Two Important Safety Factors When Choosing Air Nozzles

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

At EXAIR, we have a statement, “Safety is everyone’s responsibility”.  And we also manufacture safe compressed air products.  In the United States, we have an organization called Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, that enforces directives for safe and healthy working environments.  They do training, outreach programs, and educational assistance for manufacturing plants.  They will also enforce these directives with heavy fines for violations.  The two most common violations with compressed air are air guns and blow-off devices are described in 29CFR 1910.242(b) for dead-end pressure/chip shielding and 29CFR 1910.65(a) for maximum allowable noise exposure.

Here is an example of a nozzle that is dangerous.  As you can see, there is only one opening where the air can come out from the nozzle.  Other types of nozzles that would fall into this same group would include copper tube, extensions, and open pipes.

Unsafe Nozzle

They are dangerous as the compressed air cannot escape if it is blocked with your body or skin.  If operated above 30 PSIG (2 bar), these nozzles could create an air embolism within the body which can cause bodily harm or death.  This is a hazard which can be avoided by using EXAIR Super Air Nozzles and Safety Air Guns.  The nozzles are designed with fins which allows the air to escape and not be blocked by your skin.  So, you can use the EXAIR Super Air Nozzles safely even above 30 PSIG (2 bar).

Unsafe Air Gun

To counteract the dead-end pressure violation, some nozzle manufacturers create a hole through the side of the nozzle (Reference photo above).  This will allow for the compressed air to escape, but, now the issue is noise level.  With an “open” hole in the nozzle, the compressed air is very turbulent and very loud.  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH, states that 70% to 80% of all hearing loss within a manufacturing plant is caused by compressed air.  OSHA created a chart to show the maximum allowable noise exposure.  This chart shows the time and noise limits before requiring hearing protection.  The EXAIR Super Air Nozzles, Super Air Knives, Super Air Amplifiers are designed to have laminar flow which is very quiet.  As an example, the model 1210 Safety Air Gun has a sound level of only 74 dBA; well under the noise exposure limit for 8 hours.

Hearing loss is the best known, but not the only, ill effect of harmful noise exposure. It can also cause physical and psychological stress, impair concentration, and contribute to workplace accidents or injuries.

NIOSH created an overview of how to handle hazards in the workplace.  They call it the Hierarchy of Controls to best protect workers from dangers.  The most effective way is by eliminating the hazard or substituting the hazard.  The least effective way is with Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE.  For unsafe compressed air nozzles and guns, the proper way to reduce this hazard is to substitute it with an engineered solution.

One of the last things that companies think about when purchasing compressed air products is safety.  Loud noises and dead-end pressure can be missed or forgotten.  To stop any future fines or additional personal protective equipment (PPE), it will be much cheaper to purchase an EXAIR product.  And with the Hazard Hierarchy of Controls, the first method is to remove any hazards.  The last method for control is to use PPE.  In the middle of the hierarchy is for an engineered solution.  EXAIR products are that engineered solution.  If you would like to improve the safety in your facility with your current blow-off devices, an Application Engineer can help you.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Picture:  Safety First by Succo.  Pixabay License

EXAIR’s Gen4 Ionizing Point: Compact Static Neutralization

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

Static electricity will be more prevalent under certain environmental conditions like low humidity. It will also appear on applications which have friction, separation, or insulating materials. Luckily, EXAIR has a wide-range of Static Eliminators that are designed specifically to address static issues in a wide variety of industries and conditions. Materials such as paper, plastic, or textiles will normally contain an equal number of both positive and negative ions. When subjected to friction, this balance can be disturbed if the atoms gain or lose an electron.

The static charge will then exert a force on nearby charged objects or grounded conductors (including personnel). These issues can also manifest in the form of dust clinging to product, product clinging to itself, rollers, machine beds or frames, materials jamming, and sheet feeding problems. Our Gen4 Static Eliminators have undergone independent laboratory tests to certify that they meet the rigorous safety, health, and environmental standards of the USA, European Union and Canada that are required to attain the CE and UL marks.

EXAIR manufactures two products in our Static Eliminator line that do not require any compressed air to operate, the Ionizing Point and the Ionizing Bar. Our Gen4 Ionizing Point is a compact, single point ionizer ideal for a range of winding, rewinding, or slitting operations. It can also be mounted through a duct to neutralize static charges due to moving air or materials.

The shockless Gen4 Ionizing Point delivers a high concentration of positive and negative ions for rapid static decay. It is capable of neutralizing static on the surface of your part or material within 2”. In this image below, a series of Gen4 Ionizing Points are being used to neutralize static from a playing card slitting operation.

The Ionizing Point is just one of our many Static Eliminators available from stock. If you’re experiencing static in any of your applications or processes, EXAIR has a solution available ready to ship. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to help point you in the right direction.

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

 

Efficiency Lab Leads To Big Savings

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

EXAIR Corporation manufactures quiet, safe, and efficient compressed air products for industry. We want our customers to get the most out of our products, and, in turn, their compressed air systems. To do that, we offer a unique service called the EXAIR Efficiency Lab. Here’s how it works:

  • An Application Engineer can arrange to have your existing compressed air device(s) sent in to our facility.
  • We’ll use our calibrated test equipment to measure the compressed air consumption, sound level, and force applied of those devices.
  • You’ll receive a detailed test report, along with our recommendations to implement an efficient, quiet, and safety compliant solution.
  • We’ll even send your tested device(s) back to you, at no charge, if you wish.

I recently had the pleasure of conducting just such a test on some air guns.  The caller was the Environmental Health & Safety Director for a plastics manufacturer.  The main concern was safety compliance…a recent audit had shown that some workstations were using handheld blowoff devices that did not comply with OSHA standard 1910.242(b), which limits dead end pressure of compressed air products used for cleaning to 30psi.

After discussing their typical uses for these (and other) air guns, they sent in a couple for testing.  Here’s what we found out:

“Thumb guns” are especially popular for blowoff because of their compact size, ergonomic design. and low price.

The air gun with the 7″ straight extension (top) is a “textbook” example of non-compliance with OSHA standard 1910.242(b).  Because it has an open-end discharge with no relief path, this one could cause an air embolism if it were inadvertently dead-ended into the operator’s skin – a potentially fatal condition.  It also uses a considerable amount of compressed air, and is quite loud.  At 80psig supply pressure:

  • Compressed air consumption is 40.7 SCFM
  • Noise level is 95.5dBA
  • Force applied, at a distance of 12″, is 13oz

For comparison’s sake, EXAIR Model 1210-6 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun is fitted with our Super Air Nozzle, on the end of a 6″ rigid extension:

  • Compressed air consumption is 14 SCFM
  • Sound level is 74dBA
  • Force applied, at a distance of 12″, is 13oz…same as theirs.
Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air is fitted with an EXAIR Super Air Nozzle. We can also supply it with a Rigid Extension and Chip Shield (right).

The other one is OSHA compliant (it can’t be dead-ended…the cross-drilled hole provides a relief path, but it was still pretty inefficient and loud.  At our standard test pressure of 80psig:

  • Compressed air consumption is 30.8 SCFM
  • Noise level is 94.8dBA
  • Force applied, at a distance of 12″, is 16.9oz

Although the force generated by the Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun isn’t quite as high as theirs, it’s still our recommendation here.  Oftentimes, the flow and velocity generated by the engineered Super Air Nozzle is more than capable of meeting the needs of the typical blow off applications these types of air guns are used in.

EXAIR Efficiency Lab testing proves that replacing these air guns with our Soft Grip Safety Air Guns (or at least replacing the tips with EXAIR Super Air Nozzles…we also have adapters for that) will result in compressed air savings of 66% and 55%, respectively, and lower sound levels to within OSHA standard 1910.95(a) limits:

All EXAIR Soft Grip Safety Air Guns comply with these limits for 8 hour exposure.

If you’d like to know more about the efficiency & safety (or lack thereof) of your current air blow off devices, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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EXAIR Cold Gun Overview

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

By using only a source of compressed air, the Cold Gun and High Power Cold Gun produces a stream of clean, cold air 50° (28°C) below your compressed air supply temperature. The Cold Gun is very quiet at only 70dBA and has no moving parts to wear out. Just supply it with clean, dry compressed air and its maintenance free!

From left to right: EXAIR Cold Guns come with Magnetic Bases for instant installation.

The Cold Gun is pre-set to an 80% Cold Fraction. In other words, 80% of the compressed air supplied to it will exhaust from the cold end of the tube, 20% from the hot end. This prevents the Cold Gun from freezing up during use and optimizes the gun’s cooling capacity. The Cold Gun is an ideal alternative to messy and expensive coolant mist systems. It eliminates the cost of purchase and disposal of cutting fluids as well as worker related health problems from breathing airborne coolant or slipping on wet floors. Replacing a coolant based system also eliminates the need for secondary cleaning operations after milling or drilling. See it in Action here;

The Cold Gun is an invaluable tool for machining a wide range of plastics and other materials that may become contaminated when using traditional coolants or oils. The clean, cold air from the outlet of the Cold Gun keeps the part cool, clean, and dry. Take for example this application where an OEM for the plastics industry uses EXAIR Cold Guns in place of a coolant system.

If you have an application that you believe would be better served by the use of an EXAIR Cold Gun, give us a call. 

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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