Hi, I’m Jason, and I’m one of the new Application Engineers here at EXAIR. Please check out my intro video below where I share a bit about myself, as well as my future goals with EXAIR!
Jason Kirby
Application Engineer
Email: jasonkirby@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jk
April 22nd is as important as ever at EXAIR
Every year, as the world celebrates Earth Day, we reflect on our environmental impact and commitment to sustainability. This is significant at EXAIR, because it marks the annual milestone for assessing our progress and environmental goals. As an industry leader in energy-saving and efficient products, connecting our corporate habits to environmental impact is in our nature.
This year, we have focused on how to maintain our sustainability efforts and help provide unique solutions for industrial challenges, while also engaging with our community. Our solutions range from optimizing compressed air applications, to utilizing innovative products to filter and reuse machine sump coolants. We’ve also become increasingly aware of the need to conserve and properly spray water and other fluids requiring atomization. In each case, we recognize the benefit provided for the application in terms of throughput, efficiency, and energy/material conservation.
Sustainability:
This year, our machinists collected the remnants and scraps from every CNC and lathe at EXAIR, sorted and stored them by material type, and arranged for their recycling. We filled dozens of 55-gallon drums with wastewater, aluminum, 303 and 316 stainless steel, and brass, providing them to a local recycling center in the Cincinnati community.
We also recycled 100% of our cardboard and mixed paper products, 80% of the trash placed in our dumpsters, and 100% of our wastewater, wood, and plastics.
We continue to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels by focusing on local and regional vendors, preventing long delivery distances. And, we send over 90% of our invoices electronically, eliminating the need for physical transit via postal trucking.
All the while, we look for ways to do more.
Industrial Challenges:
Our Application Engineers have provided assistance and support for customers in a myriad of industries; everything from ATEX areas in petrochemical facilities, to precision blowoff in food and beverage plants. In all of these applications, they take the time to understand the applications so that recommended solutions minimize environmental impact and maximize the use of any energy required to solve the problem.
EXAIR’s patented designs have a proven track record of reducing energy consumption, making them the go-to answer for environmentally conscious companies.
Community Engagement and Corporate Stewardship
Beyond our immediate operational impacts, we remain committed to the benefit of community engagement. This past year saw EXAIR’s first sponsorship of the University of Cincinnati’s Combat Robotics Team. The young engineers who design, build, and compete in this combat robotics arena are doing so with EXAIR’s support and financial backing.
This Earth Day, we invite other companies to join us in rethinking their processes to be more sustainable. Every step towards this goal, no matter how small, contributes to a larger change. At EXAIR, we are proud to lead by example, showing that business success and environmental stewardship can go hand in hand.
We look forward to another year of innovative solutions, community involvement, and environmental stewardship. Together, we can make a significant impact.
Lee Evans, EXAIR
Okay, in case you haven’t been around the past year or two, and you have no clue where that simple word/statement comes from, then let me be the first to tell you that Ted Lasso is a great show, and you should check it out. So what does that have to do with EXAIR? Well, I like to think that sometimes the Application Engineers here are a lot like the coaching staff on the show. Sometimes we are strategic, we want to assert our experience and knowledge, and others, we are like Ted where we just ensure the thoughts and ideas you have already had.
That’s the fun part of being an Application Engineer here at EXAIR. I get to speak, chat, or email with both existing customers and potential new customers, resellers, and even catalog houses who all are trying to do one thing, improve a process or help someone out. Recently I was working with a manufacturing company trying to determine how fast they can cool a slab of steel with a Super Air Knife. Now, I by no means have a background in thermo like Russ Bowman, but he was busy preparing for our Spring Webinar to share some knowledge on Compressed Air System Storage. (If you haven’t checked a webinar out, most are available on our website in our knowledge base. ) So, I took the time to try and remember some of the tools I learned while at the University of Cincinnati. Thermodynamics was by far one of the hardest classes for me, The Algebra was always easy, I just always looked at the problems sideways I guess, and worried about too many variables. The truth of it is, if you keep it simple you can generally get somewhere close. so I took that approach. First I looked at what heat load would be generated by the steel slab.
I looked at the basic Heat Transfer equation – Q=c x m x ΔT where:
Q = Heat
c = specific heat capacity
m = mass
ΔT = Change in temperature
I was able to locate the mass of the carbon steel plate with 1/2″ thickness. So I calculated the mass of the sheet. Then looked up the specific heat of the same plate, and took the change in temperature from what the customer stated the plate started at and finished at.
This resulted in a heat load. Then to calculate how much cooling a Super Air Knife could provide I utilized another calculation that gives the BTU constant of a cubic foot of air moving and I did decrease the efficiency of the knife due to some assumptions on space and temperature constraints. The resulting factor was the customer would need 6 Super Air Knives to blow the sheet down as it travels 5 feet per minute on a 60′ long conveyor.
This again had several assumptions and I made that very clear to the customer. To convert the amount of air a Super Air Knife puts out and how much cooling it can use, I did make some clear assumptions on the temperature of their atmosphere and the amount of entrainment then I used a calculation that we adapt for Vortex Tubes and Cabinet coolers to determine what cooling load will be achieved if the air pressure or temperature is less than optimal on one of those products.
In the end, the customer received an educated estimation or calculated answer with listed assumptions, to solve their issue with cooling a steel slab before it is stacked together. I really only used two calculations and manipulated some variables to try and make sense of what I knew and what the customer needed. The best part is, this whole process is backed by our 30-day guarantee on stock products which our 48″ Super Air Knife is. So this customer can take my basic math, use my suggestions, place an order, and test it out in their facility for a factual performance test to then proceed with a permanent solution.
If you would like to discuss any point of use or potential application for compressed air in your facility, please contact an Application Engineer today!
Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF
Last year I hosted a Webinar about the NIOSH Hierarchy of Controls and compressed air safety! You can watch that here on our website!
The hierarchy of controls is a strategy that originates from NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health). NIOSH is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. This hierarchy is their recommendation for increasing safety for personnel by taking specific steps and how each step increases safety moving from bottom to top of the pyramid. In this blog I will explain the main elements of the HIERARCHY OF CONTROLS and illustrate how to reach the highest level of control with important compressed air safety standards.
The least effective methods are Administrative Controls and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Administrative Controls involve making changes to the way people perform the work and promoting safe practices through training. The training could be related to correct operating procedures, keeping the workplace clean, emergency response to incidents, and personal hygiene practices, such as proper hand washing after handling hazardous materials. PPE is the least effective method because the personnel themselves make the choice to wear them or not wear them in any particular situation. They can be trained on the risks of not using PPE equipment (ear plugs, gloves, respirators, etc.) but we all know it does not always get used. PPE can also become damaged, may be uncomfortable and not used, or used incorrectly.
In the middle range of effectiveness is Engineering Controls. These controls are implemented by design changes to the equipment or process to reduce or eliminate the hazard. Good engineering controls can be very effective in protecting people regardless of the the actions and behaviors of the workers. While higher in initial cost than Administrative controls or PPE, typically operating costs are lower, and a cost saving may be realized in the long run.
The final two, Elimination and Substitution are the most effective but can be the most difficult to integrate into an existing process. If the process is still in the design phase, it may be easier and less expensive to eliminate or substitute the hazard. Elimination of the hazard would be the ultimate and most effective method, either by removing the hazard altogether, or changing the work process so the hazard is no longer part of the process.
EXAIR can help your company follow the Hierarchy of Controls, and eliminate, or substitute the hazards of compressed air use with relative ease.
Engineers can eliminate loud and unsafe pressure nozzles with designs that utilize quiet and intelligent compressed air products such as Air Nozzles, Air Knives and Air Amplifiers. Also, unsafe existing products such as air guns, can be substituted with EXAIR engineered solutions that meet the OSHA standards 29 CFR 1910.242(b) and 29 CFR 1910.95(a).
Elimination and Substitution are the most effective methods and should be used whenever possible to reduce or eliminate the hazard and keep people safe in the workplace. EXAIR products can be easily substituted for existing, unsafe compressed air products in many cases. And to avoid the hazard altogether, remember EXAIR when designing products or processes which require compressed air use for cooling, cleaning, ejection, and more.
If you have questions about the Hierarchy of Controls and safe compressed air usage from any of the 15 different EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Product lines, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or any of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution
Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer
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Twitter: @EXAIR_JS
Hierarchy of Controls Image: used from Public Domain
