Over the years the basic vortex tube has been used in hundreds of industrial cooling applications. A few have become so popular as to warrant the development of an “applied product” designed to suit the specific application. These products include the Adjustable Spot Cooler, Mini Cooler, Cold Gun and Cabinet Coolers. All of these products can be found in our catalog and on our website.
The Mini Cooler™ is a proven way to reduce downtime and increase productivity on a variety of operations involving small parts where heat is a problem. It evolved out of the garment industry and is commonly used to cool needles and prevent breakage. EXAIR’s Mini Cooler produces a stream of 20°F (-7°C) cold air to prevent heat build-up. The Mini Cooler is particularly effective on high speed operations to prevent burning, melting and heat related breakage. Operation is quiet (76 dBA) and there are no moving parts to wear out.
The Mini Cooler incorporated a vortex tube to convert a small amount of compressed air into two low pressure streams, one moving within the other in opposite directions (see below). The two airstreams exchange heat, producing cold air from one end of the tube and hot air from the other. A flexible hose directs the cold airstream at the surface to be cooled.
The Mini Cooler produces instant cold air when compressed air is supplied to it. If less cold air is needed, the volume of cold air can be reduced by regulating the compressed air supply with the pressure regulator. Lower pressure give less cold flow and reduce compressed air consumption.
The Mini Cooler is an excellent spot cooler to prevent burning or breakage. If you have an application and have questions regarding which spot cooler is best for you please contact any of our Applications Engineers . EXAIR has the the expertise and products to provide solutions to your process problems.
That’s right, with the start of November this year we also start our Cold Gun promotion. This promotion runs from the start of November until December 31, 2022. The best part is that Cold Guns have a long history of providing spot cooling solutions for industry. Cold Guns have been cooling product and processes for over 35 years! Take advantage of the current promotion today!
The EXAIR Cold Gun promo is a great way to receive an additional tool to extend the use of the Cold Gun. With the purchase of a promotional Cold Gun System w/ Single Point Hose Kit or promotional High Power Cold Gun System w/ Single Point Hose Kit you will receive a Dual Point Hose Kit for free. This is a $48.00 USD value. The Cold Gun will drop your compressed air temperature by 54°F when operating at 100 psig inlet pressure. Choose the standard point tip or the 1″ fan tip to blow the cold air. The total length of the flexible discharge hose is around 11″. If more coverage is needed, the promotional Dual Point Hose Kit gives around 5-6″ of straight hose before splitting into two smaller lines that offer both point or fan tip nozzles as well. This dual point can be used to reach both sides of larger diameter cutters and components that need a blast of cool air.
The Cold Gun is easily setup in any machine that has a ferrous metal surface thanks to its integrated magnetic base that will hold the unit in place even when the machine is moving or vibrating. If you do not have ferrous metal available for the magnetic base, using rigid piping or even something like u-bolts to hold the unit into place is a common practice of customers who need the cooling and know the Cold Gun will perform.
Lastly, if you aren’t certain whether the Cold Gun is the solution, we have an entire team of Application Engineers here to discuss the application, and it is also backed by our 30-day guarantee so our US and Canadian based customers can order one, test it in their facility for 30 days. If they are not pleased with the performance for any reason, the item can be returned to EXAIR. If you want to discuss your application, contact us today!
EXAIR started writing Blogs in 2008. Since then, we have written well over 2000 Blogs. There is a ton of information in our Blog section on the website. There is most likely a Blog or 10 written about nearly each one of our products. These are primarily written by application engineers that know a thing or two about our products. There are also many application Blogs, that may be very relatable to what you are doing. When you journey to our Blog page (or simply click Blog form EXAIR.com), simply type in a key word or two in our search bar. This search bar is located just below the first row of published Blogs on the right hand of the screen, here is a screenshot of that section (right). You can also choose to follow our blog here as well.
As application engineers, we get asked questions every day. Many of these questions are best answered in one (or more) of these 2000+ Blogs. Many times a picture or video can answer your questions much more precisely than a quick conversation or an email. Many times we will send you a blog link to help. Drawing from my own experience, and asking the other Application Engineers for their lists, I wanted to put our most referenced blogs in one helpful location. I’ve categorized these the best that I can, and hopefully this will be a useful resource for you today, and in the future.
OPTIMIZING YOUR COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEM
Six Steps to Optimizing Your Compressed Air System
This is one of the key sections to our blogs. One of our main goals is to help you optimize your system. Here are 6 blogs that go into detail on each of these key points:
This is a product line that has a lot of maintenance questions, probably because these products are used to clean up dirt, and where there is dirt, there can be problems, clogs and leaks:
One of the most common questions we have concerns the Reversible Drum Vacuum (RDV) refurbishment Blog. The RDV is used on the Reversible Drum Vac, and the Chip Trapper products. We offer a refurb service for a fee, but most of the time you can do this on your own by watching and following this blog: Cleaning the Reversible Drum Vac
There are many more blogs and videos at your disposal. This is just a recap of many of our most used, most viewed and most helpful for the day-to-day conversations that happen here at EXAIR. If you have ideas for new blogs – we would love to hear that as well. Please feel free to reach out at any time for more information on any of our intelligent compressed air products.
Thank you for stopping by,
Brian Wages
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter
EXAIR offers industry leading Intelligent Compresses Air Products. Our products are engineered to comply with all relevant OSHA standards and are CE certified. When you purchase an EXAIR product, be it a Super Air Knife or a brass bulkhead fitting, you are expecting to receive a high quality and high performing product, and you will. If the product is not performing there is a very high probability that the problem is not the product.
So whatever could it be? And how can we fix the issue? Air supply going to the product is a common issue, so first we need to insure that there is a steady flow of the appropriate pressure and volume of air. Even though you may have a 100HP compressor, the distance form the product, the size of the pipes delivering the air, the smoothness of the inside of the pipes (is there internal rust and buildup), leaks and other restrictions of air flow rate all contribute to the overall performance.
A large majority of the product performance issues that are brought to us are caused by insufficient air supply in one form or another. Sometimes this is due to the overall size of the system, but many times it is at the point of use. Let’s assume that you have the right sized compressor to power all features in the shop. These next items are where we would want to focus and correct.
EXAIR Digital Flowmeter
Pro tip #1 – Use EXAIR Digital Flowmeters to monitor your air consumption. You should have a log of how much each compressed air tool / machine uses, and compare that to how much air is traveling down that leg of your facility. Leaks, corrosion, rust, and accidents happen. By monitoring and logging your SCFM in each major leg of your system, you will easily be able to narrow down root problems, and track leaks. You will also have solid answer when asked – “Do you have enough air for this?”.
Pressure Regulators “dial in” performance to get the job done without using more air than necessary.
Pro Tip #2 – Use a Tee Fitting and install a Pressure Regulator with Gauge at the point of use. This allows you to see, and control the pressure for each product. This removes all questions of air pressure at the point of use. Although your system seems large enough, many times the pressure is less at the point of use, due to restrictions, unknown leaks etc… Having the information from tip #1 and #2, you will easily be able to identify if your issue is the system, or the tool.
Pro Tip #2.5 – Turn it down (the pressure) if you can… Operate each compressed air application at a pressure just high enough for your desired result – not necessarily full line pressure. We have discussed in many other blogs how compressed air is your 3rd or 4th highest utility. If you optimize the pressure per application, you can save dollars. As a rule of thumb, if your system is operating at the 100 psig level, lowering the pressure by 2 psig will save 1% of energy used by the air compressor. A great example of this would be our Super Air Knives. Optimal use is at 80 psig, and “X” SCFM (based upon length of the Super Air Knife). At 80 psig and the proper SCFM, this flow will feel like having your hand out the window of your car when you are driving about 50 MPH. Your application may not need that much air flow, to get the job done. Turn it down and test it. Start at 80 psig and using the tools from tip #2, turn it up or down until your needs are met. Many of our products do not need to be used at full pressure to effectively solve your process problem.
Pro tip #3 – Use the proper sized lines, connectors and fittings. Pipe restriction can kill performance. Quick connects can be very problematic. Most quick connects are rated at the same size as the incoming pipe, tube or hose, but may actually have a much smaller inner diameter. As you can imagine, this oversight can cause significant performance issues, and end up costing more lack of production or defective product. Be it a quick connect, or any other connector or fitting, it is imperative not to restrict the air. This will result in problems, and lack of performance.
Please do not hesitate to reach to discuss any performance issues, or find out how we can help.
Thank you for stopping by,
Brian Wages
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter
