Tag: droplet size

Hot Off The Press (Release): EXAIR Catalog #35

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

If you’re a registered user on our website, you likely got word of this already through our August 15, 2023 Press Release. If not – or even if you did and want some more details – read on, and I’ll tell you all about it.

Like all of our previous catalogs, Catalog #35 provides specification, dimensional, and performance data on all of our stock products. Many of them include detailed descriptions of “textbook” applications for those products. You’ll also find:

  • Efficiency Lab (page 6): If you want a full performance report on a compressed air device you’re using right now, this is a free service we offer. Contact an Application Engineer and arrange to have it sent in. We’ll test it for compressed air consumption, force applied, and sound level, and send you a report on it. It’ll include, of course, the EXAIR engineered product(s) that we’ll recommend, along with performance data on them, as a comparison.
  • Our Six Steps (page 7): The first page of our Optimization section details the Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System. It’s not necessary to follow them in order, and not all of them are applicable to every single compressed air system. But if you’re serious about reducing your compressed air costs, this is a comprehensive plan on how to do it for sure.
  • OSHA Maximum Allowable Noise Exposure table & typical Air Consumption values of common “homemade” blow offs (page 53): We put this here so you can turn the next few pages and see what a difference engineered products like EXAIR Super Air Nozzles can make.
  • Droplet Size data (page 98): Use this to determine the suitability of our Atomizing Spray Nozzles for liquid spraying applications.
  • Vortex Tube Specification and Performance tables (pages 201-202): If you know how much cold air flow you need, and at what temperature you need it, you can use these tables to determine which EXAIR Vortex Tube (or other Spot Cooling Product) to use.
  • Cabinet Cooler System Sizing Guide (page 220): Just fill in the blanks & send this in, and we’ll quickly & accurately calculate the heat load of your electrical/electronic enclosure, and specify the right Cabinet Cooler System for you.

Now, if you’ve ever had any of our previous catalogs, you might have noticed that those were already in there, and that’s all pretty great. What’s REALLY great about Catalog #35, though, is some of the new features:

  • Line Vac Conveyance Data (pages 176-177): While there’s WAY too many variables in bulk conveyance applications to accurately calculate conveyance rates. We’ve done some controlled, in-house testing with several different materials, several different Line Vacs, at several different lengths & heights, though, and we’re proud to publish that in the new catalog. This shouldn’t be considered a guarantee of performance, but if you’re wondering how much of a particular bulk material you can convey, this table will certainly get you in the right ballpark.
  • Best Practice for Using EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products (pages 239-240): This information has always been in the Air Data files on our website, along with an ABUNDANCE of data that’ll help you get the most out of your compressed air system. Now, it’s at your fingers.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I wrote a whole blog on the new catalog without mentioning the new products:

  • Model 9207 Ultrasonic Leak Detector (pages 18-19): This serves the same function as the now-obsolete Model 9061, but with some handy upgrades like a LED display, a sleek new body, and high quality ear buds.
Use the Model 9207 Ultrasonic Leak Detector’s parabola to find the vicinity of the leak, and the tubular extension to identify its exact location.
  • 1/2 NPT HollowStream Cone Atomizing Nozzles (page 105): With five new distinct models at the high-flow end of our already comprehensive line of Liquid Atomizing Spray Nozzles, these provide up to 53 gallons per minute of liquid flow, and are capable of passing particulate up to 0.344″ in diameter.
The Hollow Cone spray pattern is ideal for cooling, cleaning, foam breaking, rinsing, and dust suppression. It also uses considerably less liquid than the FullStream models, when higher flow rate isn’t necessary.
EXAIR’s ATEX Cabinet Cooler Systems provide heat protection for electrical enclosures in potentially explosive atmospheres, like those found on offshore drilling platforms, petrochemical plants, mines, flour mills, etc.

Like our previous catalogs, Catalog 35 is now available for download (in product line sections due to file size) from the PDF Library at EXAIR.com. You can also request a copy to be mailed to you, or you can contact an Application Engineer to have individual product line sections (again, because of file size) email to you right away.

As always, if you’d like to talk about how to get the most out of your compressed air system, our team of Application Engineers are here Monday to Friday, 7am to 4pm Eastern, to help with that. Give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Another Spray Nozzle, Another Award

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

EXAIR Corporation’s Research & Development team often finds themselves at odds with our Marketing department, who thinks R&D, through their constant introduction of new ideas & products, is trying to turn our catalog into something resembling a phone book.

This mass of paper, my dear Millennial friends, was key to effective communications in the 20th Century.

I do not believe that is their aim or intention, though (and to be fair, Marketing doesn’t either.)  Honestly, we just want to help folks in a wide range of industries solve problems.  And a diverse range of engineered compressed air products is our tried-and-true, successful method for doing so.

Over the past few years, EXAIR has worked hard on expanding our line of Atomizing Spray Nozzles with different sizes, flow rates, and spray patterns to meet most any need for a fine, controllable liquid spray.  Most recently, our efforts were rewarded when our Model AT5010SS 1/2 NPT 360° Hollow Circular Pattern Atomizing Spray Nozzle earned recognition by Plant Engineering as a 2018 Product of the Year, in the Fluid Handling category.

If you need to spray liquid over a large area, this is the spray nozzle you’re looking for.  It can cover a 13 foot diameter with up to 150 gallons per hour.

Model AT5010SS 1/2 NPT 360° Hollow Circular Pattern Atomizing Spray Nozzles are ideal for smooth, even coatings in large pipe or duct ID’s, or for a mist or fog over a large area.

EXAIR Corporation offers a wide variety of Liquid Atomizing Nozzles, enough to fill a phonebook where we’re certain to have one that fits your spraying needs.  To find out more, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Benefits of Atomized Liquid Nozzles vs. Liquid Nozzles

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

There are a great many applications that require a spray (as opposed to a stream) of liquid. Certain droplet sizes, and flow rates, are beneficial for certain applications. For example, if you’re fighting a fire, you want as high of a flow rate as possible – the more water you douse the fire with, the quicker it goes out.  You also want a fairly large droplet size, since a mist would tend to evaporate instead of extinguishing the flames.

Pressure washers also benefit from higher (though not near as high as fire hose) flow rates, and droplet sizes.  You want an appreciable flow rate, because that means high velocity, and good sized droplets combine that velocity with their relative mass to “blast” away dirt and detritus from the surface.

Medicine delivery devices, like asthma inhalers, are designed to produce mid-sized droplets, but pretty low (and controlled) flows.  The droplets need to be small enough to efficiently spread the medicine through the breathing passages, but large enough to where they won’t evaporate before they ‘plant’ on the nasal & bronchial membranes to get absorbed.

These are examples of “liquid-only” nozzles…no other media or means of force are used to effect the spraying action.  Most of the time, the droplet sizes in these applications are measured in hundreds of microns, which “liquid-only” nozzles are ideally suited to generate.  Other applications, however, call for much smaller droplet sizes…such as those only attainable through atomization.

EXAIR Atomizing Spray Nozzles use compressed air to create a fine mist of liquid, with droplet sizes as low as 22 microns.

A typical “liquid-only” nozzle is capable of producing droplet sizes of 300-4,000 microns. Atomizing Nozzles’ droplet sizes are consistently under 100 microns, and can be as small as 20 microns!

Small droplet size is key to cost effectiveness in many applications:

  • Think about expensive coatings…the smaller the droplet size, the better and more even the coverage, and the less you have to spray (and pay) out.
  • Or humidification…smaller droplet size means more stays airborne, for longer, and in a larger space.
  • Petroleum based lubricants, by their nature, only require a thin layer for best results.  Smaller droplets make as even and thin of a layer as possible.
  • Dust control is much more effective with smaller droplet sizes, since the longer the mist lingers in the air, the more dust particles the individual droplets will adhere to…and then drop with them to the surface.  This also prevents getting the surface of the material any wetter than it has to be.
142 distinct models. 8 different patterns. Liquid flow rates from 0.1 to 303 gallons per hour. If you’ve got a spraying application, EXAIR has an Atomizing Nozzle for you!

If you’d like to discuss a liquid spraying application, I’d love to hear from you.  Call me.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Adding Atomized Water To A Starch Blending Application

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

Starch blending takes place at the top of this tower

The image above shows a material transfer process for starch.  At the top of the tower the starch rests inside of tumbling tanks (shown below) which blend larger pieces into small, finely blended particles.  In order to achieve the proper blend, an hydration level of 5% water must be maintained within the tank.  For the water introduced to the tank, the smaller the droplet size of the water particles, the better the blend.  The current setup in this application is to spray water directly into the tanks, by hand, using a pump sprayer.

These are the tanks at the top of the tower shown in the photo above

The investigation into droplet sizes led this customer to EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles, searching for a method to introduce small droplet water particles into the blending tanks.  The ultimate question was “How small of a particle size can we achieve with an EXAIR Atomizing Nozzle?”

The answer to that question can be found here on our website and in our catalog as well.  Our smallest confirmed droplet size is currently 22µm when using our 1/4″ NPT Siphon Fed Atomizing Nozzles, which was more than enough for this application.

Model SR1010SS EXAIR Atomizing Nozzle

By installing SR1010SS atomizing nozzles into this application this customer is able to achieve the required hydration level with small droplet size water particles.  These particles ensure proper blending of the starch and proper quality for the final product.  And, the atomizing nozzles prevent an operator from having to manually add the necessary water to achieve the required hydration in the blending tanks.

If you have a solution in need of an atomized liquid solution, contact an EXAIR Application Engineer.  We’re here to help.

 

Lee Evans
Application Engineer

LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE