Tag: datalogger

Using EXAIR Digital Flow Meters

Published on by jasonkirbyLeave a comment

One of the primary contributors to issues with compressed air systems is inefficiency stemming from waste. Common culprits include open pipe blow-offs, air leaks, and malfunctioning nozzles, all of which can hinder the performance of an air compressor, making it difficult to maintain optimal pressure levels. The implementation of Digital Flowmeters offers a solution by enabling precise monitoring of this waste. By temporarily shutting down the compressed air system and isolating specific sections, operators can identify leaks; any flow detected during this isolation indicates the presence of air leaks, which can account for a staggering loss of up to one-third of the system’s compressed air capacity. Additionally, replacing open pipe blow-offs and defective or inferior nozzles with engineered products from EXAIR can significantly mitigate waste. The use of Digital Flowmeters not only provides a clear visual representation of reduced compressed air consumption but also facilitates straightforward calculations of cost savings and return on investment, making it an invaluable tool for enhancing system efficiency.

In facilities that operate around the clock in three shifts, continuous monitoring of the compressed air system is crucial to ensure optimal performance. The implementation of Digital Flowmeters, which offer features such as USB Dataloggers or serial communication, facilitates this monitoring process. For instance, I recently collaborated with a company that experienced frequent machine shutdowns attributed to a low-pressure switch, particularly during the third shift, occurring approximately once a week. To address this issue, they installed a Digital Flowmeter equipped with a USB Datalogger, which enabled them to track the specific day and time of the incidents. Through this data, they discovered that the third shift custodian was regularly emptying the water from the reservoir tank of the compressed air system, inadvertently causing the pressure drop that led to the shutdowns. Without the insights gained from the Digital Flowmeter, identifying the root cause of the problem would have been significantly more challenging.

EXAIR’s Digital Flowmeter w/ USB Data Logger

EXAIR offers a comprehensive range of Digital Flowmeters designed for various piping systems, including sizes from ½” to 4” for Schedule 40 black pipe, with the capability to accommodate up to 8” in this category. Additionally, we provide options for ¾” to 4” in copper piping and from 25mm to 101mm in aluminum tubing. For unique requirements, EXAIR is equipped to calibrate flowmeters to meet specific sizes and types. Our product line also includes Pressure Sensing Digital Flowmeters, which allow for simultaneous measurement of pressure and flow, as well as Hot-Tap Digital Flowmeters that can be installed on pressurized pipes without interrupting the flow. To enhance user experience, we offer a Summing Remote Display, enabling visualization of flow data in more accessible locations. For effective monitoring, our Digital Flowmeters come with a USB Datalogger that captures data for graphing purposes, alongside a 4-20 mA output for seamless data acquisition, with an optional serial output available for further integration.

If you have any questions about Digital Flowmeters, or anything regarding EXAIR and our products, please do not hesitate to reach out. We would love to hear from you!

Jason Kirby
Application Engineer
Email: jasonkirby@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jk

Digital Flowmeters: A Benefit for Compressed Air Systems.

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

The compressed air system is the “heart” of most industrial plants.  And just like your heart, monitoring this system is very important.  It is expensive to make compressed air, and if you do not have any controls, you could waste money and give a poor performance to your pneumatic system.  EXAIR has a range of Digital Flowmeters that can help provide information about your system.   

First, let’s look at how the Digital Flowmeter can help to solve problems, monitor anomalies, and determine preventative measures. 

Solving problems: One of the biggest reasons for compressed air problems is waste.  With open pipe blow-offs, air leaks, and broken nozzles, the air compressor cannot keep up.  With the Digital Flowmeters, they can monitor that waste.  For leaks, you can turn the compressed air system off and isolate sections.  If you see a flow measurement during this time, then there are air leaks.  Air leaks are known to waste up to one-third of your compressed air capacity.  Another technique for finding waste is to replace open pipe blow offs, broken or substandard nozzles with EXAIR engineered products.  Digital Flowmeters provide a visual flow measurement of the reduction in compressed air usage, and it is an easy way to calculate cost savings and pay back.

Monitor Anomalies: With facilities that operate three shifts, it is important to monitor the compressed air system for 24 hours.  The Digital Flowmeters have options like a USB Datalogger or serial communication to monitor.  I recently worked with a company that had system shutdowns on their machines due to a low-pressure switch.  This event would happen about once a week on the third shift.   They determined the reason for the shutdown was by installing a Digital Flowmeter with a USB Datalogger.  They were able to determine the day and time when the problem occurred.  What they found was the third shift custodian would empty the water from the reservoir tank in their compressed air system.  They would not have been able to pinpoint their problem otherwise. 

Preventive Measures: A blow molding facility used the Digital Flowmeters to monitor the amount of air required to run each size of plastic bottle.  If the amount of air flow was too high or too low, he knew that there was either a set-up issue or the machine needed to be reconditioned.  With pneumatic equipment like valves and cylinders, the seals wear overtime.  Using Digital Flowmeters, he could create a Preventive Maintenance schedule to repair the machine instead of waiting for a failure to occur and stop its operation. 

EXAIR’s Digital Flowmeter w/ USB Data Logger

EXAIR stocks Digital Flowmeters from ½” to 4” for Schedule 40 black pipe.  We can get them up to 8” Schedule 40 black pipe.  We also have them for ¾” to 4” in copper pipe and from 25mm to 101mm in aluminum tubing.  If you have a special size or type, EXAIR can calibrate them for these sizes.  We can supply an option to measure pressure and flow with our Pressure Sensing Digital Flowmeters, and we can offer a Hot-Tap Digital Flowmeter to mount onto a pressurized pipe.  For an additional item, we do have a Summing Remote Display to visualize the flow in more convenient areas.  For monitoring, the Digital Flowmeter has a USB Datalogger which stores the information for graphing.  It also has a 4 – 20 mA output for data acquisition, and an optional serial output. 

Getting more information can help paint a broader picture of the health of your compressed air system.  The Digital Flowmeter can give you some key information.  Instead of a mystery black box in the backroom, the Digital Flowmeter can measure, monitor, and store the flow information which can be vital.  If you wish to discuss more, an Application Engineer at EXAIR will be happy to assist you.  Optimizing your compressed air system will help eliminate it from having a “coronary”.   

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com

Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Picture: Electrocardiogram by Clker-Free-Vector-Images.  Pixabay content license.

EXAIR Digital Flowmeters With Wireless Capability

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is a well-known axiom in engineering & process improvement circles.  We talk to callers every day who are keen on conserving compressed air use in their facilities by making a few tweaks, considering a complete overhaul, or more often, some point in between.  Bottom line (literally) is, compressed air isn’t cheap, so small gains in efficiency can add up.  And large gains can be complete game-changers…following our Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System has resulted in users being able to shut down 50 and 100 HP air compressors, saving thousands of dollar A MONTH in operating costs.

Step #1 is measurement, and that’s where the EXAIR Digital Flowmeter comes in.  They’re easy to install, highly accurate, extremely reliable, and available for just about any size pipe used for compressed air distribution.  They can output a 4-20mA signal straight from their PCB board, or serial comms (RS485) through an optional control board.  USB Data Loggers and Summing Remote Displays have proven to be value-added accessories for data management as well.

Summing Remote Display (left) for remote indication and totalizing data. USB Data Logger takes data from the Digital Flowmeter to your computer and outputs to its own software (shown above) or Microsoft Excel.

If you want to go wireless, we can do that too: using ZigBee mesh network protocol, a radio module is installed in the Digital Flowmeter with wireless gateway to transmit data to an Ethernet connected gateway.  The transmitting range is 100 ft (30 meters,) and the data can be passed from one radio module to another, allowing for multiple Digital Flowmeter installations to extend the distance over which they can communicate with the computer you’re using for central monitoring.  Advantages include:

  • Wireless monitoring of EXAIR Digital Flowmeters throughout your plant.
  • Prevents unwanted joining upon the network.
  • Monitoring software is included at no extra charge.
  • Measures & transmits both current air usage, and cumulative air usage data.
  • 128 bit encryption for wireless transmissions.
  • Comes configured & programmed, out of the box, available for installation on 1/2″ to 4″ SCH40 iron pipe, or 3/4″ to 4″ Type L copper pipe.

Digital Flowmeter w/ Wireless Capability, Gateway, and Drill Guide Kit

If you’d like to find out more about how easy it is to measure, manage, and optimize your compressed air usage, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System – Step 1: Measure

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

“To measure is to know – if you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”
-Lord Kelvin, mathematical physicist, engineer,and pioneer in the field of thermodynamics.

This is true of most anything. If you want to lose weight, you’re going to need a good scale. If you want to improve your time in the 100 yard dash, you’re going to need a good stopwatch. And if you want to decrease compressed air consumption, you’ll need a good flowmeter. In fact, this is the first of six steps that we can use to help you optimize your compressed air system.

Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System

There are various methods of measuring fluid flow, but the most popular for compressed air is thermal mass air flow.  This has the distinct advantage of accurate and instantaneous measurement of MASS flow rate…which is important, because measuring VOLUMETRIC flow rate would need to be corrected for pressure in order to determine the true compressed air consumption.  My colleague John Ball explains this in detail in a most excellent blog on Actual (volume) Vs. Standard (mass) Flows.

So, now we know how to measure the mass flow rate.  Now, what do we do with it?  Well, as in the weight loss and sprint time improvements mentioned earlier, you have to know what kind of shape you’re in right now to know how far you are from where you want to be.  Stepping on a scale, timing your run, or measuring your plant’s air flow right now is your “before” data, which represents Step One.  The next Five Steps are how you get to where you want to be (for compressed air optimization, that is – there may be a different amount of steps towards your fitness/athletic goals.)  So, compressed air-wise, EXAIR offers the following solutions for Step One:

Digital Flowmeter with wireless capability.  This is our latest offering, and it doesn’t get any simpler than this.  Imagine having a flowmeter installed in your compressed air system, and having its readings continually supplied to your computer.  You can record, analyze, manipulate, and share the data with ease.

Monitor your compressed air flow wirelessly over a ZigBee mesh network.

Digital Flowmeter with USB Data Logger.  We’ve been offering these, with great success, for almost seven years now.  The Data Logger plugs into the Digital Flowmeter and, depending on how you set it up, records the flow rate from once a second (for about nine hours of data) up to once every 12 hours (for over two years worth.)  Pull it from your Digital Flowmeter whenever you want to download the data to your computer, where you can view & save it in the software we supply, or export it directly into Microsoft Excel.

From the Digital Flowmeter, to your computer, to your screen, the USB Data Logger shows how much air you’re using…and when you’re using it!

Summing Remote Display.  This connects directly to the Digital Flowmeter and can be installed up to 50 feet away.  At the push of a button, you can change the reading from actual current air consumption to usage for the last 24 hours, or total cumulative usage.  It’s powered directly from the Digital Flowmeter, so you don’t even need an electrical outlet nearby.

Monitor compressed air consumption from a convenient location, as well as last 24 hours usage and cumulative usage.

Digital Flowmeter.  As a stand-alone product, it’ll show you actual current air consumption, and the display can also be manipulated to show daily or cumulative usage. It has milliamp & pulse outputs, as well as a Serial Communication option, if you can work with any of those to get your data where you want it.

With any of the above options, or stand-alone, EXAIR’s Digital Flowmeter is your best option for Step One to optimize your compressed air system.

Stay tuned for more information on the other five steps.  If you just can’t wait, though, you can always give me a call.  I can talk about compressed air efficiency all day long, and sometimes, I do!