Tag: Electronic Flow Control

EXAIR Calculators

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I went to grade school in the 1970s and really developed a love of mathematics in the fifth grade (1976-1977), spurred on by a wonderful teacher that I actually still am in touch with today. 1977 was also the year that I got my first handheld calculator. It had an LCD display and would perform basic arithmetic, as long as the 9V battery lasted. If I recall, it set me back almost $10, which was what I earned in two Saturday afternoons of helping a neighbor split firewood (I hauled & stacked; he ran the log splitter).

Pretty soon, all the cool kids were getting them, and, while the teachers couldn’t stop us from doing math homework with them, they DID prohibit them in the classroom, and lectured us CONSTANTLY about the need to do – and show – our work on paper, because we were NEVER going to carry a calculator around in our pockets. The classroom calculator ban continued on through high school, but in Naval Nuclear Power School, and then college, the use of calculators was actually mandated…but only after we’d demonstrated proficiency in doing math on paper. That’s a concept I agree with wholeheartedly.

Fast-forward to the 21st century, and it turns out, just about everybody DOES carry a calculator in their pockets…on the same device that has a built-in camera, video recorder, GPS…oh, and us old timers actually make phone calls on it too. You can also use that smartphone to access websites where you might find online calculators that aid in selecting that particular company’s products. As you might have guessed by now, EXAIR is one of those particular companies, and I’m writing this blog today to let you know about our Calculator Library. Depending on what you want to know, we have several that’ll do the math for you:

Air Savings Calculator: Use this one to determine the potential compressed air savings associated with replacing an existing compressed air blowing device with an efficient EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product. There are two to choose from: one in USD, and one in Euros.

EFC Calculator: Not all blowing applications require continuous operation of the blowing device. EXAIR’s EFC Electronic Flow Control is a standalone system that’ll turn the compressed air flow on & off, as needed, so you don’t waste money on compressed air consumption when it’s not doing anything for you. This calculator will tell you how much you can save on compressed air costs, and your return on investment in the EFC. Like the Air Savings Calculator, we have a USD and a Euro version.

Cabinet Cooler System Calculator: Instead of air consumption & dollars (or Euros), our new Cabinet Cooler System Calculator is all about heat loads and cooling capacities. EXAIR has offered the ability to submit Cabinet Cooler Sizing Guide data for a long time – by fax (THAT’S how long it’s been), email, or straight through the website. For the Do-It-Yourselfers out there, we now have this feature for you to submit your data and get an immediate answer as to which Cabinet Cooler System has the cooling capacity to handle the heat load calculated from your data.

For the record, I’ve only chided my 5th grade teacher for her insistence that nobody would ever be carrying calculators around with them all day. It was on a Facebook post – where we were both using smartphones – and we had a good laugh about it. All’s well that ends well. But if you’ve got questions about EXAIR’s calculators, feel free to give me a call. We can even do the math the old-fashioned way if you prefer.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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RoHS, EXAIR, And You

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

The 20th century was an amazing time for technological advances. In just 70 years, the science & engineering communities went from believing that powered flight was impossible, to actually powering a flight that took three astronauts all the way to the Moon…and back. In the 50 years or so since then, the computers with the power required for space travel went from needing a whole room, to being able to fit on our desks, and eventually, our pockets.

All three of these: a state of the art computer from 1962 (left), the desktop computer I’m writing this blog on (middle), and a smart phone being used for its most popular function (right) all have about the same amount of computing power, believe it or not. (full disclosure: I believe it because I used my smart phone to look that up on the internet)

Along with these amazing advances in technology came exponential increases in the materials it takes to make devices like desktop (or laptop) computers and smart phones…and some of those materials don’t get along well at all with the environment, and by extension, those of us who live in said environment. This doesn’t normally matter as long as those materials are housed inside an operating computer or cell phone (or myriad other electronic devices), but it DOES become a concern when they’re disposed of. When stuff like that ends up in landfills, for instance, it has a bad habit of making its way into the water table…and that’s not good for anyone.

In 2002, the European Union (EU) started pursuing legislation to restrict the use of certain hazardous substances, to get out ahead of disposal issues by keeping them out of products from the very beginning. This led to the creation & implementation of the RoHS Directive. It’s been revised, amended, and updated over the years, because it turns out there are no viable substitutes for SOME of those substances in SOME situations. Among these exceptions:

  • Mercury is used extensively in a number of energy efficient CFL light bulbs and fluorescent tubes, so there are exemptions for that, and it works because there’s a whole industry devoted to the proper recycling of these products.
  • My personal favorite is the specific exclusion for lead in the manufacture of pipe organs. Seems that the lead based alloy that’s been used for centuries is critical to the tonal qualities of the sound that the pipes produce. Since disposal rates of these are negligible (the use of this alloy is one of the reasons they LAST for centuries), pipe organ pipes don’t have to be RoHS compliant.

Compliance with the RoHS Directive is so important to EXAIR, it’s part of our Sustainability Plan. All of our products that are subject to the Directive have certificates of compliance (available upon request) that document their compliance. Per the specifics of the Directive, these are comprised of certain products in our Optimization, Static Eliminators, and Cabinet Cooler System product lines:

  • Optimization:
    • EFC Electronic Flow Control Systems
    • Digital Flowmeters
    • Digital Sound Level Meters
    • Ultrasonic Leak Detectors
  • Static Eliminators:
    • Super Ion Air Knives
    • Standard Ion Air Knives
    • Ionizing Bars
    • Super Ion Air Wipes
    • Ion Air Cannons
    • Ion Air Guns
    • Ion Air Jets
    • Power Supplies
    • Intellistat Ion Air Guns
    • Intellistat Ion Air Nozzles
    • Static Meters
  • Cabinet Cooler System products:
    • Electronic Temperature Control Systems
    • Thermostats & Capacitors
    • Solenoid Valves

These are all of our products that are electrical or electronic in nature. Our broad line of engineered compressed air products are not subject to the Directive, as they have no electrical or electronic components. We DO make sure these comply with other regulatory directives, as applicable, such as:

  • Conflict Mineral Free: All compressed air products
  • CE: All products
  • UL: Static Eliminators and Cabinet Cooler Systems are UL Listed, HazLoc Cabinet Cooler Systems are UL Classified
  • ATEX: These are a brand new line (as of this writing) of Cabinet Cooler products

If you’d like to find out more about EXAIR’s commitment to compliance with any of these standards or directives, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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EXAIR Solenoid Valves and Ball Valves

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

EXAIR has been a pioneer in compressed air products for efficiency, safety, and quality.  We have designed our products using some interesting inventors from the past; like Henri Coanda and Giovanni Venturi.  These fluid dynamic engineers found a way to entrain ambient air.  We use these phenomena to increase the efficiency of our products by adding free ambient air to the airstream.  This will create a hard-hitting force without using a lot of compressed air.  Since compressed air is very expensive to produce, it will save you much money when using our blow-off devices.  To save even more money, EXAIR does offer valves to turn off the compressed air supply when not in use.  In this blog, I will go over the types of valves that we have.

The Manual Valves allow operators to turn on and off their system by hand. The full-flow ball valves range from ¼” NPT to 1 1/4” NPT in size and will not restrict flows.  EXAIR also offers a manual foot pedal valve for hands-free operations.  This ¼” NPT foot valve has a 3-way operation and works great if the operator has to use both hands in their process.

EXAIR also offers Solenoid Valves to turn on and off the supply of compressed air electrically for automated systems. We offer Solenoid Valves in three different voltages; 110Vac, 240Vac, and 24Vdc.  They have a large range of flows with ports ranging from ¼” NPT to 1” NPT.  All models are UL listed and are CE and RoHS compliant.

In more elaborate situations, EXAIR has attached these solenoid valves to a miniature PLC-like controller.  It is called the Electronic Flow Control, or EFC.  It uses a photoelectric eye to detect the part and trigger a timing sequence.  We have eight different timing operations to best combine the trigger mechanism with the blow-off device.  This is the next step in optimization, which will keep the compressed air usage to a minimum. 

EXAIR created a chart that shows “Six Steps to Optimizing Your Compressed Air System.”  Even though EXAIR has the most efficient products on the market for pneumatic systems, we still want to help our customers save even more money.  When not in use, the compressed air should be turned off, according to the fourth step.  In this blog, I discussed some products that can assist you with this.  If you wish to discuss further how to optimize your compressed air system, an Application Engineer at EXAIR will be happy to assist you. 

John Ball
Application Engineer


Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Top Ten Reasons Why EXAIR’s Super Air Knife Is So Super

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

1. Efficiency – With an air entrainment ratio of 40:1 (literally means it pulls in 40 SCFM of “free” air from the surrounding environment for every 1 SCFM of consumption), compressed air consumption is dramatically lower than any other blow off device.

EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products such as (left to right) the Air Wipe, Super Air Knife, Super Air Nozzle, and Air Amplifier are engineered to entrain enormous amounts of air from the surrounding environment.

2. Laminar air flow – My colleague John Ball did a bang-up job in a video blog explaining the fluid mechanics theory behind this. Operationally, laminar flow is is beneficial because it’s particularly conducive to generating a stripping or sweeping action, as opposed to the turbulent flow from an open blow off, a blower, or a fan.

3. Quiet operation – The high entrainment ratio that makes the Super Air Knife so efficient also makes for amazingly low sound levels. The outermost entrained air creates a boundary layer that attenuates the sound level of the higher velocity, hard hitting center flow.

4. Lengths available – Super Air Knives are stocked in lengths from 3″ to 9ft. Custom lengths can be made if you’re space-limited for installation, and custom shims can be installed if you want to shorten the curtain width of a stock Super Air Knife. Super Air Knives can also be coupled together for even longer lengths.

Air Knife Coupling Bracket Kits are available from stock for Aluminum, 303SS, and 316SS Super Air Knives.

5. Material of construction – No matter how aggressive the environment is, odds are, EXAIR has a Super Air Knife that’ll hold up to it. Durable aluminum models are good to 180°F (82°C). There are also two Types of Stainless Steel to choose from: 303SS for high strength, and 316SS for protection from chloride pitting corrosion & higher strength. Both 303SS & 316SS are good to 800°F (427°C). For exceptionally harsh environments, PVDF (Polyvinylidene Fluoride) constructed Super Air Knives have Hastelloy C-276 hardware & PTFE shims, which are resistant to UV light, inorganic chemicals, solvents, ozone, weather, fungi, chlorinated hydrocarbons, highly corrosive acids, weak bases, and salts. They’re good to 275°F (135°C).

6. Easy installation – Like all of our products, the Super Air Knives – from the 3″ to the 9ft models – are “user friendly” as far as mounting & installation goes. The Model 9060 Universal Air Knife Mounting System makes for quick installation and easy positioning. 24″ to 42″ Super Air Knives need to be plumbed to both ends…if you hard pipe the air supply, the Super Air Knife itself will essentially be as well supported as the piping. The same holds true for longer Super Air Knives with Plumbing Kits installed. 3″ Super Air Knives can even be fitted with Stay Set Hoses, and Magnetic Bases. And the 1/4″-20 tapped holes on the bottom of the body allow for a wide range of mounting solutions…anything you can put a bolt through, really.

The 9060 Universal Air Knife Mounting Systems are perfect for simple, fast installation and positioning.
Yes, that’s a door hinge. No, it wasn’t my idea ( but I kind of wish it was.)

7. Low maintenance – With no moving parts, they’ll run darn near indefinitely, maintenance free, as long as you supply them with clean, moisture free compressed air. Oh, and keep them clean, externally, if they’re in an area where environmental contaminants can build up on the precision finished surfaces that are essential to their air entrainment.

8. Reliability – Hand in hand with #7, no moving parts also means there’s not much that can stop them from working. They can operate continuously, if needed, or you can cycle them on & off as frequently as necessary to keep from using valuable compressed air, except when needed.

EXAIR’s award winning EFC Electronic Flow Control can be set to operate a Super Air Knife (or any of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products) in cycles as low as 0.1 seconds.

9. Static Eliminator option -The laminar, high velocity air flow is ideal for many blow off applications, but if static charge is a problem, an Ionizing Bar can be installed, turning the Super Air Knife into a Super Ion Air Knife:

10. Free stuff – OK; this last one is “super” for a limited time. Order a Super Air Knife between 11/1/22 and 12/31/2022, and get a FREE Safety Air Gun. Click here for details.

If you’d like to find out how the Super Air Knife – or any of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products can help you get the most out of your compressed air system, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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