Tag: conveyor pneumatic tube

Threaded Line Vacs: Low Cost Conveyor Uses Ordinary Pipe!

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EXAIR’s Threaded Line Vac air operated conveyor takes an ordinary pipe and converts it into a powerful conveying system.  A fast, low cost way to convey items such as pellets, scrap trim, bulk solids, chips, paper, small parts, sawdust, granules, and so much more. The Threaded Line Vac attached easily to plumbing pipe couplers, like PVC or iron, making it easy to build a complete system with parts readily available from your local supply house or hardware store.

The Threaded Line Vac are ideally suited for conveying large volumes of materials over long distances.  Like the standard, smooth bore ended Line Vacs, the unit works by ejecting a small amount of compressed air to produce a vacuum suction on the inlet side and a high output flow from the outlet side.  By using a pressure regulator to control the compressed air supply pressure, the rate of conveyance can be controlled to match the application needs, while minimizing the compressed air usage.

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Models are available from 3/8 NPT to 3 NPT with materials of construction of aluminum and types 313 and 316 stainless steels (excellent corrosion resistance.)  High temperature versions of the stainless steel Threaded Line Vacs are available as well, for temperatures up to 900°F.

For those processes requiring the highest rates of conveyance over the longest distances and/or the most abrasive of materials, the Heavy Duty Threaded Line Vac is the right choice.  Designed with the most rugged industrial processes and applications in mind, the special hardened alloy construction helps prevent premature wear that could occur with standard aluminum or stainless steel models, under the harshest of conditions.  The performance has been boosted, to be able to convey more material, over longer distances and higher vertical rises.

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To select the right model, information regarding these criteria is helpful-

  • Size of parts and bulk density of material being conveyed
  • What size hose, tube, or pipe is desired
  • Target conveyance rate
  • Distance of conveyance, both horizontal and vertical legs
  • Preferred material of construction

For another look, please see the video available that provides more details about the Line Vac family.

If you would like to talk about Line Vacs or any of the EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Products, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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Heavy Duty Line Vac Helps to Fill a Scrubber with Aluminum Pellets

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
Aluminum granules

An overseas company was using aluminum granules to react with caustic vapors inside a scrubber system.  The scrubber was a large tank that stood 4 meters high (13 feet), and it was located outside of the facility (see photo below).  Their current process was to refill the scrubber tank with aluminum pellets every three to four months to replenish the bed.  In order to refill, they would use a ladder with a bucket to pour the aluminum in the top opening of the tank.  This was a time-consuming process as well as an unsafe practice.  They contacted EXAIR to see if we could help them.

Scrubber Filling scenario

In discussing the details further about their application, the aluminum pellets were stored in 208L (55 gallon) drums.  The diameter of the pellets ranged from 5 to 15mm (0.2 to 0.6 inches) and the bulk density was 1500 Kg/m^3 (94 lbs/ft^3).  The maximum conveyance distance was 4 meters (13 feet) horizontally and 4 meters (13 feet) vertically.  The customer required a simple device to transfer the material from the drums to the scrubber tank safely and ergonomically at the fastest conveyance rate possible.

Heavy Duty Line Vac Kit

From the information above, I recommended the EXAIR model 152200; 2” Heavy Duty Line Vac Kit.  This vacuum generator is made from a hardened steel construction which is very resistant to wear.  It is also designed for higher vacuum levels to convey heavier materials at a faster rate.  The Line Vac is operated by compressed air to generate a Venturi vacuum, and the kit will include a filter, regulator and a bracket for cleaning, controlling and mounting.  The vacuum generator does not have any motors or moving parts to wear, and the inline design makes it simple to attach a hose to the vacuum and exhaust side.  Now, the operator could place the hose inside the scrubber tank, stand near the drum with the Line Vac; open a valve to regulated air, and watch the Line Vac move the entire drum of aluminum granules inside the tank.  Instead of multiple trips up and down a ladder to pour in buckets of aluminum, the operators can fill the scrubber tank easily and quickly.

The EXAIR Air Operated Conveyors, or Line Vacs™, are great tools for conveying items in a “bucket and ladder” type of application.  If your company manually moves product from point A to point B, you can contact an EXAIR Application Engineer to see if an Air Operated Conveyor could improve your process.  For the overseas customer above, the model 152200 Heavy Duty Line Vac Kit improved the manual operation of filling while reducing hazardous issues.

John Ball
Application Engineer

Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

 

EXAIR’s Super Air Amplifier Removes Scrap Label Trim

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment
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Placement of the Super Air Amplifier tucked away in the machine

Recently I worked with our distributor in Peru that had a customer who was experiencing a nuisance issue one of their production lines. The company is a graphics company that serves many different food manufacturers in the Peruvian market. In this case, they were making a label for a salad dressing company. During the converting process, scrap trim is produced. This was falling to the ground, building up over time, and eventually would need to be cleaned up. To do so, they had to stop production and have an operator manually clean up the mess before restarting the machine.

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EXAIR’s Model 120021

Enter EXAIR’s Model 120021 Super Air Amplifier. The customer positioned the amplifier so that it would catch the scrap trim and convey it away from the machine. They positioned a waste receptacle about 6’ away and ducted the amplifier to carry the scrap to this bin. This eliminated their need to stop production and allowed them to run continuously. Before installing the Super Air Amplifier, they had to stop the machine approximately 4x or more per day for cleanup. At 10 minutes per, this was 40 minutes of lost production time per day! After proving the concept on this machine, the customer now plans to outfit another 3 with the same setup.

Because the material was so light and was only traveling a short distance, the Super Air Amplifier was a suitable solution. We’ve blogged in the past about similar applications where scrap trim is conveyed using a Line Vac. This is also a suitable solution, the Line Vac can be sized to accommodate your material and prevent excess scrap from accumulating and causing problems in your processes.

If you have a converting application that produces scrap trim, give us a call. We can help size an appropriate solution and make sure you’re not wasting valuable production time cleaning up the mess!

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

When Efficiency And Practicality Collide

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Even if you’re a casual reader of our blogs, you already know that EXAIR Application Engineers LOVE to preach efficiency in the use of compressed air…it’s our “bread and butter;” the very nature of our business. This year, we’re celebrating thirty-five years of leading the way in the development of efficient, safe, and quiet compressed air products. Our track record of success as a solutions provider across a diverse range of industrial and commercial applications is well documented in our blogs, as well as Knowledge Base and Case Study Libraries.  We devote considerable resources (engineering, research & development, product testing, etc.) to making certain that EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products cost less to operate, and perform better, than whatever you’re using right now.

Strange as it may seem, though, sometimes our products are EXTREMELY popular in cases where they INCREASE a facility’s consumption of compressed air…by replacing something that DOESN’T use compressed air at all:

*I’ve written before about how our Large Maximum Cold Temperature Vortex Tubes have replaced liquid nitrogen rigs in freeze sealing operations.  Now, a Vortex Tube directs a portion of its air supply to (usually) unusable hot exhaust, in order to generate the usable flow of cold air.  When compared to the costs of liquid nitrogen and the resources involved to get it where it needs to be, though, the cost of the compressed air needed to operate the Vortex Tube is indeed the practical solution.

A 1/4 ton of refrigeration from a product that fits in the palm of your hand, and all you need is a supply or compressed air!

*Line Vacs are probably THE prime example of the value of using compressed air where it wasn’t used before…replacing a “bucket and ladder” operation:

Straight from our Catalog, a perfect example of using valuable compressed air to save even more valuable resources.

*Then there are the situations that just come down to time.  In large spaces, our Super Blast Safety Air Guns can be used to “sweep” the floor in a fraction of the time it takes an operator with a push broom.

Super Blast Safety Air Gun makes short work of large area cleanup.

To make a long story just a little bit longer…if you’re using compressed air, you can use it better with EXAIR’s engineered compressed air products.  And there are plenty of practical applications where you’re not using compressed air right now too.  If you’d like to find out more about either one, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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