Tag: exair_jp

Farewell, So Long, Good-bye

Published on by Leave a comment

If any of you know the lyrics to Neil Diamond’s song “Farewell, So Long, Good-bye” you probably are in in your golden years or approaching them. I have reached the ripe old age of 66 and with much consternation, the question of retirement arises.

When you are young, you fantasize of all the things you will do in your retirement years. But, when that day comes, you may experience an epiphany. Your body is not able to endure the long drive to those far and distant places you wanted to travel to. Mountain climbing and hiking the Appalachian Trail is out of the question. Sleeping out in the cold damp nights makes your arthritis flare up and by now you have had some body part replaced which limits your flexibility.  So all those activities you planned to do after retirement when you were young, take on a new perspective when you are old. Conventional wisdom would say to retire and do what you can while you still can.

On the flip side, there is the decision of actually leaving your job. Being retired you have no job. That’s an unnerving feeling of helplessness. Even though you have set aside a sizeable nest egg, you are vulnerable to the winds of economic change. Most of all, it’s leaving your co-workers that you have made bonds with over the years.  Now that you have the time to play, they don’t. It takes me to mind when I was single and my buddies were married. Family commitments prevented them from engaging in the things we did together when we were all single.

Yes everyone promises to keep in touch but that eventually wanes. So after retirement a new social circle of friends has to be developed. The thought of joining all those old guys for morning coffee at the McDonald’s or Thursday night bingo has absolutely no appeal to me.

So why would anyone want to retire? That is the question facing me.  I love my job, the company I work for, and the people I work with. But, the fact is that time is running out to do the things that I have long desired.  I am not getting any younger and I need to do them while I am still capable.

So it is with much consternation, that I am announcing my retirement. I will miss being with you all.

my-camper1

At the end of the March I will be officially retired.  I am packing up the camper and the dog to start my travels across the country.  Along with this comes the end of an era of the #DearJoe Twitter feed.  @EXAIR_JP will be retired much like myself, so make sure you follow the rest of the EXAIR team, (@EXAIR, @EXAIR_DW, @EXAIR_RB, @EXAIR_BF, @EXAIR_KE, @EXAIR_LE, @EXAIR_NR, @ProfPenurious)  to stay up to date on EXAIR offerings as well as a small amount of humor.  Let’s face it, none of them are as funny as I am, but they do give me most of my material.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax (513) 671-3363
Web: www.exair.com
Twitter: EXAIR_JP

It’s Your Birthday…It’s Your Birthday

Published on by 1 Comment

In an earlier post, I spoke about how I like my job and the people I work with. Here is a prime example of why I feel that way. As a father I’ve always enjoyed celebrating the kid’s and wife’s birthdays. But for me, my birthday is more or less just another day. No big deal.joebd2013

I turned 65 this week and had the most exceptional and memorable birthday ever. I was completely overwhelmed by all the attention I was given by my co-workers. The entire company took time out to present me with a birthday cake and sang a revised version of happy birthday strummed on the guitar by our lead engineer, and yes, everything they say about engineers is true.

The highlight of the day was the gifts they gave me. My hobby requires the use of lead which is hard to come by these days. Each employee presented me with a bag of scrap lead. AWESOME!

The adrenalin hardly subsided when they invited me out to dinner after work. Being of Italian descent, they took me to a nice Italian restaurant.

range

As if the gifts of lead were not enough, they presented me with a range bag with my name and company logo embroidered on it. It will be a life long reminder of a super group of people that collectively make a company.

I had a college professor once tell me that happy employees produce astounding results. The work environment at EXAIR is a happy one, which is why I was astounded on my birthday…

01_signature
Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax   (513) 671-3363
Web: www.exair.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

Heading to IMTS this week? Already There? If not you should be.

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

If you have any ties to manufacturing, then I am sure you have heard of IMTS.  Just in case you haven’t it is only the largest Manufacturing Technology show in the states and it is going on this week, in Chicago at McCormick Place.  The show has all of the latest and greatest in manufacturing and technology under one roof.  Not only can you see the newest products but you can also educate yourself through the IMTS edu booth.  Needless to say, if you aren’t there, get there.  That is unless you have a good excuse like me, wife could be having a baby at any moment.

It just so happens that EXAIR has a team that is en route to IMTS right now.  You may know them by their Twitter accounts, @EXAIR_JP, @EXAIR_KE, and even @ProfPenurious.  The three of them will be at the IMTSedu booth starting at 4:30 PM CST discussing social media in manufacturing.  This is the same time that the IMTSedu booth is hosting a tweetup.  Not only does this give you a chance to meet some of our crew face to face but it may also help you see how social media could help your business and brand.  Not to mention you may even get to hear a few of the infamous #DearJoe sayings, and see Professor Penurious outside of his lab.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Understanding Oil Filter Beta Ratios

Published on by 2 Comments

When buying hydraulic oil filters elements, the filter industry developed standards to measure the true effectiveness of the filter. A filter that is marked or rated “10 micron” has some ability to capture particles as small as 10 micrometers. However, you do not know exactly what this means unless you also have a description of the test methods and standards used to determine the filter rating. The results from the different test methods may not be comparable as their method varies greatly.

 Two of the key standards are the filters“Micron” rating and the “Beta β” ratio. The “Micron” rating describes the normal particle size the filter removes.

What does the word micron mean? It is another term for micrometer (1 millionth of a meter).  A micrometer is a unit of linear measure in the metric system used to measure distance from one point to another. Its scientific notation is μ. Here are some objects that will give you a visual of comparative sizes:

  • Diameter of average human hair 70 microns
  • Lower limit of visibility (naked eye) 40 microns
  • White blood cells 25 microns
  • Talcum powder 10 microns
  • Red blood cells 8 microns
  • Bacteria 2 microns
  • Carbon black 0.6 microns
  • Tobacco smoke 0.5 microns

Beta ratio (b) is formulated by dividing the number of particles of a particular size in the upstream flow by the number of particles of the same size in the downstream flow:

where bx is the beta ratio for contaminant larger than x mm
Nu is the number of particles larger than x mm per unit of volume upstream
Nd is the number of particles larger than x mm per unit of volume downstream.

The beta ratio is an indicator of how well a filter controls particulate: i.e., if one out of every two particles (>x mm) in the fluid pass through the filter, the beta ratio at x mm is 2, if one out of every 200 of the particles (>x mm) pass through the filter the beta ratio is 200.
Therefore, filters with a higher beta ratio retain more particles and have higher efficiency.
Efficiency for a given particle size (Ex) can be derived directly from the beta ratio by the following equation:


Read more: http://www.lenntech.com/library/fine/beta/beta-ratio.htm#ixzz104rJzTX4

 An example would be a filter with a “β6 = 75” would be 98.67%  efficient at removing particles 6 micron and larger.  CALCULATION:   (75-1)/75 * 100 = 98.67%

Here is an efficiency tabel for your reference:

Beta ratio information can also be stated as β 5/10/20 = 2/20/75. In this example, the media tested removed

  • 50% of 5-micrometer or micron size particles
  • 95% of 10-micrometer or micron size particles
  • 98.7% of 20-micrometer or micron size particles
Beta Ratio  Efficiency

2

50%

10

 90%

20

95%

75

  98.7%

100

99%

200

  99.5%

1000

99.9%

A filter’s beta ratio also does not give any indication of its dirt-holding capacity, the total amount of contaminant that can be trapped by the filter throughout its life, nor does it account for its stability or performance over time.

Nevertheless, beta ratios are an effective way of gauging the expected performance of a filter.

references:
SAE J1858
ISO 4548-12,lube & oil
ISO16889, hydraulic or fuel
ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
NFPA (National Fluid Power Association)
Filter MAnufacturers Council

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Web: www.exair.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/exair_jp 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair