Tag: blow off nozzle

Super Air Nozzles for the Blowoff, and the Win!

Published on by bdwagesLeave a comment

Just take a moment and really look at the precision that is engineered into these SUPER Air Nozzles. The fins, the angle of the holes. The only thing missing is a cape and an S on the front like this one on the right. At a quick glance, these nozzles look simple, but they are far from it. I’ve had multiple customers reach out because they are using a simple open pipe to blow off X, Y, or Z. It really is mind “blowing” to me to hear this. Just a few days ago, I spoke to a customer that has over 20, 3/8″ open lines that blow air 24/7. I can almost hear that problem from here, and I definitely can feel the pain of their money being waisted. Up to 80% of your air can be saved with the right nozzles vs. open pipe or tubes. If waisitng money isn’t enough, the noise alone would be deafening without the nozzles, and not at all up to OSHA standards.

These Super Air Nozzles comply with the OSHA standards 29 CFR 1910.242(b) for dead end pressure requirements, and 29 CFR-1910.95(a) concerning noise. The only exceptions to the noise level is when we get into our High Force nozzles. As you can imagine, if you are needing more than 90 SCFM of air, with 4.5+ pounds of force out of a nozzle, it will make some noise. By the way, it will still meet OSHA’s dead end pressure standard and the EXAIR defines how much unprotected noise exposure is allowed by OSHA with each nozzle above their threshold.

When we look at the fins and shapes of the holes, they are intelligently designed to maximize the coanda effect on each nozzle. This allows these nozzles to amplify the compressed airflow (black Arrow) up to 25 times or more. As the air travels along the outer wall of the nozzles it will entrain the surrounding air into the airstream. This results in a high velocity blast of air with minimal consumption.

If you have any type of homemade or makeshift blowoff system using copper tube, open pipe, or pipe fittings please take a moment and look at the amount of air that is being waisted. We can use these Super Air Nozzles to save an astronomical amount of air. Take a look at this Air Consuption table as a solid example:

As you can see on this table the 1/4″ Copper Tube uses 33 SCFM, and the 1/4″ Open Pipe uses 140 SCFM. Now when we install the 1/4″ Super Air Nozzle it drops the cunsumption down to 14 SCFM. The benefits do not stop there. The noise is dropped to 74 dBA, and you are no longer violating the OSHA requirements.

When you have a blowoff situation, please reach out and discuss our options. Many times the solution is as easy as using a Super Air Nozzle and sometimes you may actually need the Flux Capacitor. We are here to help guide you between these two extremes. Please feel free to reach out at anytime to discuss your Air Nozzle, or any other compressed air solutions.

Thank you for stopping by,

Brian Wages

Application Engineer

EXAIR Corporation
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Cover photo by Kranich 17, licensed by Pixabay. Superman “S” photo by JayKingSta14, licensed by Pixabay.

NEW from EXAIR! The VariBlast Precision Safety Air Gun

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

EXAIR’s New VariBlast Precision Safety Air Gun provides a strong, focused blast of air ideal for use in a wide variety of blowoff applications and processes. This CE compliant, lightweight gun utilizes an engineered variable flow trigger that is capable of producing variable force upon the target by simply pulling the trigger. The comfortable, full finger trigger and convenient hanger loop are built-in to the ¼ NPT Safety Air Gun.

Utilizing our range of small Super Air Nozzles (available in both type 316 SS and PEEK plastic for non-marring applications), this gun has the ability to fit into tight spaces while still delivering a strong blowing force. The VariBlast Precision Safety Air Gun is available with an optional 12” or 20” extension (3” extension installed on base model guns) that can also be outfitted with an impact resistant polycarbonate Chip Shield. The air gun body itself is constructed of a high impact polyacetal material for durable use over many years.

All available models of the VariBlast Precision Safety Air Gun come outfitted with an engineered nozzle that cannot be dead-ended, assuring safe usage for your operators and meeting the required standards put forth by OSHA under 29 CFR 1910.242(b). With sound levels as low as 58 dBA with the Model 1808SS, these guns are also well below the allowable limits of noise exposure discussed by OSHA in 29 CFR 1910.95(a).   

Inexpensive air guns are commonly seen in a variety of catalogs and industrial supply companies. Most contain triggers or other components are constantly need replaced. Additionally, their performance is similar to that of an open pipe or tube and can be extremely wasteful, not to mention a potential OSHA violation.

All of EXAIR’s Safety Air Guns will help you operate efficiently & safely. If you would like to discuss your blowoff process with an EXAIR Application Engineer, give us a call. With products available to ship same day from stock, we can get a solution to you as quickly as tomorrow!

Tyler Daniel

Application Engineer

E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com

Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

Customizing Blow-off Applications

Published on by codybiehleLeave a comment

EXAIR Blowoff Systems are a combination of EXAIR air Nozzles, mag bases and Stay Set hoses. They are available in single or dual outlets and can change the length of the Stay Set Hose and/or the type of nozzle. The flexibility of this product comes in handy when an application require multiple point blowoff or requires different force values from each nozzle. Customizing allows you to fit the nozzles directly to the need of the application.

Example of an EXAIR Blowoff System – these can be customized with different nozzles or length of hose to suit your application best.

One example of this came from a customer who was running a 1950’s era Benchmaster OBI press to stamp out copper lamination and spring steel. There current set-up which can be seen bellow was not really that effective, was loose/floppy, and had been glued together. All of this made it hard for the Technician to line everything up to eject the parts. The technician reached out to us to see if we could substitute some nozzles on our dual Blow-off system with the stay set hose and dual port magnetic base (as seen above). We were able to piece together a special kit for them to swap out one of the 1103 Mini Super Air Nozzles with a 1126 1″ Flat Super Air Nozzle to match the current set-up.

The Customer’s current ejection set-up in the punch press

Customizing the nozzles in Blow-off systems can allow for better coverage on awkwardly shaped parts that might have a mix of both smooth surfaces and crevices. Also changing out the length of the Stay Set hoses that come with the kits can allow you to reach all sides when centrally located mounting is not applicable. Using two different length stay set hoses can also allow for two different blow off points to share the same mounting and air line; this means your maintenance team wont have to bring in multiple drops which I’m sure they will appreciate.

Not only can we customize blowoff systems for you, since we manufacture the products here in Cincinnati, OH, we can provide custom features and performance characteristics for you. Our wonderful team of Engineers (just don’t tell them I said that) can design special air knives, nozzles, and even air amplifiers to fit your needs. The image below shows custom Air Amplifiers (with customer specified flanges) that we have built. We can customize our products to fit your needs.

Custom Stainless Steel Sanitary Flange Air Amplifier
Special Curved Super Air Knife

If you have any questions about compressed air systems or want more information on any of EXAIR’s products, give us a call, we have a team of Application Engineers ready to answer your questions and recommend a solution for your applications.

Cody Biehle
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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The Importance Of Properly Sized Compressed Air Supply Lines

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

EXAIR Corporation manufactures a variety of engineered compressed air products that have been solving myriad applications in industry for almost 37 years now.  In order for them to function properly, though, they have to be supplied with enough compressed air flow, which means the compressed air supply lines have to be adequately sized.

A 20 foot length of 1/4″ pipe can handle a maximum flow capacity of 18 SCFM, so it’s good for a Model 1100 Super Air Nozzle (uses 14 SCFM @80psig) or a Model 110006 6″ Super Air Knife (uses 17.4 SCFM @80psig,) but it’s going to starve anything requiring much more air than those products.  Since compressed air consumption of devices like EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products is directly proportional to inlet pressure, we can use the flow capacity of the pipe, the upstream air pressure, and the known consumption of the EXAIR product to calculate the inlet pressure of a starved product.  This will give us an idea of its performance as well.

Let’s use a 12″ Super Air Knife, with the 20 foot length of 1/4″ pipe as an example.  The ratio formula is:

(P2 ÷ P1) C1 = C2, where:

P2 – absolute pressure we’re solving for*

P1 – absolute pressure for our published compressed air consumption, or C1*

C1 – known value of compressed air consumption at supply pressure P1

C2 – compressed air consumption at supply pressure P2

*gauge pressure plus 14.7psi atmospheric pressure

This is the typical formula we use, since we’re normally solving for compressed air consumption at a certain supply pressure, but, rearranged to solve for inlet pressure assuming the consumption will be the capacity of the supply line in question:

(C2 P1) ÷ C1 = P2

[18 SCFM X (80psig + 14.7psia)] ÷ 34.8 SCFM = 49psia – 14.7psia = 34.3psig inlet pressure to the 12″ Super Air Knife.

From the Super Air Knife performance chart…

This table is found on page 22 of EXAIR Catalog #32.

…we can extrapolate that the performance of a 12″ Super Air Knife, supplied with a 20 foot length of 1/4″ pipe, will perform just under the parameters of one supplied at 40psig:

  • Air velocity less than 7,000 fpm, as compared to 11,800 fpm*
  • Force @6″ from target of 13.2oz total, instead of 30oz*
  • *Performance values for a 12″ length supplied with an adequately sized supply line, allowing for 80psig at the inlet to the Air Knife.

Qualitatively speaking, if you hold your hand in front of an adequately supplied Super Air Knife, it’ll feel an awful lot like sticking your hand out the window of a moving car at 50 miles an hour.  If it’s being supplied with the 20 foot length of 1/4″ pipe, though, it’s going to feel more like a desk fan on high speed.

The type of supply line is important too.  A 1/4″ pipe has an ID of about 3/8″ (0.363″, to be exact) but a 1/4″ hose has an ID of only…you guessed it…1/4″.  Let’s say you have 20 feet of 1/4″ hose instead, which will handle only 7 SCFM of compressed air flow capacity:

[7 SCFM X (80psig + 14.7psia)] ÷ 34.8 SCFM = 19psia – 14.7psia = 4.3psig inlet pressure to the 12″ Super Air Knife.

Our Super Air Knife performance chart doesn’t go that low, but, qualitatively, that’s going to generate a light breeze coming out of the Super Air Knife.  This is why, for good performance, it’s important to follow the recommendations in the Installation Guide:

This table comes directly from the Installation & Operation Instructions for the Super Air Knife.
All Installation Guides for EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products contain recommended air supply line sizes for this very reason.  If you have any questions, though, about proper compressed air supply, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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