Tag: blowgun

Out Of This World

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One of the best parts about being an Application Engineer at EXAIR is the vast array of applications that customers call in with.  Every time the phone rings, a chat notification pops up, or an email to Techelp comes in, another interesting application presents itself and the process of helping to provide a solution begins.

Recently, I worked with an Optical Scientist working on the next class of giant ground-based telescopes that promises to to revolutionize our view and understanding of the universe.  He made contact with us via chat and said that he had seen a special Safety Air Gun being used to blow off a telescope mirror at a different telescope site.  He said the unit had black plastic nozzles, which was preferred, because they would not scratch or damage the mirror glass. After receiving a photo of the unit, we were able to identify it as the model 1213-4-PEEK, Super Blast Safety Air Gun, with 4 PEEK Nozzles (PEEK  = Polyetheretherketone, a thermoplastic).

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Model 1213-4-PEEK Super Blast Safety Air Gun

The Super Blast Safety Air Gun is one of the EXAIR  High Force Safety Air Gun offerings that provide a strong blowing force with the added convenience of a comfortable soft grip and easy to operate spring-loaded manual valve that automatically shuts off should it be dropped.  The Super Blast Safety Air gun is ideal for long distance, wide area blowoff, cooling and drying applications.  In the case of the telescope mirror application, the mirrors are outside and subject to dust and bird and bat “deposits.”  After a thorough washing, the Super Blast Safety Air Gun provides the method for drying the mirrors. At 8.4 meters in diameter, a strong, far reaching blast of air is required to ensure complete drying of the mirror surface.

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Array of 7 Mirror Surfaces

EXAIR offers a wide range of Safety Air Guns, from those offering small, precise blowoff of 2 ozs. up to large, strong blowing forces of 23 lbs.  To discuss your special blowoff, cooling or drying application, feel free to contact EXAIR and one our  Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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Image Courtesy of “Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation”

Controlling Supply Pressure, Controlling Flow

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“What is the lowest operating pressure and what kind of force can I expect?”. This is common question we get at EXAIR and the simple answer – it depends. Okay, that’s not so simple and it does matter what EXAIR product you are considering.

Take for example some of the vortex tube based cooling products, like our Cold Gun for dry machining and Cabinet Cooler Systems to purge and cool electrical enclosures. These particular products are designed to operate at 80-100 PSIG for optimal performance and efficient cooling capacity. They can be operated at lower pressure but their effectiveness and performance are reduced.

Most other products, and the problem they are solving vary in the amount of pressure needed for success. In many cases, the simplest method would be to use a pressure regulator. By incorporating a pressure regulator in a blowoff application, for example using our Air Nozzles or Safety Air Guns,  adjusting the supply pressure is the easiest way to control the output velocity and force of the airflow. Many applications don’t require full line pressure to achieve the desired result and operating at lower pressure provides a way to reduce compressed air usage and lower energy costs.

Click on picture for more information
Pressure Regulator with gauge for simple supply adjustment

Another way some of EXAIR’s products allow for easy adjustment is by incorporating a replaceable shim. Take for example our Air Knives – All of our Air Knives are shipped from stock with a .002″ shim installed. We offer Shim Sets for our aluminum knives that include a .001″, .003″ and .004″ shim  that allows you to either reduce the gap and cut your air usage and force in half. By installing the thicker shims, you can increase these properties by 1.5 times for the .003″ shim or double by installing the .004″. For our stainless steel knives, we offer shim sets which include (3) .002″ which can best stacked to provide more force and flow.

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Super Air Knife shims

Our Air Amplifiers feature patented shims that allow for the similar adjustments, resulting in large volumes of outlet airflow.

Super Air Amplifer w- shims
Super Air Amplifier and optional shim set

Our Air Wipes, which perform similar to our Air Knives but produce a 360″ ring of air to treat the surface of a hose , pipe, tube, etc. , are also shipped with .002″ shim installed with optional shim sets available.

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Shims for our Super and Standard Air Wipes

We also offer replaceable shims for our 1″ and 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzles for those applications requiring more of a focused airflow that needs that extra bit of force, like when trying to blow heavy grit off of a chain or blow reject parts from a conveyor.

Model 1126 (Zinc Aluminum) or 1126SS (316SS) 1" Flat Super Air Nozzles (left) have replaceable shims (middle), same as Model 1122 (Zinc Aluminum or Model 1122SS 2" Flat Super Air Nozzles (right.)
1″ and 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzles provide laminar airflow that can be easily adjusted.

As you can see, there are some viable options to fine tune your EXAIR product to provide the optimal performance. If you need any assistance or would like to discuss the specifics of a particular application, give us a call.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

 

 

 

 

EXAIR Webinar: Intelligent Compressed Air Solutions For OSHA Compliance

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On September 13th, 2016 at 2 PM EDT, EXAIR will be presenting a FREE webinar. During the short presentation, we will be covering the OSHA Standards for the safe use of compressed air when used for cleaning purposes.

The first topic we will discuss will pertain to the OSHA Standard 29 CFR 1910.242 (b) limiting the outlet pressure of an open pipe, tube, air gun, nozzle, etc. to less than 30 PSIG. When dead ended against the skin, air pressure above 30 PSI, can introduce air flow into the body, otherwise known as an air embolism. An air embolism can be an extremely dangerous condition which can cause serious injury, such as a stroke or possibly death.

Secondly, we will discuss the OSHA Standard 29 CFR 1910.95(a) for permissible noise exposure levels. In the Standard, OSHA has set exposure limits (in hours) for varying sound levels (dBA). When employees are subjected to sounds in excess of the limiting guidelines, some type of engineered controls should be used to reduce the sound level exposure. We will provide some useful statistics, as well as help you identify some common culprits found in many processes.

Lastly, we will show you how EXAIR provides engineered solutions that address both dead end pressure and noise exposure levels. All of EXAIR‘s blowoff devices feature some type of relief so if the exhaust airflow were somehow blocked or pressed against the skin, there is always a safe path for the air to exit, so the discharge pressure never exceeds 30 PSI. In addition, we will explain how our products reduce wind shear, ultimately lowering the sound level, save energy and help you gain OSHA compliance to avoid costly fines.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

 

 

EXAIR’s Efficiency Lab can Help With your Energy Audit, Quantify Savings and Provide an ROI

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

I recently received an inquiry from a customer to test their current air guns through our Efficiency Lab service. According to the operators, the handheld blow gun they were purchasing from a commercial retailer was too loud and complaints were rolling in.  They were also hoping to save some compressed air in the process as they were performing an energy audit at the same time.

Commercial Air Gun w/ Cross Cut Hole
Commercial Air Gun w/ Cross Cut Hole
Cross Cut Hole Nozzle
Cross Cut Hole Nozzle

The gun they sent in looked fairly similar to our Precision Safety Air Gun but it did not have an engineered nozzle on the tip of it.   Instead, it was simply a cross cut hole in a piece of material.   The air inlet to the gun was a 1/4″ NPT just like our Precision Safety Air Gun, the extension on the gun was slightly longer, the only significant variance I saw was the tip.

EXAIR Model 1410SS-CS
EXAIR Model 1410SS-CS
The Model 1110SS Nao Super Air Nozzle and Chip Shield
The Model 1110SS Nao Super Air Nozzle and Chip Shield

To try and get as much information as possible I measured the O.D. and I.D. of the extension, the hole size was approximately .140″.  I measured the extension on our Precision Safety Air Gun just to see what is different, it came in at the same size.  So, I flow tested the competitive blow gun with their tip on it and came up with air consumption of 12.69 SCFM, noise level of 92 dBA at 3′ away, and a blowing force of 11.5 oz at 80 psig.   I then measured the same attributes of EXAIR’s model 1410SS-CS Precision Safety Air Gun at 80 psig inlet pressure.  The model 1410SS-CS measured 8.3 SCFM, gave 8.1 ozs of working force, and only produced a 75 dBA sound level from 3′ away.

The sound level reduction was a total of 17 dBA which is below the OSHA standard for allowable noise level exposure, as well as reduced their air consumption by 4.39 SCFM.  That is almost a 35% reduction in their compressed air usage per gun replaced.  After seeing these levels of reduction the customer had more than enough information to provide management with in order to replace the blow guns not just for noise level reduction but also because it will reduce air use and save money. A clear supportive role in their energy audit.

If you would like to discuss how EXAIR can provide some free force, flow, and noise level testing for your facility, please contact an Application Engineer or check out the Efficiency Lab page on our site.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF