Tag: DFM

Pressure Sensing Flow Meters

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

If you are looking to add some control to your compressed air system, one of the first things you need to do is understand the baseline for where your system is. This includes, of course, the volume of compressed air you are providing, but also the pressure at which your system is seeing as well. This is especially important when you have an application that is very pressure dependent like a CNC mill tool changer.

The Pressure Sensing Digital Flowmeters are available from 2″ Sched. 40 Iron Pipe up to 8″ Sched. 40 Iron Pipe.  As well as 2″ to 4″ copper pipes.  These will be read out and with additional data logger as well, so you can track the pressure over the course of every shift, and even days.

Generating a pressure and consumption profile of a system can help to pinpoint energy wasters such as timer-based drains that are dumping every hour versus level-based drains that only open when needed. A scenario similar to this was the cause of an entire production line being shut down nearly every day of the week for a local facility until they installed flowmeters and were able to narrow the demand location down to a filter baghouse with a faulty control for the cleaning cycle.

If you’re serious about getting the most out of your compressed air use, the very first step in EXAIR’s Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System is literally a great place to start.

Six Steps to Optimizing Your Compressed Air System

Here are some blogs on the other steps!

Step #1- Step 1 – Measure your Air

Step #2- Step 2 – Finding and fixing leaks

Step #3- Step 3 – Use Efficient and Quiet Engineered Products

Step #4- Step 4 – Turn the air off while its not in use

Step #5- Step 5 – Install Secondary Receiver Tanks

Step #6 – Step 6 – Control the air pressure

If you would like to discuss the best digital flowmeter for your system and to better understand the benefits of pressure sensing, please contact us. To find out more, give me a call.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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Tool Changer Photo courtesy of Luke Gilliam via creative commons

Pressure Monitoring Not Just For Air Systems

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

This past weekend we celebrated Labor Day. My family and I had the pleasure of going to a friend’s property and parking an RV to “glamp” for the weekend. The trip is only about 3-1/2 hours from our homes and when traveling in the RV it is a slow and steady wins the race kind of trip. One of the first things I do when we are prepping for the trip is to check tire pressure. Then, the last thing I do before we leave is check tire pressures.

While at their property we did the same on all of their vehicles, two side-by-side UTVs, and their boat trailer. When looking at each of these, almost all of them were low. Now, these items all sit more than they are used and only see movement maybe once a month. The weather here in the area, including Kentucky has been getting cooler in the evenings which causes the air in tires to start to take up less space and so the pressure drops. Well, after checking and filling, we went out and everything was great, until it wasn’t. When we loaded up the boat we noticed one of the tires was nearly on the rim of the trailer. With no tools on hand and a short drive, we elected to make the drive and inspect when we got back to home ground rather than in a public parking lot where someone had already offered to help if need be. Once we arrived, we inspected the tire and found no obvious signs for it to be so low on pressure. We filled it up again and let it sit for the night. After breakfast the next day we found the tire was still holding air so we assumed that when we checked the pressure initially it was at a good pressure and by doing so something must have stuck in the valve causing it to have a slow leak. Once that was seated and good, the tire held air, and we were good to roll for another day.

This made me realize how important pressure monitoring is on tires for certain vehicles and led me to install a continuous pressure monitoring system on the RV that we took. Being able to monitor tire temperature and pressure is critical and catching low pressure before it causes other issues can help reduce damage or catastrophic failure significantly. This also all made me connect my thoughts to the EXAIR Digital Flowmeters which are available with pressure sensing capabilities. These can easily be installed into a system and then be used to monitor your industrial system and potentially see issues before catastrophic failures or downtimes due to a loss of compressed air.

If you want to discuss what a Pressure Sensing Digital Flowmeter can do in your facility or even if you want to troubleshoot why you are seeing a drop in performance and how to even go about troubleshooting your entire air system, don’t hesitate to contact an Application Engineer.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

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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Advantages of Thermal Mass or Thermal Dispersion Flow Measurement

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EXAIR’s Digital Flow Meter offers an easy way to measure, monitor and record compressed air consumption. The Digital display shows the current amount of compressed air flow, allowing for tracking to identify costly leaks and/or inefficient air users.

dfm

How exactly does the Digital Flow Meter work?  The unit falls under the category of Thermal Mass or Thermal Dispersion type flow meters.  Below shows the backside of a unit.

IMG_7387

Thermal mass flow meters have the advantage of using a simple method of measuring flow without causing a significant pressure drop. The EXAIR units have (2) probes that are inserted through the pipe wall and into the air flow.  Each of the probes has a resistance temperature detector (RTD.) One of the probes measures the temperature of the air flow.  The other probe is heated to maintain a preset temperature difference from the temperature measured by the first probe.  The faster the air flow, the more heat that is required to keep the second probe at the prescribed temperature.  From Heat Transfer principles, the heat energy input required to maintain the preset temperature is based on the mass velocity of the air.  Using basic physical properties for compressed air, the volumetric rate can be determined (SCFM), and displayed.

It is important to note that the compressed air should be filtered to remove oils, and dried to remove water, as these liquids have different physical properties from air, and will cause erroneous readings.

Advantages

  • Easy to install – No cutting or welding required
  • Summing Remote Display and Data Logger available
  • Sensitive at low flows
  • Rugged, reliable and no moving parts
  • No calibration or set-up required
  • Models from 1/2″ to 4″ schedule 40 iron pipe in stock
  • Short lead time for sizes up to 6″ Schedule 40 iron pipe
  • Available for size 3/4″ to 4″ copper pipe
  • New Wireless Capability

If you have any questions about the Digital Flow Meter 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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