Tag: adjustable air nozzle

Preventing Pressure Drop in a Compressed Air Distribution System

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

A critical component to optimal performance of any compressed air-operated product is ensuring sufficient compressed air flow volume is available. Simply put, inadequate air flow won’t allow you to get the job done. When troubleshooting an application for EXAIR Products, the vast majority of problems occur due to pressure drops in the system not allowing the product to work optimally. Oftentimes, this can be something as simple as using an undersized air hose or supply line. Imagine trying to suck a thick milkshake through a coffee stirrer, compared to a wide-mouth straw. You’re not going to have much success with a coffee stirrer, but the increased cross-sectional area of the wide-mouth straw allows you to suck it up and enjoy it comfortably. The same concept is true for supplying air to your products. If there’s a restriction, it won’t work properly! Let’s talk about what you can do to ensure you’re operating effectively.

As compressed air moves through the distribution system, it encounters friction inside the walls of the pipe, tube, hose, etc. The diameter of the pipe, length, number of direction changes, and surface finish of the inner wall all play a part in the total amount of friction applied. A drop in air pressure will occur as a result of this friction. In addition to pressure drops experienced due to the distribution system, they can also occur at the point of use. If the compressed air supply line is undersized, the pressure drop will manifest and be great enough to impact the performance of the product. 

When designing and maintaining your compressed air system, pressure measurements should be taken across varying points to identify (and fix) any issues before they create a greater pressure drop problem down the road. According to the Compressed Air Challenge, these are the places you should take regular pressure measurements to determine your system’s net operating pressure:

  • Inlet to compressor (to monitor inlet air filter) vs. atmospheric pressure
  • Differential across air/lubricant separator
  • Inter stage on multistage compressors
  • After cooler
  • On treatment equipment (dryers, filters, etc.)
  • Various points across the distribution system
  • Check pressure differentials against a manufacturer’s specifications. If high pressure drops are noticed, this indicates a need for service on the affected equipment.

Newer compressors will measure pressure at the package discharge, which would include the separator and after cooler.

Once you’ve taken these measurements, simply add the pressure drops measured and subtract that value from the operating range of your compressor. That figure is your true operating pressure at the point of use.

If your distribution system is properly sized and the pressure drops measured across your various equipment are within specifications, any pressure drop noticed at the point of use is indicative of an inadequate volume of air being transmitted across the distribution system. This could be due to restrictive fittings or undersized air lines, hose, or tubing. Check that the point of use product is properly plumbed into the compressed air supply per the manufacturer’s specifications.

EXAIR Products are designed to minimize this pressure drop by restricting the flow of compressed air at the point of use. The more energy (higher pressure) that we’re able to bring to the point of use, the more efficient and effective that energy will be at operating point of use equipment. The photo below shows two common examples of inefficient compressed air usage. With an open-ended blow off, a pressure drop occurs upstream inside the supply line. If you were to measure the pressure directly at the point of use, while in operation, you’d find that the pressure is significantly lower than it is at the compressor or further upstream in the compressed air distribution system. In the other photo, with a modular-style hose, some pressure is able to build up. But if it gets too high the hose connection can blow apart. These types of modular style hose are not designed to be used with compressed gases.

EXAIR’s Super Air Nozzles, on the other hand, restrict compressed air volume flow to a lower level to keep the compressed air pressure high, right up to the point of discharge, and minimize the pressure drop. This, in addition to the air entrainment, allows for a high force while maximizing efficiency by reducing the amount of air consumed. If you’d like to talk about how an EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product could help to minimize pressure drop in your processes, give us a call.

Tyler Daniel, CCASS

Application Engineer

E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com

X: @EXAIR_TD

Benefits of Entrainment in EXAIR’s Products

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

One word I don’t think I ever used before I started working at EXAIR is entrainment. It was not a concept that I had ever needed to think about or discuss. But now, having worked here for a short while, it is a topic that I discuss regularly – daily even. Many of EXAIR’s quiet and efficient compressed air products are designed to maximize air entrainment.

Entrainment is defined in the simplest of terms as: to draw in and transport (something, such as solid particles or gas) by the flow of a fluid. In the context of EXAIR’s compressed air products, the surrounding ambient air is entrained by the primary air flow created by the compressed air.

For example, when compressed air exits the precise slotted nozzle of our Super Air Knife, a low pressure area is induced, which speeds up and draws in ambient air. This air entrainment (at a ratio of 40:1) is what makes our Super Air Knives so efficient. This same effect is true for our Super Air Amplifiers, Super Air Nozzles, Super Air Wipes, as well as many other products.

This effect was first described by Daniel Bernoulli in his book Hydrodynamica, where he first explained what we know as Bernoulli’s Principle. His principle states that an increase in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure. This is derived from the conservation of energy, where an increase in kinetic energy (speed) requires a corresponding reduction in potential energy (pressure).

Daniel Bernoulli was an interesting man, who we have written several blogs about, like this one here. But in summary, the work he did in the 1700s is fundamental to our products. If you would like to discuss your application, and how the Bernoulli Principle may be beneficial, feel free to give us a call!

Al Wooffitt

Application Engineer

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Better Working Conditions Thanks To Back Blow Safety Air Guns

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Employee appreciation covers a wide range of things that employers do for their employees. From catered lunches to SWAG (stuff we all get) to recognition for milestone anniversaries with the company, I’m sure most of us are familiar with these, and other methods to thank workers for their efforts, time, talent, and loyalty.

I had the pleasure of speaking with the production manager of a company that specialized in parts for commercial vehicles. The assembly workers in a particular department had to periodically clean grease from inside a small opening. The only practical way to do it by hand was to reach their fingers in and wipe it out, a little at a time, until it was clean. They wore gloves to reduce skin exposure to the grease, but they’d tear, meaning they either had to stop and get a new glove, or continue to wipe the grease out with their bare fingers. The latter was less time-consuming, but the environmental, safety, and health manager wasn’t keen on that. They needed a ‘hands off‘ method of removing the grease.

This particular company had a number of EXAIR Safety Air Guns that had proven their worth in reducing compressed air consumption and noise levels, so the production manager called us for a solution. The initial thought, at the plant, was to use one of our Industrial Housekeeping Products, but it sure sounded to me like a textbook application for a Back Blow Safety Air Gun.

EXAIR Back Blow Air Nozzles come in three sizes, for bores from 1/4″ to 16″ in diameter!

And it was. After a brief discussion, the production manager ordered a Model 1306SS-12-CS Heavy Duty Back Blow Safety Air Gun before we got off the phone. It comes with the Model 1006SS Back Blow Air Nozzle installed, which is specified for inside diameters from 7/8″ to 4″. They had it the next day, and reported back that not only did the operators not have to reach their fingers inside the opening anymore, the Back Blow Safety Air Gun did the job in just a couple of seconds. This made everyone happy: the production manager because of the process improvement, the environmental, safety, and health manager because of the elimination of the hazard associated with continuous grease exposure to people’s hands, and the operators because the ‘ick’ factor from one of the less favorite tasks was reduced to an occasional wipe-down of the Back Blow Safety Air Gun’s Chip Shield.

Heavy Duty Back Blow Safety Air Guns come with Chip Shields, and Rigid Extensions from 6″ to 72″ in length.

Employee appreciation can take a number of forms. Not that there’s anything wrong with pizza, anniversary & holiday parties, achievement recognition, etc., but tangible improvements to everyday operations have to be close to the top of that list. I tell people, all the time, that I’m here to help them get the most out of our products, and their compressed air systems. I felt really good about doing just that with this customer. If you’ve got a situation like this that needs improvement, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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VariBlast Safety Air Guns

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

For most of my life, when I brushed my teeth, I’d squeeze out enough toothpaste from the tube to cover the bristles of my toothbrush from one end to the other. That’s what the picture on the side of the toothpaste tube showed. Then, there I was at the dentist’s office one day, in the fifth decade of my life, when I was old enough to know I didn’t have EVERYTHING figured out, but I certainly had brushing my teeth down pat, and the hygienist casually mentioned something about a pea-sized drop of toothpaste being the correct amount to use. THAT couldn’t be right, I thought, but she was confident…and an industry professional…so I took her advice and started using about 1/4 of the amount of toothpaste I’d been using MY WHOLE LIFE.

Recently, I switched (at the suggestion of that same hygienist) the TYPE of toothpaste I was using (apparently protecting tooth enamel is a thing when you make it to my age), and the end of the tube itself is different from the type of tube I’d been using for decades. So different, in fact, that the same squeeze I’d been applying to get a pea-sized drop of toothpaste out now filled the bristles of my toothbrush…again! So I had to re-develop some new muscle memory before the money and time I was spending on toothpaste got all out of hand.

Developing muscle memory for repetitive tasks like that doesn’t take that long at all – turns out, it’s something most of us are really, really good at. Which brings me to the subject of this blog:

Back in 2017, EXAIR developed a new and innovative style of handheld blowoff device: the VariBlast Compact Safety Air Gun. As the name suggests, the “blast” can be “varied” by the operator’s pull of the trigger. They’re available, from stock, with a variety of our engineered Air Nozzles installed:

Rigid Extensions (in lengths up to 72″) and Chip Shields are available with all of these as well.

The VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns worked out so well, in 2021, we introduced this feature into our VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns.

VariBlast® Precision Safety Air Guns 2022 Professional Tool & Equipment News PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD WINNER

These feature our three smallest Super Air Nozzles, and they’re made for applications that need a tight, focused air flow. The Atto, Pico, and Nano Super Air Nozzles come in hard and durable 316SS or non-marring PEEK thermoplastic. Both offer superior resistance to chemical or corrosive attack. For added reach, we can put 12″ or 20″ extensions between the handle and the Air Nozzle. Like the VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns, Chip Shields are available on all models.

If you have blowoff applications where precise control by the operator is desirable, a VariBlast Precision or Compact Safety Air Gun is just what you’re looking for. If you’d like to discuss it, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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