When attempting to convey material pneumatically it can sometimes not work as one may hope. This could be due to the lack of ambient air entrainment to generate the vacuum flow which lifts the material away and moves the material. The video above gives a brief example of this.
If you would like to discuss pneumatic conveying products or processes, please contact us. EXAIR’s Line Vac air operated conveyors are a great solution for manual “bucket and ladder” applications, hopper loading, scrap conveyance, media recovery and more!
At EXAIR we want to do everything we can to ensure you’re getting the most out of our products. In many applications, we’re offering a replacement for an inefficient or unsafe “homemade” compressed air device. In these cases, replacing the inefficient device with an engineered product by EXAIR often leads to a quick payback time.
To help you understand your compressed air products, EXAIR offers a free Efficiency Lab Service. Simply send in the device your currently using for testing, and one of our qualified Application Engineers will provide you with a comprehensive report. Included in this report is an ROI calculation, so you’ll know down to the day of when your EXAIR Product will begin paying YOU!
For some more information on this service, and a view of the EXAIR Efficiency Lab, check out my video below:
If you believe there’s places in your facility that could benefit from this service give us a call. We’re ready to help you start saving!
Tyler Daniel Application Engineer E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com Twitter: @EXAIR_TD
Pressure drop comes in different forms, and it causes inefficiencies within your pneumatic system. EXAIR writes statements in the installation manuals to help find the correct pipe sizes to supply the different products. (Reference Super Air Knife Installation Manual above). But there are other areas that can affect the performance. These can be fittings, tubing, valves, and accessories. In this blog, I will cover some pitfalls that can minimize the potential of your EXAIR products.
Pressure drop by definition is a difference or loss in pressure. A properly sized Filter Separator will typically have a pressure drop of 5 PSID (0.3 bar) at the rated conditions. So, if you start with 100 PSIG (6.9 bar), the air pressure after the filter separator will be 95 PSIG (6.6 bar). But what happens when a filter separator is undersized or too small? The pressure drop will be much higher. So, if the pressure drop is 30 PSID (2 bar), then the downstream air pressure will only be 70 PSIG (4.8 bar). At that pressure, you may not be able to get the performance that is required to do the job.
The first thing in determining these potential issues is what I like to call forensics. If you can install a pressure gage at the inlet of any EXAIR product, then you can deduce if a potential problem is within your setup. For example, if the Pressure Regulator is at 100 PSIG (6.9 bar), and the pressure gauge at the inlet is reading only 60 PSIG (4.1 bar), then there is a pressure drop of 40 PSID (2.8 bar) between these two points. You can look in this area for the problem or problems. If the gauge on the Pressure Regulator goes down as well when you are operating, then the problem area is upstream of the Pressure Regulator. This can be from the pipe size or the air compressor.
The most common issues are fittings and tubing. With fittings, small openings may not allow enough air to pass through. Above is a photo of some typical fittings. You notice that the right side of the chart has large enough openings to decrease pressure drop. In some instances, quick connect fittings are commonly used to easily connect or disconnect pneumatic devices; but if you use too small or too many of these fittings, they can cause a large pressure drop.
The other problem is with the inner diameter of tubing, hoses, or pipes that are not properly sized. Russ Bowman, a colleague, created a video showing the issues with improperly sized plumbing. It is a very interesting video that shows the effect on a Super Air Knife.
If you want to get the most from your EXAIR products, you will need to reduce the amount of pressure drop in your system. Pressure drop is wasted energy and can affect your pneumatic system. You can follow my recommendations above. Or if you would like to discuss your setup with an Application Engineer, we will be happy to assist.
The below video shows how to calculate the air consumption when operating at any pressure.
If you want to discuss efficient compressed air use or any of EXAIR’s engineered compressed air products, give us a call or email. We would enjoy hearing from you!
