Tag: Air Knives

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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Compressed Air Use in the Construction Industry

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

My drive to work involves passing through a growing neighborhood in the northeast suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a wooded lot get cleared & graded for construction of a new house. A week or so ago, heavy earth-moving equipment was digging the basement foundation…and adding to the traffic as huge dump trucks carried the dirt away. Fast-forward to this morning, when I saw that the 2×4 framing of the walls and the placement of the roof joists were almost complete. The backhoes and dump trucks on the lot have been replaced by a small fleet of carpenter’s work trucks, a ‘porta-potty’ (a real plus, considering the number of workers spending 8–10 hours a day on a site that was the utility equivalent of a primitive campsite)…and an air compressor.

Compressed air has been used in construction since ancient times, when manually operated bellows devices were used to stoke fires to increase the temperature inside furnaces that were used to make metal tools and building materials. The first large scale industrial use of compressed air on a construction project was the building of the Mt. Cenis tunnel in Switzerland. Tunnel construction began in 1857 and was expected to take at least 25 years, with some estimates projecting a timeline of over 70 years. However, technical innovations – like the development of pneumatic drills that replaced steam-operated machinery – allowed them to complete it in only 14 years.

In addition to the pneumatic nail guns and impact drivers being used at the new home site along my daily commute, compressed air has a number of other uses in the construction trades. It’s used for excavation, to power de-watering & sludge pumps, hoists, and even material conveyors. For example, a contractor that was building a large fence on sandy terrain used a Model 150200 2″ Heavy Duty Line Vac to remove sand from the hollow fence posts after using hammer drills (which are also air operated, so you know) to anchor them in place. Another user got a Model 151250 2-1/2 NPT Threaded Heavy Duty Line Vac to remove light dirt & sand from holes they dig to set posts in. Both power their Line Vacs with diesel-fueled 185 CFM tow-behind compressors.

Heavy Duty Line Vac: Hardened Alloy Construction and High Performance

EXAIR Air Knives are also used by construction companies. One of our customers bought a Model 110218 18″ Aluminum Super Air Knife Kit to blow an air curtain onto a conveyor to separate filter fabric out of recycled asphalt. Many lumber & building material manufacturers use them to blow off sawdust and loose debris from plywood, OSB board, roofing shingles, etc.

Top: 108″ Super Air Knife is supported & aimed via an array of Model 9060 Universal Air Knife Mounting Systems.
Bottom: Mounting Systems can be ‘overkill’ for some smaller applications, especially when the user is creative. Yes, that’s a door hinge. No, it wasn’t my idea, but I kind of wish it was.

Another customer uses a Model 6901 Spill Recovery Kit with their Model 6395 55 Gallon Premium High Lift Reversible Drum Vac System for cleaning up spills of hydraulic oil from their equipment at construction job sites. The ability to vacuum it up without dragging an electric cord from a shop vac through the puddles of oil is a real plus for them.

The EXAIR Reversible Drum Vac System converts a drum and dolly into a mobile pumping system.

And back to the Line Vacs, an electrical contractor uses a Model 6086 3″ Aluminum Line Vac to pull wire through stretches of underground conduit that are too long for standard fish tapes. They can pull the fish line through 120 feet of conduit in about 30 seconds. The Line Vac also removes any debris that might have accumulated inside the conduit between installation and wire pulling.

If you’re in the construction industry – or any industry, really – and would like to discuss a potential application for engineered compressed air products, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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3.2.1…Fight Robots FIGHT!

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

I have mentioned before that my undergrad degree is from the University of Cincinnati. The Combat Robotics Team was not a thing back then; in fact, robot fighting was still high-level and just coming around to the mainstream. Well, this past weekend, I had the chance to attend my first-ever PLANT at UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub.

What is PLANT, you ask? It is a class of combat robots restricted to PLA, ABS, or PETG construction materials. The bots cannot weigh more than 1 pound and have some other guidelines generally set forth by SPARC. The teams generally design these bots as scaled-down versions of the bots they plan to build and take on larger battles. In addition, they must weigh no more than 1 pound. They are mostly 3D printed, and the benefit is that they are a cost savings to manufacture and then test against other similar-sized bots to try and see how a design may work out in a larger form.

Because these bots are all 3D printed, they can test complex geometries without the cost of the machining hours. This also helps them to see the value a complex part may add or helps them to come up with other methods to manufacture the product. The entire point is for them to test on a small scale with lower impact/risk, then scale up.

Super Air Knife installed

When talking with customers here at EXAIR about projects that may require long Super Air Knives to blow off an entire conveyor belt, we will often suggest doing a scaled test. Use a 12″ Super Air Knife to test an edge or a dedicated section of the belt. If a stock EXAIR product is tested, it can be returned within 30 days of the date of the order. This means you can take a small test section, with low risk, put it in place, and test it under production scenarios for nearly a month, and then contact us to let us know whether it works or not. Get a sales return order for the shorter length, and then scale up for the full demand of the application.

EXAIR’s offering a 30-day guarantee on stock products truly reduces the risk of testing out even a full-length Super Air Knife if you want to. This can sometimes give the decision makers the last little bit of confidence that EXAIR is the correct team to work with. If you want to discuss how we can help your production lines, contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF