Tag: Air nozzle

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year…

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

One could make a good point about “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” being right now because…well, the song just says so, right? I can get on board with that, because I’m the world’s biggest sucker for Christmas music:

Of course, that song was used in one of my favorite ad campaigns of all time to describe a season that started a few months earlier:

But I’m going to have to go with “right now” not only for the Christmas music, but for my personal favorite EXAIR seasonal promotion:

Right now, through the end of the year, EXAIR will give you a Safety Air Gun with any Super Air Knife purchase. Not only do you get THE most efficient and quietest compressed air blowing product on the market today (we have data to back that up from a wide variety of products & devices that customers have sent in for Efficiency Lab testing), we’re going to sweeten the deal with free stuff.

First, let’s talk about the Super Air Knives:

  • They come in lengths from 3″ to 9ft. No matter how small, or big, your blowoff needs are, we’ve got you covered. If you need something longer than 9ft, they can be coupled together for a continuous, laminar airflow curtain as long as you need it to be.
Air Knife Coupling Bracket Kit
  • We make them in low cost, lightweight aluminum, tough & corrosion resistant Type 303 Stainless Steel, even tougher & more corrosion resistant Type 316 Stainless Steel, and PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) thermoplastic with Hastelloy hardware & PTFE shims for the highest level of corrosion resistance available.
PVDF Super Air Knife Kits include the Air Knife itself (PVDF body, Hastelloy C-276 hardware, and PTFE Shims,) a PTFE Shim Set, an Automatic Drain Filter Separator, and Pressure Regulator.
  • They’re efficient and quiet — for the same reason. See, the compressed air supply exits through a precise, narrow slot between the Cap & Body, which is precision finished, generating a 40:1 entrainment ratio. That means that for every SCFM of compressed air that the Super Air Knife uses, it entrains 40 SCFM of air from the surrounding environment…THAT’S efficiency. In doing so, that entrained air forms a low velocity boundary layer around the powerful, high velocity primary air stream. This layer serves to attenuate the sound level of that hard-hitting curtain of air, resulting in a sound level of only 69dBA.

And, if you order before 12/31/2025, we’ll throw in a FREE EXAIR Soft Grip Safety Air Gun, fitted with a Super Air Nozzle. If you’re using a loud, inefficient air gun for handheld blowoff, you really need to try one of these. They use the primary compressed air stream to entrain ‘free’ air from the surrounding environment as well, which generates a low velocity boundary layer for sound reduction too. The Super Air Nozzle is well suited for a wide range of industrial blowoff applications, and the Soft Grip Safety Air Gun is ideal for hours of continuous use without fatigue.

EXAIR Super Air Nozzles entrain an enormous amount of air from the surrounding environment, making them efficient, and quiet.

Need something right away? EXAIR has you covered there too: all of these (and pretty much any of our other Intelligent Compressed Air Products) are on the shelf and ready to ship, same day, with orders received by 2pm EST. If you’ve got a blowoff application that you’d like to find a safe, quiet, and efficient solution for, we can help…give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Accessories for Your Compressed Air Products

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

Here at EXAIR we are very proud of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products. We have spent a lot of time discussing their many benefits, including their efficiency, the fact that many have no moving parts, little to no maintenance, meeting or exceeding OSHA safety standards for noise or dead end pressure. One thing we don’t talk as much about is the accessories that go along with and complement our products. Several of these accessory items are the reason why our compressed air products can boast about having little to no maintenance, or reduced noise levels. In this blog I want to cover some of these unsung heroes.

From left to right, a few value-added accessories for your Vortex Tube: Hot Muffler, Cold Muffler, Automatic Drain Filter Separator, Oil Removal Filter, and Solenoid Valve/Thermostat Kit.

Some of the most popular accessories we offer are our compressed air Filters and Regulators. We suggest using these with all our products (or even with ones that aren’t ours).

The Filter Separator is designed to remove moisture, dirt, and rust from your compressed air system. The 5-micron filter element ensures that contaminants don’t clog or harm your compressed air equipment.

An Oil Removal Filter (which should always be installed after our Filter Separator) provides even more precise filtration by getting rid of oil and solid particles with a 0.03-micron element.

Our Pressure Regulators let you choose the operating pressure. At EXAIR, we always advise running at the lowest pressure necessary to complete the task. Pressure Regulators help you achieve that, reducing unnecessary air usage and fine-tuning the performance of EXAIR products for your specific application.

We have some accessories designed specifically for certain products. For our Line Vacs, there’s the Line Vac Hose. You can also find Thermostats and Solenoid Valves that work great with our Cabinet Coolers, and if you’re using Vortex Tubes, we suggest checking out our Mufflers.

When it comes to our Air Knives, we offer a variety of fantastic options:

If you’re looking for a simple and dependable way to mount your Air Knife, our Universal Air Knife Mounting System is just what you need.

If your project needs something longer than our stock Air Knives, or if you want to manage different sections of the air flow separately, our Coupling Bracket Kits are ideal.

And if you want to simplify the plumbing for your Air Knife, don’t miss our Air Knife Plumbing Kits. They’re suitable for all Air Knives that are longer than 24 inches.

If you’re looking for plumbing options, we’ve got a range of compressed air hoses and fittings that will simplify things for you.

Our Coiled Hoses work great with our Safety Air Guns, giving you more freedom of movement while you work.

Our Compressed Air Hoses are often used alongside our Industrial Housekeeping products to provide the necessary reach for the drum and dolly.

Finally, if you’re looking for a way to mount or position your Air Nozzles, check out our Magnetic Bases, Stay Set Hoses, and Swivel Fittings that can help create a complete setup.

No matter what your application requires or the product you need, we’ve got a variety of complementary accessory products that will simplify installation and adjustments. If you have any questions about these or any other EXAIR products, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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EXAIR Products in the Semiconductor Industry

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

Manufacturers in semiconductor assembly and PCB production face strict cleanliness, throughput, and thermal-control requirements. EXAIRs compressed-air products, specifically our Air Knives and Vortex Tubes, and air amplifiers are proven, compact, and energy-efficient tools for precise blow-off, controlled cooling and heating for spot thermal conditioning and fume extraction. This Blog explains how EXAIR Super Air Knives and Vortex Tubes and Air Amplifiers address three common production needs: 

  1. Drying and particulate removal during lead frame processing with air knives. 
  1. Localized cooling/heating for functional PCB testing using Vortex Tubes. 
  1. Fume extraction during etching, cleaning and plating processes

I’ll cover technical fit, typical performance characteristics, and measurement/ROI considerations so engineers and plant managers can evaluate and implement these solutions. 

Intellistat Ion Air Nozzle in clean room, cleaning microchip parts before installation.

Super Air Knife and Success in the semiconductor lead frame manufacturing process.  

Typical use cases 

  • Removing rinse water or flux residues after cleaning 
  • Blowing off foreign matter, over spray, or machining debris prior to plating or die bonding. 
  • Drying prior to molding or coating operations. 
  • Static-assisted blow-off when combined with static eliminating product for electrostatically attracted particles. 

Why Super Air Knives? 

  • Uniform Laminar Sheet of air: delivers consistent, even blow-off across the width of a lead frame, reducing localized hot spots or mechanical damage. 
  • Adjustable force and flow: adjusting air pressure and shim size allow you to control force and volume so fragile wires or plated surfaces aren’t damaged. 
  • Entrainment & Efficiency: The knives are engineered so they entrain ambient air, increasing total developed flow and reducing compressed-air consumption compared to open pipes. 

Vortex Tubes for functional PCB testing / burn-in and thermal cycling

During in-line or bench functional testing, specific components or integrated circuits may overheat or require temperature conditioning to verify performance at the full range of the rated temperature specifications. Vortex Tubes give fast, localized cooling (or heating) without coolant loops, chillers, or plumbing intricacy. Subjecting devices to burn-in and thermal cycling stress helps products enter the field with confidence there will not be any preventable failures. Normally, environmental chambers are used for burn-in processes, but vortex tubes can help facilitate localized thermal ramps, corner stressing, or temporary additional cooling/heating when size, cost or availability of a full environmental chamber isn’t feasible.  

Why Vortex Tubes fit testing 

  • Instant cold/hot air from regular compressed air: no refrigeration system or refrigeration cycle; instantaneous on/off.  
  • No moving parts: high reliability and low maintenance for test fixtures. 
  • Local spot conditioning: focus cooling on integrated circuits or other small areas without cooling the entire board or fixture. 
  • Adjustable cold fraction: Vortex tubes can be tuned via the control valve to trade flow vs. temperature drop to meet testing conditions. 
Cooling or Heating with the Vortex Tube

Air Amplifiers for fume extraction and partial heat control during etching, cleaning and plating processes.

In semiconductor lead frame manufacturing, maintaining clean, particle-free environments is essential to ensure consistent product quality and process reliability. Processes such as flux cleaning, plating, molding, and soldering generate vapors, fumes, and fine particulates that can contaminate delicate components or compromise yields. EXAIR’s Super Air Amplifier provides an efficient, quiet, and maintenance-free solution for capturing and removing fumes, vapors, and airborne contaminants from sensitive production areas.

Why the Super Air Amplifier?
High-Volume Airflow Through Amplification

  • It uses a small amount of compressed air to entrain large volumes of ambient air multiplying total flow by up to 25 times.
  • Creates a strong, consistent vacuum draw ideal for capturing fumes and fine particulates at their source.

Energy Efficiency

  • Dramatically reduces compressed-air consumption compared to traditional vacuum or exhaust systems.
  • No electricity, motors, or moving parts, maintenance-free operation and long service life.

Compact and Versatile

  • Easy to integrate above process lines, in tool enclosures, or at conveyor transfer points.
  • Available in aluminum, stainless steel, and high-temperature materials for compatibility with cleanroom or chemical environments.
Model 120024 4″ Super Air Amplifiers are commonly used to exhaust smoke and fumes.

ROI and how to show value quantitatively  

  • Baseline metrics: scrap/rework rate, cycle time, compressed-air consumption, downtime for cleaning, and throughput. 
  • Pilot run: instrument a section of line with flow/force and temperature sensors for a 30 day trial. 
  • Key calculations: 
  • Reduced rework % × cost per part = direct savings. 
  • Throughput increase (parts/hr) × margin = additional revenue. 
  • Compressed-air energy reduction (compared to previous blow-offs) = kW savings (U.S. Department of Energy offers a benchmark of $0.25 per 1,000 SCF). 
  • Tangible benefits: throughput improvement, energy savings, reduced capital cost (vs. chillers/chambers), lower maintenance and smaller footprint. 

Conclusion  

EXAIR Super Air Knives, Vortex Tubes and air amplifiers are compact, reliable, and flexible products that can improve cleanliness, thermal testing, and throughput in semiconductor processes.  

  1. Select a process you think could be helped with an air knife, Vortex Tube or an air amplifier and take advantage of our 30-day money-back guarantee.  
  1. Validate throughput and quality improvements and calculate ROI. 
  1. Rollout with appropriate controls, filtration, and operator training.  

If you think any of our products can help you in your process, please reach out. We have a team of application engineers here M-F to answer your questions!

Jordan Shouse, CCASS

Application Engineer

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What Is a Centrifugal Air Compressor? How It Works and Why It’s Used in Industry

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

One thing that’s found in nearly every industrial environment is an air compressor. Compressed air is used to power tools, operate packaging and automation systems, run conveyors, control valves, and more. Pneumatic tools remain popular because they’re smaller and lighter than their electric counterparts, offer infinitely variable speed and torque, and can often be safer than electrical devices in harsh or wet environments.

To power these systems, compressed air must first be generated, and that starts with the air compressor. There are two main categories of air compressors: positive displacement and dynamic. Positive displacement compressors trap a given quantity of air in a chamber, then mechanically reduce the volume to increase the pressure. Dynamic compressors raise air pressure by accelerating continuously flowing air with a high-speed impeller. The velocity energy of the air is then converted into pressure energy.

One of the most common dynamic types used in industrial applications is the centrifugal air compressor. In a centrifugal compressor, air enters the center of a high-speed rotating impeller, which can spin at more than 50,000 RPM. The impeller’s blades fling the air outward by centrifugal force, increasing its velocity and pressure. The kinetic energy of the moving air is then converted into additional pressure as it slows down in a diffuser. Centrifugal compressors are generally used where large volumes of air are required. They can handle flows from a few hundred CFM up to 100,000 CFM or more, with most plant installations falling in the 1,000–5,000 CFM range.

According to the Compressed Air Challenge, some of the key benefits of centrifugal air compressors include their ability to deliver oil-free, contaminant-free air, and the fact that they are often supplied as complete packaged systems up to 1,000 HP. They scale well, as the cost per CFM improves as size increases, do not require special foundation requirements, and are ideal for high-volume air delivery.

Of course, there are trade-offs to consider. Centrifugal compressors have limited capacity control options, reduced efficiency at partial load, and their high rotational speeds require precision bearings and specialized maintenance. They also tend to have a higher initial purchase cost compared to smaller positive-displacement units. Despite these considerations, centrifugal air compressors remain a reliable choice for facilities that require large, continuous volumes of clean, oil-free air.

Once your facility’s air is generated, the next step is making sure it’s used efficiently. Compressed air is one of the most expensive utilities in a plant, and any wasted air means wasted energy. That’s where EXAIR’s line of engineered Air Nozzles, Safety Air Guns, Super Air Knives, and Optimization products come into play, helping you get the most from every SCFM your compressor produces. If you’re looking to improve your system’s efficiency or solve a specific application issue, contact one of our Application Engineers. We’ll help you get the most out of your compressed air system from the compressor room to the point of use.

Tyler Daniel

Application Engineer

E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com

X: @EXAIR_TD

Image courtesy of the Compressed Air Challenge