzles. These nozzles carry variability in spray by simply increasing or decreasing the liquid pressure going into the nozzle. With the single inlet that is perpendicular to the spray discharge, it is easy to fit into tight spaces and still cover a variety of sizes.

If you want to narrow down which of these hundreds of models your application may need, don’t hesitate to call in and speak to an actual human when you do. Our team of Application Engineers are at the ready, Monday through Friday 0700-1600 ET.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

A Sketch Can Go a Long Way!

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

There’s an old adage we say quite often, “A photo is worth a thousand words”. This is something we really believe in. We can have an hour-long conversation about your application, and we may think we understand it. But when you send a photo, we see something that wasn’t mentioned, will cause a problem or make implementing our solution easier. Or, we simply don’t get the chance to talk about it.

So sending a photo, troubleshooting or specifying a part of an application can be a bigger help than a conversation! And that works in reverse too! Our team of application engineers are well versed in how our products work and the best installation to get the most out of them! But sometimes it is hard to get across in a conversation! So fairly often I open up MS Paint and quickly put together a rudimentary sketch of the installation of the product! I have two examples below!

Model 9055 EFC controls a Model SF9010SS No Drip Siphon Fed Flat Fan Pattern Atomizing Spray Nozzle

A customer wanted to spray a fine coat of oil on the surface of a part to keep the surface from corroding. The liquid was in a bucket, and they didn’t want to invest in a pump, so we chose a Siphon Fed nozzle. There was one issue. After picking the nozzle, we learned the parts were not equally spaced on the conveyor belt. The problem was if they ran the nozzle constantly they would create a large mess and waste a lot of expensive oil. So, opting to select the No Drip version of the nozzle and implementing an EFC was the best option to get him up and running! The nozzle would close the liquid valve when the compressed air went under 20 PSIG. And that was the job of the EFC. It sensed the parts with the photoelectric sensor and told the integrated solenoid valve to open, turning the nozzle on and spraying the part. Then the logic inside would close the valve, turning the nozzle off after a set timed delay!

This customer wanted to see how everything would go together, so I inserted some images in MS Paint and sent a sketch over! While it’s not the prettiest of sketches, it got the point across. They bought the system and got it up and running with great success!

Model 6084 2″ Alum. Line Vac

This one is more of a troubleshooting sketch. The customer bought a 2″ line vac to attach to the bottom of a hopper and convey plastic pellets to a screw injector hopper. They installed the line vac right to the bottom of the hopper, turned the air on and…. it didn’t work. So they gave us a call and asked for an Application Engineer! During the normal “How is it set up” conversation, we started talking about how the material is presented to the inlet of the Line Vac. Which is when he said it was just coming straight off the bottom of a hopper. If you know how our line vacs work, you know right away what the problem was! The line vacs need to pull in ambient air with the product to provide a good conveyance. So, typically they work the best when the inlet can be vented somewhat to allow for dynamic airflow. However, that doesn’t mean it can be used on a hopper bottom. Another option is that you can make a “Snorkel” of sorts. I threw the photo above together real fast to show my customer how they could use a simple tee fitting to allow the line vac to pull ambient air and the product through the conveyance hose! As a result, the customer made some simple changes using parts they had lying around the shop, and it’s working great now!

As you can see, it’s definitely beneficial to see the application, even in a crude drawing! So, if you have an application where you need a little help visualizing how an EXAIR product can be set up and used, please reach out! We have a full office of Application Engineers waiting to take your phone call, email or online chat to help you get the most out of our products!

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer
Email: Jordanshouse@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_JS

Atomizing Spray Nozzle in Action!

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

It’s not everyday we get to share a customer video of our products in action! But when I get the chance and permission to from the customer you better believe im writing a blog about it!

This was a unique application that took some R&D to figure the perfect amount of spray on a snack crisp to get the desired result. What you see in action below is what they settled on, which turned out to be a EF9040SS!

Model EF9040SS 14.42 GPH 1/8 FNPT No Drip Ext Mix Narrow Angle Flat Fan Atomizing Nozzle

I wanted to walk you through the selection process for the nozzle we picked, and how we tested different sized caps to get to the end goal!

Let’s start at the beginning! Customer called in to select a liquid nozzle to give a fine coat of a flavoring liquid onto a snack crisp. From the start that is a job for an Air Atomizing spray nozzle, and since the liquid was the viscosity of oil, the external mix was the right style! They said the crisps were moving one by one on a belt with a small gap between each crisp. So we went with the no drip function.

EXAIR’s No Drip Atomizing Spray Nozzles have been engineered eliminate drips; these patented nozzles contain a spring mechanism that when the air pressure reaches above 30 psig the valve will open allowing the liquid to escape out. In this case a solenoid valve is triggered on a timer to open and close based on the presence switch just prior to the nozzle!

No Drip Atomizing Nozzle

Now we moved onto pattern, we knew the crisp was round, and it’s moving by the nozzle at a set speed. So we went with the Flat Fan Pattern to coat the crisps and limit the amount of over spray.

Finally, it came down to volume if liquid they wanted to coat the crisp with, however this wasn’t an easy value for them to know. So to start they bought the smallest GPH No Drip Ext Mix Narrow Angle Flat Fan Atomizing Nozzle we offered and tested! It was working great, but they wanted to coat the crisp a little more and limit the super fine atomization of the oil. So they bought the caps for the size that was 3 higher than they had already tested! And bam you can see in the video its working great!

Catalog Section spray performance chart!

One hurtle to jump over was since this is an Air Atomizing nozzle it does have some force when it came out of the nozzle. So they were having troubles with the crisp being blown back up line then the nozzle was perpendicular with the belt. When the spray hit the belt it would make a wave of air and liquid that could get under the crisp and cause it to be pushed back. So this fix this I recommended they put the nozzle on a slight angle towards the direction of travel. This allowed the crisp to be pushed down and stay in place rather than be blown back and effecting the amount of liquid that the crisp had applied to it!

At EXAIR, we understand not every application is going to be a cookie cutter application, so you have a team of application engineers at your fingertips that will help you choose the best product for your specific application. Feel free to call or email at anytime.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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Twitter: @EXAIR_JS