Tag: air knifes

Who Wants to Save on Compressed Air?

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

At EXAIR we pride ourselves on helping our customers optimize their compressed air usage. Our intelligent compressed air products are engineered to be quiet and efficient, saving you on compressed air consumption. This is just one of the six steps that we recommend in order to optimize your compressed air system.

The first step we would recommend is to measure your air consumption. If you are going to attempt to reduce air consumption in your facility, it is necessary to know what is using it. If you know the consumption of your compressed air-operated products, you can make note of this. A more comprehensive solution would be to install some of our Digital Flowmeters in branch lines in your facility. The flow data provided by this will help you narrow down the high consumption areas and processes.

The second step we would suggest is to find and fix leaks. Our Ultrasonic Leak Detector is perfect for this. According to the Compressed Air and Gas Institute, leaks should not exceed 5-10% of your system’s air supply (we would obviously want 0%, but realistically this is unachievable). However, it is not uncommon to see leaks account for over 30% of many facilities’ compressed air supply being lost through leakage. That’s a potential for a 25% gain in compressed air supply!

The third step would be to upgrade your blowoff, cooling and drying operations using engineered compressed air products. All of EXAIR’s products, like our Super Air Knives, or Super Air Nozzles, are designed with efficiency in mind. Upgrading to an efficient EXAIR product is going to reduce your consumption, sometimes dramatically so!

The fourth step is to turn off your compressed air when not in use. This may sound obvious, but it is not uncommon for compressed air products to be left running continuously. We offer many solutions here, from a simple ball valve (found in many of our Drum Vac Kits), to a solenoid valve (found in our Cabinet Cooler Systems), to our Electronic Flow Controllers – combining a solenoid valve and photoelectric sensor.

The fifth step would be to use intermediate storage near the point of use. If you are controlling your compressed air usage through the use of valves and controls, then your consumption won’t be constant. This fluctuation in demand can be evened out with the use of secondary storage, like our Model 9500-60 Receiver Tank. This will ensure you have the volume and pressure when and where you need it.

Finally, our sixth step is to control the operating pressure. More specifically, to reduce the pressure to the minimum required to get the job done. Simply installing a pressure regulator at the point of use will lead to big savings.

If you would like to start optimizing your compressed air system, then give me a call!

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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Application Spotlight! – Super Air Knife

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

I haven’t done a spotlight in a while, so I figured it was time.  In these, I pull from the dozens of phone calls or emails and walk you through how we on the Application Engineering team select a product for a specific application!

In this week’s spotlight, we focus on a common application we see here at EXAIR. Customers have a product that is too wet, and they need to reduce the excess liquid in or on their product.

For this, the customer makes candied cranberries. As they processed down the line, the excess liquid was creating a large mess, and they were spending too much time cleaning. And on top of that, the liquid is valuable to the customer, so the more they can reclaim and sell, the more profit they are making. Currently, the cranberries are moving on a 22″ slotted stainless steel belt. They were just letting the liquid fall off as they moved down the belt and that wasn’t working.

We had a conversation about the Super Air Knives and their ability to provide a forceful blast of air that was adjustable. We settled on a quote for a 22″ custom length 316 stainless steel super air knife to provide the force to get as much excess liquid off the cranberries as possible without blowing them all over the place. This will allow them to have less mess upstream and collect more of the liquid to be sold. Both will increase productivity and profits.

Why custom length? EXAIR produces our products right here in Cincinnati, Ohio, while we carry all of our stock knives on the shelf ready to ship the same day with an order by 2PM EST. The width of this belt was 4″ larger than our closest stock size. But we custom-make knives all the time, so we quoted just that.

Why 316 ST.ST? This is a food operation that requires wash-downs with fairly caustic chemicals. The 316 ST.ST will hold up to those products.

Why the Super Air Knife? Well, the Super Air Knife is the most efficient, quietest knife we offer. The Standard and Full flow are great options for some applications, but the Super Air Knife is the king of them all when it comes to the most efficient way to produce the laminar flow our air knives offer.

With lengths from 3” to 108” and (4) four different materials all available from stock, EXAIR has the right Super Air Knife for your application. In addition to shipping from stock, it’ll also come with our unconditional 30-day guarantee. Test one out for yourself to see just how effective the Super Air Knife is in a wide variety of cooling, cleaning, or drying applications.

EXAIR Super Air Knives are the most efficient compressed air knife on the market. Please reach out if you have an application we can help with!

Jordan Shouse, CCASS

Application Engineer

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Venturi Effect in Use

Published on by jasonkirbyLeave a comment

The Venturi effect describes the phenomenon where a fluid, such as air or water, accelerates as it passes through a constricted section, resulting in a decrease in pressure. This occurs because the fluid is drawn into the narrower area, and the increase in velocity leads to a corresponding drop in pressure. The effect is named after Giovanni Battista Venturi, who first articulated this principle in 1797.

A perfect example of the Venturi Effect can be found in our Air Amplifiers. Compressed air enters through the air inlet and flows into an annular chamber, where it is accelerated through a small ring nozzle. This high-velocity primary airstream follows the Coanda effect, guiding it toward the outlet. As a result, a low-pressure zone forms at the center, drawing in a significant volume of surrounding air into the primary flow. The mixture of the primary airstream and the surrounding air is then expelled from the Air Amplifier at a high volume and velocity.

The Venturi Effect is represented in amplification ratios. A ratio represents the relationship between two quantities, indicating how many times one value is contained within another. In the case of the Super Air Knife, this ratio illustrates the volume of ambient air that is drawn in alongside the primary flow of compressed air. With an impressive amplification ratio of 40:1, the Super Air Knife incorporates 40 parts of ambient air for every single part of compressed air, making it one of the most efficient air-operated knives available. This addition of mass enhances the device’s ability to deliver a powerful force, enabling it to perform more effectively in various applications.

The Venturi effect is integral to various EXAIR products designed for cooling, drying, and cleaning, alongside our vacuum generators. If your facility has a process that could benefit from an Intelligent Compressed Air solution, please reach out to us. We would be pleased to discuss your specific application and develop a solution that not only lowers your compressed air expenses but also enhances worker safety.

Jason Kirby
Application Engineer
Email: jasonkirby@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jk

Is a 3D model Worth a Billion Words?

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

As much as possible, we strive to be easy to do business with. When discussing an application, one thing that makes it easier (at least for me) is to be able to visualize the situation, and, if possible, the potential solution. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is a 3D model worth? Three thousand (3x 1,000)? Or possibly one billion (1,000 x 1,000 x 1,000)?

In industrial applications, a 3D model can provide a comprehensive view of how parts will fit together, what type of mounting will be required, and assist in designing the plumbing or wiring necessary for new components. This is why we have 3D models available for just about every product that we offer.

This will help you visualize the EXAIR product in the application, giving you confidence in the viability of your solution before making the purchase.

To make things even easier, we provide 64 native extensions in our CAD library, so you shouldn’t need to modify, import, or convert any drawings that would require extra changes – just grab the file you need directly from our website. And for those models that are not available, like a special Super Air Knife, for example, a simple request through our online chat, or our techelp@exair.com email is all you need to get what you’re looking for.

Curved and Thin Super Air Knives

If you would like to discuss your application, please don’t hesitate to give me a call!

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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