Tag: @EXAIR_BF

Five Stages Of A Team

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

When a team is formed there have been many studies conducted on the science behind what happens. One of my favorite takes on this are the five stages of a team. These stages are cyclical and will repeat themselves over time with the length of projects and shifting of team positions. The stages are, forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. So what does this have to do with compressed air and industrial processes?

Well, when EXAIR and BETE joined forces, the cycles immediately began, and I believe we have moved through some of these stages fairly quickly. You see, Tyler Daniel, Neal Raker, and myself all recently had the privilege of going up to the BETE facility and spending the better part of a week getting to know some basics of their vast product offering, how they have been doing business for nearly 75 years and, most importantly, we got to meet a portion of the team there. As we toured the facility and met a good portion of the team there, it felt as though I was walking through EXAIR’s facility as well. We got to see what has made BETE a leader in spray nozzles for nearly 75 years and I would definitely say a good portion of it is the TEAM. The welcome we received and the short time we got to spend with these people, made clear that their intent was to make sure the customers were always taken care of and there was a lot of pride in the products they were producing. It legitimately felt like I was walking through EXAIR as a new team member.

Throughout the training and time we spent there, we got to know each other even better. It was almost as if we didn’t need the forming and storming phase. We pretty well jumped straight into the morning phase because our cultures and focus were all very similar. So, what does this mean for all of our customers?

It means that now when you are reaching out to either company, we can help from start to finish with any type of liquid nozzle or point of use compressed air application, and it should come to you as a seamless team effort from both sides of BETE and EXAIR. We’re hitting as many points as we can with both teams so that we can reach the performing stage and really start seeing the end users, our customers benefiting from these collaborations.

I know this may sound cliché. I’m absolutely excited to see what these next few years bring because I can guarantee that these two teams are combining forces, and we are going to have some great output that can really improve the performance, production, and efficiency of current liquid and compressed air applications through the roof.

If you want to discuss any spray application or point of use compressed air application, please make sure to reach out to us directly. We will get the best team on the application and make sure you get the solution you need when you need it.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Wonder Twins – With Our Powers Combined

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Comic-Con Exclusive DC Classics Wonder Twins with Gleek at the Mattel booth at San Diego Comic-Con International
1 – Comic-Con Exclusive DC Classics Wonder Twins with Gleek at the Mattel booth at San Diego Comic-Con International

EXAIR and BETE both offer a wide variety of External Mix Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles. The amount of knowledge that has been obtained by these two companies on compressed air and spray nozzles is tremendous and the level of expertise is second to none in the industry. So how does that help our potential customers and existing client base?

When it comes to spray nozzles, EXAIR has been in the game for over a decade, BETE has been in the game for nearly 75 years. The two have now combined and with our knowledge of how compressed air operates and their historical knowledge of liquid spray nozzles we are able to best serve our customers whether it is defining the spray characteristics of a nozzle, determining if additional testing would be the best path forward to meet the needs of their spray nozzle application. It could even be after we have sprayed the liquid on a part for a rinse or cooling, drying it and providing additional cooling.

The combination of our two teams has been monumental thus far with being able to transition customers from one product line to another if needed. This means if you have a liquid spray application that EXAIR doesn’t have the ideal fit, chances are BETE has something that will work and we can provide that handoff seamlessly to their Application Engineering team. This has also expanded our own Application Engineers level of knowledge with spray nozzles and the characteristics that customers may look for in the liquid spray applications. I’ve talked about this time and time again, we are continually bettering ourselves, our knowledge, and our product offering. This time we expanded it exponentially.

So whether you are trying to wash, coat, or cool with liquid, then make sure you blow the debris / liquid or drying a coating. EXAIR and BETE stands at the ready to help you and your team find the products that are right for you, whether they are BETE or EXAIR.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – Comic-Con Exclusive DC Classics Wonder Twins with Gleek at the Mattel booth at San Diego Comic-Con International – Loren Javier , retrieved from – https://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenjavier/3759943890/

When You Get To Asheville

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1 – Steve Martin & Edie Brickell – “When You Get To Asheville”

Over the past week, my amazing wife and I traveled to Asheville, NC for a long weekend away. This is our second year going down, and I can most certainly say that we will be going back. Our days consisted of going to a small mom-and-pop type diner for breakfast, loading the cooler with water, and then picking a hike to hit up. This time we hiked mostly in the Pisgah National Forest and while we did not hit the same elevation as last year, we still managed to double the first hike of the week on the second day and felt great once we reached the end. I also chose to make the hikes hard on myself by carrying my trusted GO-RUCK GR1 to carry our water, first aid kit, and a 30 lb. steel plate, because you should always choose the harder thing.

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While we weren’t at elevations like Pikes Peak in Colorado, we still felt the difference in the air between being in Cincinnati and being in the mountains. Maybe it was just the fact it was cleaner. When we crested a hill on the trail and stopped to take a quick break, we looked around and realized that after all the switchbacks we had just gone through, we looked over the valley we had just climbed out of and were at the tree tops of the valley and still nowhere near the top of the mountain. This got me to thinking about how I was working harder because I had a steel plate, walking too many lunches where I just sit for 30 minutes instead of walking and that is immediately connected to the ACFM calculations for an air compressor and just how a compressor will have to work harder to produce the same volume of air when elevated because the air is thinner. This is going to change the air density, which results in a lower atmospheric pressure due to higher altitude.

Altitude is just one of the factors that matters in the calculation to determine a compressor’s output at different locations. The other factors include relative humidity, which was way better in the mountains than here in Cincinnati, and the actual temperature, again better in Asheville than Cincinnati.

If you are wondering about the equations I am referencing, we’ve blogged about them many times and even have a Webinar that touches on the math and reasoning behind these different values. Check the equation below and the links above.

In case you were wondering, the post-Ruck/Hike hydration is always better after events, it also always helps to have a good partner in crime to enjoy all the experiences with you. Thankful for the ability to connect all these hobbies and my knowledge of compressed air on top of sharing it with others. If you want to discuss how to calculate some ACFM or SCFM consumption and outputs of your compressor or application, or if you want to talk about rucking, hiking, or any of your favorite trails, give me a call, chat, or tweet.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – Steve Martin & Edie Brickell – “When You Get To Asheville” – CBS, Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RzhTN9zW3w

Amplifiers – Ours Go To Eleven

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment
1 – These go to 11

Once again, quoting and connecting to iconic pop culture movies from my younger years gets the best of me. If you have seen Spinal Tap, make sure you follow me on X, so we can connect and be friends. I’m sure you’ll like my posts just as much as my blogs. Well, the truth is, our amplifiers don’t go to eleven, they actually come in various sizes, and they aren’t made to just generate sound.

They are actually designed to take a small amount of compressed air and then entrain a large volume of free ambient air, combine them and force them out of the discharge side. They can be used to amplify the volume of air used to blowoff, cool or evacuate from an area. Tyler does a great job of showcasing just how fast they can cool a part when compared to a commercially available fan.

There is another type of “amplifier” in the compressed air field as well, the pressure booster is out there as well and we will sometimes get inquiries about this type of device. The trick is, these will increase your operating pressure. However, they cannot increase the volumetric flow of the compressed air.

The type of amplification they do is through orifice, valve, and even pistons to increase the the actual pressure of the system. The way our Air Amplifiers work is shown below. By using a patented shim on the Super Air Amplifiers and an engineered profile on both the Super and Adjustable Air Amplifiers we optimize the volume of air entrained on the low pressure side while maintaining a nominal size on the low pressure and the discharge side so ducting or tubing can be connected. The trick is that if you place your hand over the suction side or the positive displacement side it will actually just backfeed through the body. The units all meet or exceed the OSHA directive for dead end pressure because it can simply feed out the other side.

If you would like to discuss Air Amplifiers and where they may be able to help you reduce compressed air Consumptions or increase performance of an application, please contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – These go to 11.mpg – pmw8000 – Retrieved from, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOO5S4vxi0o – published on 11/11/2011.