Tag: air curtain

A Tale Of Two Cooling Applications

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There are many, many ways to cool something down. Which method works best will depend on a number of factors, but the biggies are:

*How hot is it?
*How cool do you need it?

If you call EXAIR to discuss a cooling application, these are most likely the first questions that’ll be asked. And the answers will determine which product line we start talking about. In the title of this blog, I promised you two tales…here’s the first:

A caller from a metal fabricating shop needed to cool down metal cylinders after they were heated to 400F, and was curious to know if this was a good application for one of our products. Now, he had already answered one of our questions, so the answer to the second would tell the rest of the tale.

Turns out, they only needed to get down to 120F or so, which made this an excellent application for our Super Air Knives…they’re going to blow a laminar, high volume flow of ambient temperature air onto the part. We knew this from a past application that was so well documented that we included it in our catalog…you can read all about it on page 21 (if you don’t have one, get one – it’s free.) But for now, here’s a graph of the cooling rate comparison with the Super Air Knife:

While the fans no doubt made for large volume air movement, the laminar flow of the Super Air Knife resulted in a much faster heat transfer rate.
While the fans no doubt made for high volume air movement, it was also very turbulent.  The laminar flow of the Super Air Knife resulted in a much faster heat transfer rate.

When I showed this to the caller, that was all the convincing it took…their goal was to reach 120F in about a minute and a half.  Which, as you can see, will be no problem for the Super Air Knife.

Tale #2 is a bit different.  This was from a firearms manufacturer who needed to cool small, but hot, parts quickly, and they needed to reach room temperature.  Looking at the graph above, we know that blowing room temperature air on a hot part will cool it rapidly, until the temperature of the part begins to approach room temperature.  The solution?  Colder air, of course!

Enter the EXAIR Vortex Tube…after some discussion of the part size, shape, and their compressed air capacity, we determined the Model 3215 Medium Vortex Tube should be suitable for their operation.  By generating a cold air flow of about 20F, this replicated the higher temperature differential we see in the left-hand side of the cooling graph above…where the cooling rate was the highest.

If you’d like to talk about how “cool” an EXAIR product can make your application, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Full-Flow Air Knife is The Right Choice in Fiberglass Blanket Application

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Last week I took a call from an automation company who had been working with a fiberglass insulation manufacturer on a blanket rolling application. After the manufacturing process, the fiberglass blankets are rolled up and a protective film wrap is placed around the ends. The end user was currently using a section of 3/8″ pipe with several 1/8″ holes drilled along the length to hold the ends of the blanket in place as the wrap is applied. The current setup was using a lot of compressed air and was creating an unbalanced airflow that was strong at one end but much weaker at the other, causing the ends of the blanket to begin to “roll up” and either damage the shrink wrap or the blanket itself. They also believed the setup was starving other processes in this particular area of the plant and initially were considering purchasing an auxiliary air compressor but due to the capital expense, instead reached out to the automation company for other options.

We have worked with this particular automation company in the past so they were familiar with our product offering and knew they wanted to use an EXAIR Air Knife in the application. However, they were unsure if they wanted to use our Super, Standard or Full-Flow Air Knife . Their need was to improve process results, reduce the air usage and to fit inside a tight area.

Full-Flow
Full-Flow Air Knife available from STOCK in lengths from 3″ – 36″, aluminum or 303SS construction

I recommended they use our 36″ Full-Flow Air Knife in the application. The Full-Flow Air Knife is our smallest profile offering at only 1″ x 1.03″ (aluminum construction) and uses a 30:1 amplification rate (entrained air to compressed air) to produce a high velocity, laminar curtain of air that travels the entire length of the knife. These units are in stock, ready to ship, offering the end user a low cost, quick solution to replace the existing drilled pipe.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

Adjustability=Flexibility=Wide Ranging Performance

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Recently, I moved into a new house, and it didn’t have bathroom vent fans.  In order to prevent mold and mildew growth from the humid shower air; we decided to install them ourselves.  Going to the local home goods store, we were faced with a wall of options, with factors such as noise level, CFM rating and of course price.  Going over the myriad of possibilities was headache inducing and of course, the bathroom size was borderline between a small and mid-size unit. The decision came down to – pay more and oversize it or risk installing an undersized unit.  If only they made a unit to cover a wide variety of conditions.

Here at EXAIR, we make many types of Intelligent Compressed Air Products.  Many times, when we are talking to customers, the right size or performance needed isn’t quite clear.  Fortunately, many of the products we make are flexible, and allow for adjustability and increased range of performance to best match the specific need of the application.

For example, The Super Air Knives and Super Air Wipes have available Shim Sets to increase or decrease the air gap and change the force and flow.  The shims are easily installed, and come in a wide choice of sizes. Super Air Knives are available, from stock, in aluminum, 303SS, 316SS, and PVDF. Super Air Wipes are made from aluminum or 303 SS.

Super Air Wipe

The Super Air Amplifiers also have available patented Shim Sets to fix the air flow at a predetermined setting. Adjustable Air Amplifiers have an infinitely adjustable air gap which can easily be set to match the application needs if a predetermined flow is not preferred. Adjustable Air Amplifiers also have a smaller footprint than Super Air Amplifiers and can also use the aforementioned shims to preset the air flow in applications where space is limited. These are available in 303 stainless steel and aluminum. We also have a high temperature option.

adjustable Air Amplifier
Adjustable Air Amplifier

Within our already enormous and flexible Air Nozzles & Jets product line, the Flat Super Air Nozzles have available Shim Sets to provide the ability to adjust the force and flow for blowoff or cleaning operation.  The model 1009 Adjustable Air Nozzle has an adjustable gap setting, allowing you to “tune in” the force and flow to meet the application requirement.  Also, the Adjustable Air Jet provides an adjustable gap setting to control the air flow performance. Flexibility also comes from the available materials of zinc/aluminum, aluminum, 303SS, 316SS and PEEK thermoplastic.

2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle
Stainless Steel Adjustable Air Jet

For vacuum generation, the Adjustable E-Vac allows for the vacuum and flow rate to be easily adjusted.  With a simple turn of the unit, the vacuum and flow levels can be changed to overcome porosity and increase or decrease the lifting power.

Adjustable EVac
Adjustable E-Vac

There are several other Intelligent Compressed Air Products that EXAIR manufactures that offer the adjustability and flexibility, such as Vortex Tubes and Adjustable Spot Coolers.

If only EXAIR manufactured bathroom fans, I could have ensured making the right choice and be able to match the performance to exactly meet my application needs.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer
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The Super Air Knife: It’s Super Easy To Install

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

One of the more commonly asked questions about one of our more commonly asked-about products is:

“How do you install a Super Air Knife?”

Well, I’m glad you (or, in this case, “they,”) asked! There are several options, and they’re all pretty simple:

The Universal Air Knife Mounting System – right out of the box, the 9060 Universal Air Knife Mounting System is ready to go. It gives you a complete range of motion, so changes to the angle, direction, and distance of the air flow to the target are quick and easy. Multiple systems provide secure support for longer Air Knife lengths.

The 9060 Universal Air Knife Mounting Systems are perfect for simple, fast installation and positioning.
The 9060 Universal Air Knife Mounting Systems are perfect for simple, fast installation and positioning.

The Air Knife Plumbing Kit – Air Knives 24″ and longer need to be supplied at multiple inlets.  A Plumbing Kit comes with everything you need to get that down to just one (lengths to 54″) or two (lengths to 108″) 1/2 NPT connections, saving you from hunting down the fittings and hose or tube, while ensuring you get sufficient air flow for optimum performance.

Plumbing Kits

The Super Air Knife Itself (part 1) – because the Air Knife cap & body are held together with a series of Stainless Steel cap screws, there’s a 1/4″-20 tapped hole, about 3/8″ deep, every 2″ along the bottom of the body. These are commonly used to install the Air Knife to an acceptable mount.

If you've got something to hold it to, mounting a Super Air Knife with 1/4"-20 fasteners is a snap!
If your equipment already has rails or a frame, mounting a Super Air Knife with 1/4″-20 fasteners is a snap!

The Super Air Knife Itself (part 2) – like I said above, when they get longer than 24″, an Air Knife needs to be supplied at both ends to ensure proper air flow across the entire length. There are MANY Super Air Knives installed over conveyor belts (a “textbook” application) that are simply supported by hard piping to both ends. The Air Knife is, essentially, as well supported as the piping.

Use the supply piping to adequately support longer lengths of Super Air Knives
Use the supply piping to adequately support longer lengths of Super Air Knives.

The Super Air Knife Itself (part 3) – I saved “part 3″ to talk about the 3” Super Air Knife specifically…see what I did there? These short, compact units can actually be supported and plumbed properly, using a Magnetic Base and a Stay Set Hose.

Install and reposition a 3" Super Air Knife using any steel surface with a Mag Base & Stay Set Hose.
Install and reposition a 3″ Super Air Knife using any steel surface with a Mag Base & Stay Set Hose.

If you’ve got an application for a Super Air Knife, we can help you get in installed, in a snap. Call me; let’s talk!

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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