Tag: food

Atomizing Spray Nozzles In The Food Industry

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Every morning, I fry a couple of eggs, toast a couple of English muffins (or sandwich buns or croissants or even plain white bread in a pinch), prepare some sausage (or sometimes a Cincinnati staple called goetta), for a breakfast sandwich that rivals just about any fast food offering. The first thing I do is heat the skillet & spray it with a thin layer of cooking oil, even if I’m frying the sausage or goetta first.

Spraying a thin layer of cooking oil onto a cooking surface is also a great application for our Atomizing Spray Nozzles. We can accommodate a wide range of flows & pattern sizes, and with the No-Drip option, they can be turned off & on up to three times a second. This makes them popular in larger food processing facilities, which run the pans full of food through an oven on a conveyor, and route the pans back to the starting point to be refilled (after re-oiling) and through the oven again. All day long.

I had the pleasure of helping a caller recently who makes custom cakes, and wanted to automate the process of applying melted butter to their pans. They needed a quick ‘spritz’ of about 1/4 ounce into a 9″ diameter cake pan, and they wanted to supply the melted butter from an open, unpressurized container. For this, I specified a Model SR2040SS No-Drip Siphon Fed Round Pattern Atomizing Spray Nozzle. With a siphon height of 8″ (that means the liquid in the vessel is 8″ below the centerline of the Spray Nozzle), it’ll spray water at a rate of 5.3 gallons per hour, in an 8.8″ diameter pattern at a distance of 15″ away.

5.3 gal/hr ÷ 60 min/hr ÷ 60 sec/min X 128 oz/gal = 0.2 oz/sec, so a one second spray gets them really close to 1/4 oz.

We can work the same math for, say, a Flat Fan model to spray a rectangular sheet on the above-mentioned conveyor oven setup. Or an array of Narrow Angle Round models for a muffin pan.

142 distinct models. 8 different patterns. Liquid flow rates from 0.1 to 303 gallons per hour. If you’ve got a spraying application, EXAIR has an Atomizing Nozzle for you!

If you need a fine, controllable mist or spray that’ll give you reliable performance all day, every day, EXAIR has 142 distinct models of Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles, and almost two decades of experience in providing the best one for a particular application…give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Compressed Air Use In The Agriculture Industry

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I didn’t grow up ON a farm, but more than a few of the kids I went to school with did. My wife’s grandpa had a farm, and one of her uncles still does. Farmers have always been the most diversely talented people I’ve ever known. They’re well versed in soil chemistry and plant biology. They have a keen understanding of climate & weather patterns which allows them to sow seed after the last frost in early spring, and gather their last harvest before the first frost of mid-to-late autumn. Most of them are also expert mechanics, welders, and plumbers as well, to avoid costly repair bills on equipment they operate in fairly harsh conditions. And the ones that raised livestock, I’d stack their veterinary knowledge & skills up against just about any vet’s office.

In my twelve years with EXAIR, I’ve had the pleasure of talking with many farmers & other folks in agricultural-type jobs, and a lot of the stuff they use our products for is downright fascinating. Here are two prime examples – one from an agricultural product provider, and one from an actual agricultural job:

*A company that makes irrigation drain pipe uses Model 2485 5″ Standard Air Wipe Kits to cool and dry their extruded 4″ pipe before cutting to length & packaging it for shipment. This replaced a blower operated setup that didn’t completely dry the corrugated outside diameter. The Air Wipe not only blew off almost all the water, all the time, but also allowed them to increase production speed by nearly 10%.

The turbulent air flow from the blower system (left) really just beats on the extruded surface, while the laminar flow of the EXAIR Super Air Wipe (right) strips & sweeps the surface clean & dry.

*Once fruit & vegetables are harvested, most of them go through some sort of cleaning process. EXAIR Super Air Knives are commonly used in conjunction with those processes. Sometimes they’re blowing loose dirt from, say, onions or potatoes, so they don’t turn the wash water into a mud bath. They’re also used to blow the wash & rinse water off, so they’re as dry as possible before packaging or processing. One particular customer uses Super Air Knives for the latter. By replacing blowers with a Model 110236SS 36″ Stainless Steel Super Air Knife Kit to dry freshly washed potatoes, they were able to increase the speed of conveyance…the laminar flow from the engineered Air Knife was better at blowing off the potatoes than the turbulent flow from the blower. Also, since the temperature of the Air Knife’s flow is the same as ambient temperature (because they entrain air from their surrounding at a rate of 40:1 to their compressed air consumption), this extended the time before spoilage. The warmer air from the blower (caused by friction in the rotating elements) was fostering the bacterial growth that leads to spoilage.

Increased potato production + longer shelf life = win/win.

Engineered compressed air products are widely used in agriculture (and, of course, many other industries) for their simplicity, durability, and reliability. If you’d like to find out how EXAIR products can make your life (or at least your job) easier, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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316SS Sanitary Flange Line Vacs™

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

The Sanitary Flange Line Vacs™ are an excellent way to convert pipe systems into conveying systems for moving “sensitive” materials.  This would include materials in the medical, food, and pharmaceutical industries that require frequent and mandatory washing.  The Sanitary Flange Line Vacs allow for easy disassembly and reassembly for hygienic and bacterial-free cleaning, as well as being made from 316L stainless steel for aggressive cleansers.  As a part of EXAIR history, this product line came from a frequent special that we produced specifically for a variety of customers.  And as a manufacturer, we decided to help other customers in this market by adding it to our product line in a variety of sizes.

Model 161200-316 – 316 Stainless Steel Sanitary Flange Line Vac

The Sanitary Flange Line Vac uses ISO 2852-compatible flanges on both the intake and outlet of the Line Vac.  EXAIR offers them in four different sizes, from 1 ½” (38mm) up to 3” (76mm) in stock.  The performance is the same as our standard Line Vacs, which move product without any moving parts or motors.  This provides a compact and easy-to-use design that will last for a long time.  We can upgrade the generator to a high-power version for increased conveyance rates as well as allowing for moving material over longer distances. 

I wrote a blog about a Line Vac application to remove bones from the surface of salmon fillets: “Let’s go fishing with EXAIR Sanitary Flange Line Vac”.  They had pipes and hoses fitted with sanitary flanges already installed.  Since this application was before EXAIR started manufacturing the Sanitary Flanged Line Vacs, this customer actually welded the flanges on to a 316SS Line Vac and attached it to their system.  With requests for opportunities similar to this, EXAIR was able to develop this new product line. 

If you need to move product where cleanliness is a requirement, the Sanitary Flange Line Vacs may work for your application.  They work great for transferring bulk materials within the food, medical, and pharmaceutical industries.  For U.S. and Canadian customers, EXAIR has a 30-day unconditional guarantee to try these out.  If you have any questions, a Application Engineer will be happy to assist you.   

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

316SS Sanitary Flange Air Operated Conveyors Pull Corn Meal Quality Samples

Published on by codybiehleLeave a comment

Agriculture, it’s a word that invokes a lot of imagery. From the vast rolling fields, to animals roaming, to a simple life of tending to the land. For some it is the perfect life of hard work and simple living. Agriculture can make one think of tractors, heavy equipment, silos, fencing, and much more. But there is one thing that does not typically come to mind, and that is compressed air. Even though compressed air is not commonly thought of being used in agriculture does not mean that it cannot be used. In fact, it can be very useful.

In one application a manufacturer of corn meal needed to take a sample of the product to test the moisture content and quality before it was loaded into a rail car. The lab tech use to have to go out to the silo to scoop up about a pint and transport it back to the lab to be tested. To eliminate the manual retrieval and delivery of the corn meal EXAIR recommended a model #163300-316 3″ St. St. Sanitary Flange Line Vac Kit and was sold to the customer. A system of 100ft of pipe was installed from the silo to the lab so that the test sample could be conveyed by the Line Vac directly to the lab to be tested. This simple fix improved the reliability of the sample and decreased the time it takes to grab a sample. Along with the added benefit that now the lab tech does not need to walk over and scoop the sample out of the container or off the ground.

EXAIR’s Family of Sanitary Flange Line Vacs

Line Vacs are a great product for conveying bulk material from point A to point B and excel with “bucket and ladder” type scenarios where personnel is manually loading or unloading batches of material or scrap. EXAIR’s Air Operated Conveyors have always been well suited for applications involving food as the internal components are smooth and can be cleaned out easily and sanitized. With a 316 Stainless Steel body the unit provides superior corrosion resistance and can withstand most caustic cleaners and oxidants. The flange style connection also makes it easy to hook up and remove for cleaning purposes.

Model 161200-316 – 316 Stainless Steel Sanitary Flange Line Vac

Sanitary Flange Line Vacs are all made from 316 Stainless Steel and come in four sizes: 1-1/2”, 2”, 2-1/2”, and 3”.

If you are interested in more applications, check out our application database on our Website. Or if you have any questions on our Line Vacs give us a call, we have a team of application engineers ready to answer your questions and recommend a solution for your applications.

Cody Biehle
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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