Tag: foam

Cleaning Foam From Beer Bottles

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

I was contacted by a company that was bottling beer; and they had an issue that they wished to solve.  They were producing 35,000 bottles per hour in two different sizes; the 24 oz. (710 mL) bottles and the “stick it in a brown paper bag” 32 oz. (946 mL) bottles.  The problem area was located at the wash system after capping the beer bottles.  They sprayed a solution of water and a low-concentration of chlorine dioxide as an antimicrobial agent.  Sanitation is at a premium to eliminate any bacteria growth. 

Currently, they were using two sets of three liquid nozzles that were spraying a flat pattern at the top and both sides of the bottle, just under the cap (reference photo below).  The issue that they were experiencing was too much solution was being used as well as creating a slip hazard on the floor outside the wash system.  They tried to reduce the liquid pressure to lessen the amount of solution, but the stream was not strong enough to clean properly.  So, they asked if the EXAIR Air Atomizing Nozzles could be a better solution.

Washing system

With liquid solutions, the smaller the particle size, the greater the surface area.  With higher surface areas, less liquid can be used to cover the same target area.  For this application; I recommended the model EF1040SS External Mix Atomizing Nozzle with a narrow-angle flat fan spray pattern.  The liquid spray pattern matched their current nozzles, and the liquid flowrate produced by this Atomizing Nozzle was within their recommendation.  By adding compressed air, we can shear liquid into much smaller particle sizes.  And as mentioned above, we can use less liquid to cover the same area.  Another feature of the EXAIR External Mix Atomizing Nozzles, the liquid and air pressures are independent.  Unlike the liquid nozzles that they were using, the liquid pressure can be changed while the air pressure can be increased.  Now, they can get a hard-hitting force to remove the beer foam while using less liquid.  This was exactly what this customer needed.   

EF1040SS

I suggested six pieces of the EF1040SS to replace each liquid nozzle to keep the same coverage around the caps.  The stainless-steel construction makes the Atomizing Nozzle corrosive resistant for Food and Beverage applications.  The flat fan pattern is able to reach multiple bottles and hit the target area evenly.  The amount of solution can be controlled by the liquid pressure and by the manual liquid needle valve.  So, the setup can be “dialed” in for the exact amount of cleaning solution needed to clean the bottles without flooding the floor.  This was important for safety as well as saving the company money by using less solution.  For this application, they were able to use about 20% less liquid.

If you have high-value liquids that you would like to spray evenly, efficiently, and effectively; EXAIR Air Atomizing Nozzles can do that for you.  We offer three different port sizes with a variety of liquid flowrates and spray patterns.  If you would like to discuss more about an application or need help in selecting the correct model, an Application Engineer will be happy to assist you.  For the customer above, the bottles were cleaned and ready to “pop the top”.  

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Photo: Empty brown beet bottles by manfredrifchter.  Pixabay License

EXAIR Products: Silencing Mufflers Overview

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

OSHA Standard 29 CFR 1910.95(a), relating to permissible noise exposure levels, states that when employees are subjected to sounds in excess of 90 dBA, some type of control should be used to reduce the sound level. In an industrial setting, it’s very common to find the exhausting air from air operated devices such as actuators, diaphragm pumps or cylinders for example, to produce sound levels well above the allowable limits set forth in the Standard. EXAIR offers a variety of different Silencing Mufflers that help to reduce this  noise level, while also increasing operator safety.

 

Reclassifying Mufflers are available in 1/8″, 1/4″, 3/8″, 1/2″, 3/4″ and 1″ NPT sizes

EXAIR’s Reclassifying Mufflers offer noise reduction up to 35 dB and are available in sizes ranging from 1/8″ to 1″ NPT. These types of mufflers are often considered”dual-purpose” as they not only reduce the noise level but also remove oil from the exhaust airflow by incorporating a removable filter element.  The exhausting oil mist is reduced from 50 PPM (parts per million) to only 0.015 PPM, when the device is operated at 100 PSIG. In addition, there is a bowl on the bottom to capture any residual oil and a 1/4″ tube adaptor to allow for easy draining.

Sintered Bronze Mufflers are available in #10-32, 1/8″, 1/4″, 3/8″, 1/2″, 3/4″, 1″, 1-1/4″ and 1-1/2″ NPT sizes, as well as 1/2-20 UNF female for use with solenoid valves

Straight Through Mufflers are available in 1/4″, 3/8″ and 3/4″ MNPT x FNPT

Sintered Bronze Mufflers are a relatively low cost option, commonly used with air cylinders as they can be installed quick and easy. We offer 1o different sizes, ranging from #10-32 for small installations, up to 1-1/2″ NPT for larger scale applications. The noise reduction depends on the size of the muffler and back pressure, which can occur from dirt or particulate clogging the muffler, restricting the exhausting airflow from passing through the porous sintered bronze.

Our Straight Through Mufflers are made of corrosion resistant aluminum and are lined with a sound absorbing foam, capable of reducing noise levels up to 20 dB. We offer 3 different sizes, 1/4″, 3/8″ and 3/4″ NPT, with a male thread on one end and female thread on the other. We incorporate this muffler design into our Cold Guns and Adjustable Spot Coolers and they are commonly used with our Vortex Tubes, Cabinet Cooler® Systems and E-Vac® Vacuum Generators as well.

Heavy Duty Mufflers are available in 1/4″ and 3/8″ FNPT

Lastly, the Heavy Duty Mufflers feature an internal, 50 mesh stainless steel screen, to protect against contaminants in the airflow,  and a corrosion resistant aluminum outer shell. In most cases, the sound reduction can be as high as 14 dB and we offer 2 different sizes, 1/4″ and 3/8″ FNPT. These types of mufflers are regularly used on the hot air exhaust of our Vortex Tubes.

For help with product selection or to discuss a particular process, please contact one of our application engineers at 800-903-9247.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

Light Duty Line Vac Conveys the “Slugs” from a Die Punch Application

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

At EXAIR, we get asked a lot of interesting questions about what our products can do. One of them that occurs with some frequency is, “Can your Line Vac convey slugs from a stamping operation?” The answer is usually yes as “slugs” (the material punched out of a sheet of stock to create a hole) are well suited in size, shape and weight to be conveyed effectively with the Line Vac product. We are used to this question from folks who are processing various types of metal sheet. The slugs tend to build up within their tooling and basically get in the way, if not even jam up the tooling from time to time. So getting rid of them from the process becomes a necessity that is, many times, not addressed during the tool making process.

Recently, we had another customer with this same kind of problem with foam. They were processing a foam sheet by punching a many holes in it which generated the waste stream you see above. Little pieces of foam about 8 – 10 mm in diameter and about 40 mm long. As you probably have guessed by now, the area that was set up to receive these renderings quickly became loaded full with the foam slugs. The customer needed to find a way to remove the slugs to a remote area so the receiving container could be switched out easily without stopping production. The original container was small, plastic bin about the size of a kitchen garbage can. The new receiving container was a large cardboard box that typically goes by the term Gaylord. The customer needed to set the Gaylord about 3 – 4 meters away from the die punching area. This is where the EXAIR model 130300 (3” Light Duty Line Vac) comes into play. The customer fabricated a chute that was positioned under the area to catch the slugs. The chute transitions to accept the 3” Light Duty Line Vac for connection at the bottom. Then, a 3” hose is connected to the output side of the Light Duty Line Vac so it could blow the slugs over to the Gaylord.

P1060775
Foam Slugs From Die Stamping Process

The customer chose the Light Duty Line Vac because it uses less air than a comparable size of our Standard Duty units. They didn’t need a tremendous amount of suction power due to the light-weight nature of the slugs. They also wanted a 3” unit to make sure none of the product would get caught anywhere within the conveying stream.

With the new Light Duty Line Vac installed, the operators do not have to spend as much time tending to the emptying of the previous, small containers that had to be used due to their size for fitting into the catch area. For an application where thousands of these slugs are produced in an hour, the productivity gain was significant. The customer didn’t place an exact value on the gain, but are considering this method for other, similar processes they have in the plant.

Neal Raker, International Sales Manager
 nealraker@exair.com
@EXAIR_NR

 

Ion Bars Eliminate Static in Foam Web Production

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

10. STATIC
Foam Web with ineffective Earth grounding

Our Greek distributor came to me the other day with a production issue for one of his clients. They manufacture foam in a variety of forms for many different end uses. In this particular case, the customer was working with a flat web of foam. As they are un-rolling and processing the foam, a decent amount of static charge builds up on the material which eventually causes discharges to the rollers in the machinery and to operators as well. The discharges are dangerous to personnel as they can be quite potent, causing a reflexive jerk back which can put the operators into a dangerous position with respect to machine components, not to mention that they are just flat out uncomfortable to receive. Another issue is that the discharges also cause blemishes on the surface of the white foam where they occur. Such blemishes are considered a defect and are therefore another reason that the customer wants to investigate active static elimination.

As you can see in the above photo, the customer has a couple of ground “probes” if you will, that ride on the surface of the foam web. They do this in hopes that the charges will “drain off” to Earth ground. While this kind of “passive” static elimination can be useful in certain circumstances, many times is just not sufficient to completely neutralize the material as needed for the process. We reviewed the line speed in the application and the web was moving at a reasonably slow 10 – 15 meters per minute. With this in mind, the EXAIR Ion Bar would be a perfect fit to provide the necessary ions to “actively” discharge the electrostatic field. By actively, I mean that the ion bar produces positive and negative ozone ions which are actively delivered and come into contact with the material. This causes the net charge to drop to a much lower level than simple grounding techniques just cannot get to.

We ended up recommending two pieces of model 7042 (42” Ion Bar) (one for each side of the web and model 7907 (2 outlet Power Supply, 230 VAC input) for the application. These bars have eliminated the blemishes on the foam web and removed the static shocks experienced by the operators.

With the very coldest of winter-time temperatures upon us now, it is what we term “static season” due to the low humidity in the air. Processes like this one can be rendered hopeless without the use of some form of active static elimination.

Are you in a converting business of some kind? Do you have static issues in your processes?  If so, consider contacting us for some help with your application. Static electricity in a production environment does not have to be a problem.

Neal Raker, International Sales Manager
nealraker@exair.com
@EXAIR_NR