Tag: filtration

What’s So Great About EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems?

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I took a call the other day from a customer asking where a replacement Cabinet Cooler could be obtained, immediately, as the control panel on a machine critical to their operation was faulting out due to high temperature. I told him the Model 4030 NEMA 12 2,000 Btu/hr Cabinet Cooler (the one that was installed on the panel) was in stock, and he could have it first thing in the morning.

I also told him we should consider that to be “plan B”, as there were some simple troubleshooting steps that could very well restore the Cabinet Cooler System to proper operation right away. Per the Installation & Maintenance Instructions, the caller installed a pressure gauge at the compressed air inlet of the Cabinet Cooler:

I highlighted “clogged filter elements” for a reason. Turns out, while the header pressure was still 110psig (they had a gauge just upstream of the drop for the Cabinet Cooler supply pipe), the inlet to the Cabinet Cooler was only 65psig, meaning they were only getting about 650 Btu/hr instead of the rated (and required) 1,000 Btu/hr. Since nothing had changed in the compressed air system, they checked the Element in the Filter Separator, and found it was in need of replacement. Luckily, they had a spare element (fortune does indeed favor the prepared), so they were back up & running in a matter of minutes.

Automatic Drain Filter Separators like Model 9004 shown above have 5 micron particulate elements, and centrifugal elements for moisture removal. They’re included with all Cabinet Cooler Systems, and are properly installed upstream of the Thermostat Control’s Solenoid Valve.

This story highlights a major benefit of our compressed air operated Cabinet Cooler products: with no moving parts to wear, or electrical components to burn out, they’ll run darn near indefinitely, maintenance free, as long as they’re supplied with clean compressed air. The customer is leaving the pressure gauge installed on this Cabinet Cooler, with plans to monitor it on a regular basis so they’ll know at a glance when to replace that Filter’s Element.

Good engineering practice calls for point of use filtration and moisture removal, such as that provided by EXAIR Filter Separators.

EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems are available, from stock, to suit almost any electric/electronic panel heat protection need:

  • Cooling capacities from 275 to 5,600 Btu/hr. Call me if your heat load is outside this range…we can look at customized solutions too.
  • NEMA 12 (IP54), 4, or 4X (IP66) ratings.
  • Thermostat Control – Standard, or Electronic Temperature Control.
  • Non-Hazardous Purge for contaminant exclusion on less-than-ideally sealed enclosures.
  • High Temperature models for ambient temperatures from 125°F (52°C) to 200°F (93°C).
  • Side Mount Kits, where space is limited above the panel.
  • 316SS construction for particularly aggressive environments.
  • UL Classified systems for hazardous locations: Our HazLoc systems are approved for Class I Div 1, Class II, Div 1 & Class III areas, and ATEX systems are approved for Zones 2 & 22.

If you have an electrical/electronic panel that needs durable, reliable, and safe heat protection, EXAIR has Cabinet Cooler Systems on the shelf that installs in minutes. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Why – And Where – Do You Need Filtration In Your Compressed Air System?

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Good engineering practice, and proper system design, call for filters at various points in a compressed air system. I’m going to go through these along the path that compressed air follows, from being drawn from atmospheric pressure in to the compressor, to being returned to atmospheric pressure at its point of use.

Any air compressor is going to have an intake filter. The small “pancake” compressor in my garage has a little disc looking thing with a screen whose mesh is about the same as my house’s window screens. Larger industrial air compressors have cartridge-type filters that impart a spiral motion to the incoming air. That motion actually removes most of the incoming particulate, while the rest gets caught in the pleats of the fiber element. The main purpose for an intake filter is to protect the compressor’s internal components. Solid particulates can really do a number on the high speed, close tolerance moving parts inside a compressor, in a hurry.

All the other filters you might find are there to ensure proper operation of the rest of your compressed air system:

  • Distribution. No intake filter is going to be 100% efficient, nor will it remove especially fine particulate that doesn’t present a real risk of damage or wear to the compressor. Intake filters also will not remove oil (or oil vapor) and water (or water vapor). The compressor itself can actually add contaminants to the compressed air, in the form of wear particles (remember those close tolerance moving parts I mentioned above?) and oil carryover. All of these contaminants will, however, be detrimental to the pipe & fittings that takes the newly compressed air to where it’s used. They can cause a buildup on the inner walls of the piping that inhibits flow. Water causes the pipe to start rusting from the inside out. When that rust scale breaks loose, it can clog, foul, or damage valves, fittings, and other control devices in the distribution header. Ideally, you’ll use filtration with a particulate element, a centrifugal element for water, and a coalescing element for oil/oil vapor (if needed…this isn’t a concern for oil-free compressors, for example).
  • Distribution, part 2. If your facility is large enough, you may need filtration at strategic locations…perhaps one for the air going to the machine shop, another for an area with machinery equipped with pneumatic cylinders, another for an assembly area where pneumatic tools are used, etc. The type(s) of filter(s) you use at those points will be determined by what the air is used for. If you know you have oil carryover from your compressor, you probably want a coalescing filter on the line to Safety Air Guns that blow off parts before painting. You don’t need them on lines going to your pneumatic tools, though…that carryover will likely help supplement the point-of-use lubricators that they use.
  • Point-of-use. Good engineering practice calls for a final stage of filtration, located as close as practical to the air operated device(s). EXAIR includes a Filter Separator with a 5 micron particulate element and a centrifugal element for water with all of our product Kits. Oil Removal Filters are also available for oil/oil vapor. They also provide additional particulate filtration to 0.03 microns.
EXAIR offers a variety of Filter Separators (left), Oil Removal Filters (middle), and Pressure Regulators (right) that are suitable for a wide range of point-of-use compressed air applications. Contact an Application Engineer for more details.

At EXAIR, we’re here to make sure you get the most out of your compressed air system. If you’d like to find out more about filtration…or any other aspect of air treatment (drying, regulating, cooling, etc.)…give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Turn Your One Bedroom Fixer-upper Compressor Room into a Pent House Suite!

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

First lets paint a picture, by starting with my first 400 Sq.Ft Bachelor pad in Holland Michigan. It was my first time after college living on my own and paying my own room and board! So I did what every fresh out of college 25-year-old male does, I scoured the internet for the cheapest possible living arrangements! And that was a one bedroom(ish) apartment that was one of three rentals they made from a small 1,500 Sq.ft house! It was rough, I could smell the smoke from my neighbors. I could tell what they were having for dinner by the smell and I could hear EVERYTHING! Needless to say the conditions were not the best to relax and properly live my life. (Just had a little PTSD thinking about it)

Yeah, that was a problem too……… (Longest 6 months of my Life)

I said all of that just to say the Environment Matters! For me, it was my living conditions and I learned that the hard way! But for your Air compressor it’s the compressor room in which it sits! While we don’t sell compressors, pretty much all of our products use compressed air so helping you generate and use it in the best and most efficient way is important to us!

Some of the mistakes that are commonly made in the compressor room are by design, and others are operational. Let’s cover a few;

  • Poor ventilation: Air compressors get hot. They’ve got a lot of moving parts, and many of those parts are moving under a great amount of force (pressure is literally defined as force per unit area), and at a high rate of speed. Add in the heat of compression (it takes energy to compress air, and that energy has to go somewhere, (something another colleague, John Ball, explains here). Add in all that friction, and you come up with a TREMENDOUS amount of heat. An industry rule of thumb, in fact, states that over 2500 Btu/hr of heat is generated, PER HORSEPOWER, by a typical industrial air compressor. If the compressor room isn’t big enough, you’ll need an exhaust fan capable of removing all that heat. Many compressors also have optional heat recovery systems as well.
  • Lack of filtration: Take a good, full breath in through your nose, right now. Did you smell anything unpleasant or irritating? I hope not…clean air is a “must” for your lungs (and the rest of your body), and the same is true for your air compressor (and the rest of your compressed air system). Keeping up with the maintenance on the intake filter is literally “starting where it all begins”…from the 1st paragraph.
  • Not removing moisture: Water & water vapor will have an adverse effect on many components of your compressed air system: it’ll cause rust in iron pipes, damage the seals in air cylinders, motors, tools, etc., and if you use it for blow off or conveying, it’ll contaminate your product.
  • Leaks: The compressor room is loud, so leaks are going to be pretty big before you can hear them. And to add insult to injury, the vibration of a running compressor makes the compressor room a prime location for them to occur. Even one small leak that you couldn’t hear in a quieter area will cost you over $100 over the course of the year, and maybe only take minutes to fix. Good news is, even if you can’t hear them, they ALL make an ultrasonic signature, and we’ve got something for that.
  • Ignoring maintenance. If you don’t schedule planned maintenance, your equipment will schedule “corrective” maintenance for you…oftentimes at greater expense, and with no regard to your schedule.
    • Moving metal parts that make metal-to-metal contact (or that have very tight spacing tolerances) HAVE to be lubricated properly. If you run low on oil, or let it get dirty or emulsified, severe damage will follow. Keeping an eye on the oil level, and changing it (and the filter) at the manufacturer’s recommended intervals, is critical.
    • Emulsified or otherwise contaminated oil can damage seals, gaskets, and o-rings. That’s obviously a big problem for the compressor, and when it carries over into the header, it’s a big problem for pneumatic cylinders & tools as well. Periodic sampling & analysis of your oil can provide timely notice of issues that can be corrected before they become catastrophic failures.
    • Depending on the type of compressor, and its drive system, the manufacturer’s maintenance recommendations may also include:
      • Checking coupling or belt alignment of the drive.
      • Checking bolts for loosening due to vibration (a “necessary evil”, especially with reciprocating compressors).
      • Adjusting the pistons to maintain valve plate clearance.
      • Tightening or replacing the mounts & vibration pads.

Don’t put your compressor in a room that smells like a cigarette butt covered in cooking grease that is infested with cockroaches. Set it up in the pent house, and it will reward you with dependable and efficient operation for a very long time! If you’d like to find out more about how EXAIR Corporation can help you get the most out of your compressed air system, give me a call.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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German Cockroach image courtesy of Sarah Camp , Creative Commons License.

Intelligent Compressed Air®: Common Compressor Room Mistakes, And How To Avoid Them

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

While we don’t sell, install, or service air compressors, EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products run on compressed air, so helping you get the most out of your compressed air system is important to us. Today, we’re starting where it all begins: the compressor room.

Some of the mistakes that are commonly made in the compressor room are by design, and others are operational. My colleague Tyler Daniel wrote a great blog on design considerations recently, so I’m going to focus on the operational aspects, which include maintenance…and maybe some minor design stuff:

  • Poor ventilation: Air compressors get hot. They’ve got a lot of moving parts, and many of those parts are moving under a great amount of force (pressure is literally defined as force per unit area), and at a high rate of speed. Add in the heat of compression (it takes energy to compress air, and that energy has to go somewhere, something another colleague, John Ball, explains here), to all that friction and you come up with a TREMENDOUS amount of heat. An industry thumbrule, in fact, states that over 2500 Btu/hr of heat is generated, PER HORSEPOWER, by a typical industrial air compressor. If the compressor room isn’t big enough, you’ll need an exhaust fan capable of removing all that heat.
  • Lack of filtration: Take a good, full breath in through your nose, right now. Did you smell anything unpleasant or irritating? I hope not…clean air is a “must” for your lungs (and the rest of your body), and the same is true for your air compressor (and the rest of your compressed air system). Keeping up with the maintenance on the intake filter is literally “starting where it all begins”…from the 1st paragraph.
  • Not removing moisture: Water & water vapor will have an adverse effect on many components of your compressed air system: it’ll cause rust in iron pipes, damage the seals in air cylinders, motors, tools, etc., and if you use it for blow off or conveying, it’ll contaminate your product. We’ve written…again and again…about the importance of dryers, and which type might be best for you.
  • Tolerating leaks: The compressor room is loud, so leaks are going to be pretty big before you can hear them. And to add insult to injury, the vibration of a running compressor makes the compressor room a prime location for them to occur. Even one small leak that you couldn’t hear in a quieter area will cost you over $100 over the course of the year, and maybe only take minutes to fix. Good news is, even if you can’t hear them, they ALL make an ultrasonic signature, and we’ve got something for that.
EXAIR Model 9061 Ultrasonic Leak Detector “finds them all, big or small!”
  • Ignoring maintenance. If you don’t schedule planned maintenance, your equipment will schedule corrective maintenance for you…oftentimes at greater expense, and with no regard to your schedule.
    • Moving metal parts that make metal-to-metal contact (or that have very tight spacing tolerances) HAVE to be lubricated properly. If you run low on oil, or let it get dirty or emulsified, severe damage will follow. Keeping an eye on the oil level, and changing it (and the filter) at the manufacturer’s recommended intervals, is critical.
    • Emulsified or otherwise contaminated oil can damage seals, gaskets, and o-rings. That’s obviously a big problem for the compressor, and when it carries over into the header, it’s a big problem for pneumatic cylinders & tools as well. Periodic sampling & analysis of your oil can provide timely notice of issues that can be corrected before they become catastrophic failures.
    • Depending on the type of compressor, and its drive system, the manufacturer’s maintenance recommendations may also include:
      • Checking coupling or belt alignment of the drive.
      • Checking bolts for loosening due to vibration (a “necessary evil”, especially with reciprocating compressors).
      • Adjusting the pistons to maintain valve plate clearance.
      • Tightening or replacing the mounts & vibration pads.

If you’d like to find out more about how EXAIR Corporation 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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Image courtesy of PEO ACWA Some rights reserved Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)