Tag: history

Robert Boyle the Father of Chemistry and Boyles Law

Published on by codybiehleLeave a comment

Robert Boyle, one of the founding fathers of modern chemistry and a man who changed the very way we look at scientific research. From the Scientific Method to the very laws that govern gasses, Robert Boyle was able to change the very way we look at life and solve our problems. One could say that Robert Boyle didn’t really have what you would call a humble beginning; he was born in January 1627 to the 1st Earl of Cork Richard Boyle and his wife Catherine Fenton at Lismore Castle in Ireland. When he was only 8 years of age, he was sent off to Eton College in order to study under a private tutor. In 1641 Robert would spend the winter in Florence Italy studying the “paradoxes of the great star-gazer” Galileo Galilei.

Robert Boyle

Starting in mid-1644 Robert would make his residence in Dorset England were he conducted many experiments and from then devote his life to research. In 1654, Boyle would move to Oxford from Ireland in order to further pursue his studies in chemistry. It was here in 1657 that he would read about Otto von Guericke’s air pump, and would set out to improve the system along with Robert Hooke. In 1659 the “Pneumatic Engine” would be completed and he began a series of experiments on the properties of air. He would further go on to coin the term factitious airs which is a term used to describe synthetic gases after isolating what is now understood to be hydrogen.

Though he was primarily interested in chemistry, one of Boyle’s most famous discovery was what is now known as the first of the gas laws, rightfully named Boyles’s Law.  Boyle’s Law defines the relationship between pressure and volume in a closed area given the mass of an ideal gas. Boyle and his assistant Robert Hooke used a closed J-Shaped tube and poured mercury in from the open side, forcing the air on the other side to contract under the pressure. After repeating this using several different amounts of mercury Boyle deducted that the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to the volume occupied by it.

Boyle’s Law

In 1669 his health, although which was never very good, began to fail seriously and he withdrew from the public. In his later days he would propose some important chemical investigations which he wanted to leave as a sort of legacy for those who would were also “Disciples of the Art”, essentially future chemists. On the winters day on December 31, 1691 Robert Boyle took his final breath. In his will Robert Boyle left a series of lectures known as the Boyle Lectures the talked about the relationship between Christianity and today’s science.  

Here at EXAIR we use Boyle’s Law everyday as nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen (the three main elements that make up air) are all considered ideal gas. This means that all of our products are governed by the relationship between pressure and volume.

If you have questions about any of our quiet EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Products, feel free to contact EXAIR or any Application Engineer.

Cody Biehle
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Robert Boyle image courtesy of Skara Kommun, Creative Commons License

The History of the Man Behind the Friendly Little Demon

Published on by codybiehle2 Comments

James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh Scotland on June 13, 1831 and from the age of three years old he was described as have an innate sense of inquisitiveness. In 1839 at the young age of 8 years old James’ mother passed away from abdominal cancer which put the boy’s father and father’s sister-in-law in charge of his schooling. In February of 1842 James’ father took him to see Robert Davidson’s demonstration of electric propulsion and magnetic force; little did he know that this event would strongly impact on his future.

Fascinated with geometry from an early age James would go on to rediscover the regular polyhedron before he was instructed. At the age of 13 James’ would go on to win the schools mathematical medal and first prize in both English and Poetry.

Later in his life James would go on to calculate and discover the relationship between light, electricity, and magnetism. This discovery would lay the ground work for Albert Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. Einstein later credit Maxwell for laying the ground work and said his work was “the most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.”. James Maxwell’s work would literally lay the ground work for launching the world into the nuclear age.

Starting in the year 1859 Maxwell would begin developing the theory of the distribution of velocities in particles of gas, which was later generalized by Ludwig Boltzmann in the formula called the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. In his kinetic theory, it is stated that temperature and heat involve only molecular movement. Eventually his work in thermodynamics would lead him to a though experiment that would hypothetically violate the second law of thermodynamics, because the total entropy of the two gases would decrease without applying any work. His description of the experiment is as follows:

“…if we conceive of a being whose faculties are so sharpened that he can follow every molecule in its course, such a being, whose attributes are as essentially finite as our own, would be able to do what is impossible to us. For we have seen that molecules in a vessel full of air at uniform temperature are moving with velocities by no means uniform, though the mean velocity of any great number of them, arbitrarily selected, is almost exactly uniform. Now let us suppose that such a vessel is divided into two portions, A and B, by a division in which there is a small hole, and that a being, who can see the individual molecules, opens and closes this hole, so as to allow only the swifter molecules to pass from A to B, and only the slower molecules to pass from B to A. He will thus, without expenditure of work, raise the temperature of B and lower that of A, in contradiction to the second law of thermodynamics.“

Here at EXAIR we are very familiar with Maxwell’s “friendly little demon” that can separate gases into a cold and hot stream. His thought experiment, although unproven in his life time, did come to fruition with the introduction of the Vortex Tube.

Vortex Tube a.k.a Maxwell’s Demon

With his birthday being last weekend I propose that we raise a glass and tip our hats to a brilliant man and strive to remember the brilliant ideas that he gave us.

If you have any questions or want more information on EXAIR’s Cabinet Coolers or like products. 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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Carburetors and Venturi Tubes: Thank You Giovanni Battista Venturi

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

I know it has been a little while since I blogged about something with a motor so it should be no surprise that this one ties to something with a combustion chamber. This all starts with an Italian physicist, Giovanni Battista Venturi. His career was as a historian of science and a professor at the University of Modena. He gave Leonardo da Vinci’s creations a different perspective by crediting da Vinci to be a scientist with many of his creations rather than just an amazing artist. He then began to study fluid flow through tubes. This study became known as the Venturi Tube. The first patents in 1888 came to fruition long after Giovanni passed away. So what was this Venturi effect and how does it tie in to carburetors let alone compressed air?

The illustration below showcases the Venturi effect of a fluid within a pipe that has a constriction. The principle states that a fluid’s velocity must increase as it passes through a constricted pipe. As this occurs, the velocity increases while the static pressure decreases. The pressure drop that accompanies the increase in velocity is fundamental to the laws of physics. This is another principle we like to discuss known as Bernoulli’s principle.

1 – Venturi

Some of the first patents using Venturi’s began to appear in 1888. One of the key inventors for this was Karl Benz who founded Mercedes. This is how the Venturi principle ties into combustion engines for those that do not know the history. This patent is one of many that came out referencing the Venturi principle and carburetors. The carburetors can vary considerably in the complexity of their design. Many of the units all have a pipe that narrows in the center and expands back out, thus causing the pressure to fall and the velocity to increase. Yes, I just described a Venturi, this effect is what causes the fuel to be drawn into the carburetor. The higher velocity on the input (due to this narrowing restriction) results in higher volumes of fuel which results in higher engine rpms. The image below showcases Benz’s first patent using the Venturi.

2 – Venturi Patent

While carburetors slowly disappear and now can mainly be found in small engines such as weed eaters, lawn mowers, and leaf blowers, the Venturi principle continues to be found in industry and other items. Needless to say, I think Giovanni Battista Venturi would be proud of his findings and understanding how monumental they have been for technological advancements. For this, we will recognize the upcoming day of his passing 199 years ago on April 24, 1822.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@exair.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – Thierry Dugnolle, CC0, Venturi.gif, retrieved via Wikimedia Commons https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Venturi.gif

2 – United States Patent and Trademark Office – Benz, Karl, Carburetor – Retrieved from https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=00382585&homeurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO1%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526d%3DPALL%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsrchnum.htm%2526r%3D1%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526s1%3D0382,585.PN.%2526OS%3DPN%2F0382,585%2526RS%3DPN%2F0382,585&PageNum=&Rtype=&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page

Tried and True Products with Modern Performance and Safety Features

Published on by codybiehleLeave a comment

Over Labor Day I got the chance to take my dad and his friend climbing in Seneca Rocks West Virginia for the first time in a very long time. Seneca Rocks is a large Quartzite knife edge located in the Monongahela National forest on route 33. The majority of climbing there is what is known as Trad Climbing, which is just short for traditional climbing and is where one must place their own protection to clip the rope into (also pray it holds when you fall). Trad climbing requires a strong mental fortitude and precise physical movements as you jam different parts of your body into various sized cracks.

Me on the left and my Dad’s friend at the trail head for the hike to “the walls”.

In the ever-expanding world of new technology and advancements of outdoor adventure gear, all trad climbers stick with the same gear that was used some 30+ years ago. Although the materials and performance have improved the very principle and mechanics behind them has not. In this case the old saying “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!” rings true. Sometimes when it comes to a solution, whether its hanging 200’ in the air or updating a process line, traditional is a great choice due to its simplicity and effectiveness.

Compressed air has been around since 1799 but the idea has been around since 3rd Century B.C. making it one of the oldest utilities next to running water. When it comes to manufacturing applications it’s about as tried and true as you can get, so why not look into our engineered products to help you solve your issues. Their simplicity and effectiveness remain, while their efficiency, safety and performance have been engineered to modern day needs.  These modern needs have insisted that products be safer and more efficient then they were 30+ years ago.  

One example of this is EXAIR’s Vortex Tube. Vortex tubes where discovered in 1931 and were exposed to industrial manufacturing in 1945. EXAIR improved upon them when the company began in 1983. Today they are still used for various cooling applications such as replacing mist coolant on CNC machines, cooling down plastic parts during ultrasonic welding, and keeping electrical cabinets cool so they don’t overheat.

Another example is air nozzles, nozzles are used for many different purposes like cleaning or cooling parts. If you are using nozzles from 30 years ago because they are effective, there is a good chance you can improve you r efficiency and increase safety for your personnel with EXAIR’s engineered Super Air Nozzles. They are designed in a variety of styles to fit your needs from tiny micro nozzles to massive cluster nozzles to blow off or cool  a multitude of parts and processes. 

Sub-zero air flow with no moving parts. 3400 Series Vortex Tubes from EXAIR.

If you have any questions about compressed air systems or want more information on any of EXAIR’s products, 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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