Tag: coffee

Static and Variance

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Okay, folks, it is time we seriously discuss how dry it is here in the MidWest right now and how much static there is anywhere we go. The dry air is the lack of moisture due to heat being used inside facilities, and thus, the static ramps up. If you didn’t understand much of those statements then it is okay, we have a whitepaper that covers the basics. The seriousness of the static in my home has reached critical mass. We are past the funny shocks and hair standing on the end humor side of static. We have reached a critical mass where it is no longer funny, my coffee is being affected by the ambient level of static charge.

That’s right, the coffee grinder I received for Christmas is riddled with static. Now, it is still functioning, thank goodness for that. The container that houses the fresh ground, the nectar of the gods making crushed beans, is made of polycarbonate material and is prime to hold a static charge. As the dry coffee beans are ground into obliteration there is a tremendous amount of friction which causes a very high charge on the ground bean discharge that goes into a very dry non-conductive container. This means the grinds all pile up and then also cling to every single surface on the interior of the small container. That’s fine, it still does not affect the performance of the grinder. Then, when I open the lid there is a detachment that happens and a small amount of that highly charged ground bean will start to dance all over the surfaces of the container, including outside of it and onto the counter. The end result is I have to constantly wipe up coffee grinds and I am wasting the grinds that give me the caffeine I intend to consume.

The dilemma here is that I don’t want to run compressed air into my kitchen, already have one project going on in the house. Secondly, my wife would not think it would be as entertaining as I would. So, I need a non-compressed air-assisted static eliminator that can plug straight into a voltage available here in the US, and let’s face it, coffee is a global consumption so 120 VAC and 230 VAC would be preferred. Enter, the VariStat Benchtop Ionizer.

The Varistat would easily mount to the wall over my coffee generation station and could be adjusted from a gentle breeze to where it doesn’t disturb the coffee grinds all the way up to a forceful blast in case the need would arise. I could also vary the balance of the unit to meet the atmospheric and surface conditions of the container.

Okay, so I’m probably not going to buy a Varistat Benchtop Ionizer and mount it to my kitchen wall. I would easily recommend it to any kind of hopper loader or regrind operation where the static is causing the materials to cling to the containers or causing nuisance shocks. This unit is easily sat on a bench top or mounted to a wall or ceiling over a hopper or workstation. Thanks to the operation of standard 120 VAC or 230 VAC it can function nearly anywhere in the world that has electricity.

If you would like to discuss coffee, what my favorite roasts are, or more importantly how can we make this work in our building, just let me know if you have some questions and we will get back to you quickly.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Compressed Air Use in the Agriculture Industry

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

The history of agriculture is really the history of civilization. Once our ancestors moved from hunting & gathering to herding & planting, the concepts of villages and trade took off, and here we are, living in the suburbs, exchanging currency for goods at the local supermarket. The methods in which these goods (the food we eat) are processed have evolved from everything being done by hand, to the use of an impressive degree of modern technology. Some of that technology involves compressed air – hence the subject of this blog. Consider:

  • Gasoline or diesel driven air compressors can power tools and pumps in areas where electricity isn’t available.
  • Fertilizers and pesticides are oftentimes sprayed onto crops using products like EXAIR Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles, which generate an even, controllable spray pattern & flow rate, while making extremely small droplet sizes for maximum coverage.
  • Air Operated Conveyors like EXAIR Line Vacs are widely used to move grain, soil, fertilizer, etc., quickly & easily from storage bins or hoppers.
As a coffee lover, there’s not much I enjoy more than specifying a Line Vac for use with coffee, like the one above being used to convey green coffee beans. They’re used for roasted and ground beans too!
  • Blowoff products like EXAIR Super Air Knives are ideal for cleaning and drying produce carried on conveyor belts.
Super Air Knife drying fruits and vegetables

I had the pleasure of assisting a caller with the selection of a wet-dry vacuum for cleanup operations on a dairy farm. Since it was going to be used in an area subject to liquid spills, they wanted a non-electric solution to eliminate shock hazards from dragging an extension cord across a wet floor. They needed a HEPA filter for silica dust, and wanted the ability to quickly change operation from vacuuming up that dust, to cleaning up liquid (like fresh milk) spills.

EXAIR Model 6303 Premium HEPA EasySwitch Wet-Dry Vac System fit the bill perfectly for them. It’s compressed air operated (so no shock hazard), with more than enough vacuum power for wet or dry cleanup, and the ability to easily switch (as advertised) from wet to dry operation. Also, with no moving parts to wear out, it’ll run darn near indefinitely, maintenance free, when supplied with clean compressed air.

For critical dust containment, the HEPA EasySwitch Wet-Dry Vac System is your durable, reliable, compressed air operated solution!

If you would like to read more about the kinds of applications in which our products help customers solve interesting application problems, please visit our Application Database under “Resources” on the website – (registration required, but it’s free & fast). This resource has details of the successful use of EXAIR products across dozens of industries – Agriculture included. In fact, it’s near the top of the list (to be fair, it’s alphabetical). If you’d like to find out more about how EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products can be used to your benefit, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Conveying Coffee Beans With EXAIR’s Line Vacs

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

We often take for granted the simple process of brewing a fresh pot of hot coffee in the morning. But do you ever consider where this coffee came from and how it made its way into your kitchen? We’ve documented the life of the coffee bean previously here on the EXAIR Blog.

For manufacturers looking for a way to convey bulk coffee beans (both before and after roasting or grinding), EXAIR’s Line Vac is the simple and easy solution. In many cases, this operation is performed manually by an operator. In applications where operators must manually lift loads of bulk material, this opens them up to a variety of potential risks and hazards.

EXAIR's Threaded Line Vac Family

The EXAIR Line Vac allows you to use an ordinary supply of compressed air and standard hose, tube, or pipe to turn that compressed air into a powerful conveying system. Installation is quick and easy. With no moving parts to wear out or replace, the Line Vac is a maintenance-free product that’ll not only keep your operators safe but also dramatically increase productivity.

This was the exact case for a customer of our Colombian Distributor (home of some of the best coffee beans in the world). They were seeking a method of transferring their whole and ground products automatically so as to eliminate any potential safety concerns to their personnel. What turned out as simply a means of increasing safety, also provided them with an ability to transfer the product more quickly.

They were manually moving bulk sacks of coffee at a rate of approximately 80kg/hr. With the Model 141100-316 (1” NPT Threaded 316 SS) Line Vac, they were able to convey 150 kg/hr of ground coffee and 250 kg/hr of coffee beans at a height of over 30’ (10m). So, not only did they eliminate a potentially hazardous process, but they were able to move nearly 2x the volume of coffee in the same time period.

EXAIR’s Line Vacs are available from stock in aluminum, type 303 & 316 stainless steel, and a hardened alloy steel for use in abrasive applications. Each style is offered with either smooth connections for use with smooth-bore hose, or with NPT threads depending on your preferred connection style.

Available to ship same day from stock with orders in by 2:00 ET and backed by our unconditional 30-day guarantee, there’s no excuse not to try one out in your process! If you’d like to discuss a possible application for our Line Vacs, feel free to get in touch with us via phone, chat, or e-mail.

Tyler Daniel
EXAIR Corporation
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

Coffee image courtesy of trophygeek via Flickr Creative Commons License

Line Vac Video: Air Operated Conveyor Conveying Raw Coffee Beans

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

At EXAIR we’re committed to providing customers with as much information as possible to ensure an application will work the way it’s intended. If it happens to be something we’ve dealt with before, it’s easy enough to make a recommendation. If it’s not, with EXAIR’s 30 Day Unconditional Guarantee getting something in-house to test comes with no risk at all. If it doesn’t work, just send it back, simple as that!

coffee-1291656_960_720

If it is something that we can test ourselves, we’re more than happy to. We recently have taken several requests from customers in the coffee industry, all looking for a similar solution: conveying raw coffee beans. While we were confident in the ability of the Line Vac to transfer those beans, it wasn’t a material that we had ever actually tested here in our shop. A quick trip down the road to a local coffee roaster, and we had some raw coffee beans that we could use for a quick conveyance test. Check out the video below of my colleague John Ball and I conducting a test with our Model 6084 2” Line Vac:

If you’re looking to convey bulk materials using the Line Vac, but have reservations regarding the performance, you can also send a sample of your material in for testing here at EXAIR. We’ll be happy to put the conditions of your application to the test and share the results with you. If you’ve been manually transferring bulk material and are looking for a safer, reliable, and efficient solution the Line Vac is the right tool for the job. With a variety of sizes and materials all available from stock, we’re able to address countless applications and achieve a wide variety of conveyance rates.

The conveyance rate of the Line Vac is easily adjusted. By regulating the input pressure supplied to the Line Vac, not only can you reduce the necessary compressed air demand but you can also control the amount of material flow. Higher pressures will move material, while lower pressures will reduce compressed air consumption. If you need help determining which size and material is most suitable for your application don’t hesitate to get in touch with an EXAIR Application Engineer today. Stop having your operators climbing up and down that ladder to dump material!

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD