Tag: hose dryer

Optimizing Your Compressed Air Usage With Engineered Products

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

The first new car I ever bought was a 1995 Ford Escort Wagon. I’ve mentioned this before in posts about preventive maintenance, the importance of proper filtration, and brand loyalty. Those blogs were primarily about my experiences with that little red wagon, but today I wanted to discuss the primary reason I bought the car in the first place.

I had a 50-mile round trip commute to work, and my old Pontiac Grand Prix with the small block V8 engine was a great ride for sure. Some quick math, however, showed that if I went with something with better gas mileage, I could save quite a bit of money on gasoline. My calculation was almost $1,000 a year, just on driving back & forth to work. After figuring in the rest of my driving for the first year, it was more like $1,400 a year.

Similar to my “upgrade” to a more fuel efficient vehicle, upgrading blowoff, cooling and drying operations using engineered compressed air products is Step #3 in EXAIR’s Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System. We’ve assigned an order to these steps in accordance with basic good engineering practice & protocol, but it’s not necessary to follow them in any particular order. In fact, all six steps really don’t apply to every single compressed air system.

Step #3 does apply to most systems, though. I spent a fair amount of time in all sorts of industrial facilities in my previous roles, servicing industrial & chemical pumps, and almost all the time, regardless of the industry or the size of the facility, the maintenance part of the facility used air guns. However, I don’t recall ever seeing an engineered nozzle on one before I came to EXAIR. Since then, I’ve worked with a BUNCH of users to dramatically reduce compressed air consumption by replacing their cheap and inefficient air guns with EXAIR Safety Air Guns, or by retrofitting EXAIR Super Air Nozzles onto their existing air guns. We actually carry adapters to fit our Super Air Nozzles to a number of readily commercially available air guns for that very purpose.

The five families of EXAIR handheld blowoff products include VariBlast Precision & Compact, Soft Grip, Heavy Duty, SuperBlast, and TurboBlast Safety Air Guns. They’re available with a range of engineered Super Air Nozzles, Extensions, and Chip Shields.

In addition to air guns & nozzles, our Air Knives have a long history of replacing drilled pipes & pipe manifolds with inefficient nozzles used to make a curtain of air flow. The following chart details the savings you can realize from the use of a 24″ Super Air Knife instead of similar devices for a 24″ wide air curtain:

Even though an electric powered blower will use less electricity than the amount of electricity an air compressor uses to supply an engineered product like the Super Air Knife, the maintenance costs make the total cost of ownership eclipse that of the engineered Air Knife.

Our Case Study Library (registration required, but it’s free & fast) documents many real-world situations where customers worked with us to gather & publish “before/after” documentation, proving out the benefits of Step #3. I encourage you to check those out, and if you think you might have an opportunity to do a Case Study with us, we offer discounts or credit for that…give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Super Air Wipes Bring It Full Circle

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

The Super Air Wipes literally bring a full circle of converging airflow onto the surface of whatever is passed through it. That airflow can blow off, cool, clean, or dry products. A Coanda profile is designed into the body of the unit to maximize entrainment of ambient air from the upstream side as well as give the precision angle for the air to exit from and impact the target. This gives the air stream moving the target zone a 30° angle to the surface to provide a substantial shear force for debris removal. This also ensures the large volume of ambient air entrained will all travel in the correct direction and not become turbulent before impinging on the surface.

Implementing a Super Air Wipe salvaged a $30,000 job for this customer. Read all about it in our Case Study Library (registration required)

To provide ease of installation, a unique clam-shell design was engineered to provide clamp-over installation rather than traditional threading methods. This also permits quick changes in size when needed in rapid product change environments.

Gen4 Super Ion Air Wipe

To meet all the tasks at hand, the Super Air Wipes are offered in two main materials of construction. Aluminum body with brass air fittings, connected with stainless steel hardware, shim, and connecting hose for up to 4” (102mm). As well as 303 stainless steel body with stainless steel bolts, shim, the connecting hose for up to 4” (102mm) and fittings. The stainless-steel components give the units better corrosion resistance, higher temperature ratings, and more durability in harsh industrial environments.

Super Air Wipe Family Photo

EXAIR stocks the aluminum Super Air Wipes with inner diameters from 3/8” (10 mm) for wire and cables up to 11” (279mm) for large pipes and hoses. The aluminum models have a temperature rating of up to 400oF (204oC). We also stock stainless-steel models from ½” (13mm) to 4” (102mm) inner diameters, and they have a temperature range of up to 800oF (427oC). If you require different diameters or materials, we can do that as well easily.

Super Air Wipe Kit

The Super Air Wipe kits help get the most out of the air wipes. A kit will include the Super Air Wipe, a filter, a regulator, and a shim set. The filter will remove bulk liquids and debris from the compressed air to keep the performance optimal. The regulator is used to fine-tune the force provided by the Super Air Wipe. This helps to not over-use the amount of compressed air required for the job.

With a regulator, you can make fine adjustments to get the proper amount of air. For coarse adjustments, you can add shims to increase the airflow and force. They are easy to install on the Super Air Wipes to allow for applications to have more cooling, faster drying, and better removal of tough debris. For cleanliness and control, the Super Air Wipe Kits would be recommended for your application.

Robotic Welder fitted with EXAIR Super Air Wipe

With the creation of the Super Air Wipe, uniform cleaning, cooling, and blowing around the outside of parts is a simple task. You don’t have to worry about a variety of nozzles to target the circumference or a fabricated blow-off device that will waste air and take much time out of your day. A simple Super Air Wipe Kit purchase will solve the problem and keep production going. If you need help selecting the proper size or want to know what material we would recommend for your application, contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Square Peg And A Round Hole

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

We all remember the box with different shapes that toddlers play with to eventually learn shape names. Well, this also teaches some other things like fine motor skills and for some, how to work around the challenge altogether. Here at EXAIR, we like to use our products to help build skills and enable our customers to navigate the challenges at hand. Sometimes, that means fitting a square peg in a round hole.

That’s right, while we all like to think of the Super Air Wipe as a product that is only used with round wire, cable, bar, tubing, or extrusion that is round, that is not the case. Now, I know what you might be thinking, that’s a waste or how can you fit that shape. Well, the Super Air Wipes from EXAIR are offered in 11 sizes from stock in aluminum construction and 5 in stock from stainless steel. (In stock for us means they ship same day on orders received by 2:00 PM ET.) The reason we don’t only use these for round objects is the fact that once the air hits a surface it follows that surface.

The Super Air Wipes have a converging airflow and as long as the profile being passed through fits through the inner diameter and does not have undercuts then the air should attach to the surface and travel upstream of the SAW location and blow off the moisture, debris, or cool the material being fed through. This pattern of air will converge 360° to the wipe. So if the extrusion being passed through is a square shape, then the air will hit each flat, and where the corners are that air will simply combine and continue upstream.

Throughout the years I have even helped customers to use only half of a Super Air Wipe to cool or clean a part as it rides down a conveyor and use half of the wipe as a gate for the part to pass through. Another common application is to use the Super Air Wipe to protect lenses for things like measurement systems or cameras. This can be done by installing the Super Air Wipe in front of the camera or lens and blowing the air stream out away from the lens. Again, the converging flow helps to provide an air barrier to shield the lens from foreign debris or moisture.

Robotic Welder fitted with EXAIR Super Air Wipe

If you would like to see what kind of irregular shape we can help fit through a Super Air Wipe to cool down or clean it off as it is fed down a process line, contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Super Air Wipes For Reliable Blow Off In Harsh Environments

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I saw a fake ad on a humor/satire website for a “wood fireplace” recently. The photo showed what looked like a typical home fireplace, except the whole thing – the frame, grill, flue, and chimney – was made of 2×4’s and plywood. It looked to be well crafted and expertly built, and I bet it would have worked great…once.

It was definitely funny…here I am, a week or so later, still getting (and sharing with you, dear reader) a chuckle out of it. There were two takeaways for me: One, I’m easily amused. And two, there is DEFINITELY a reason why many products are made of certain materials. Like, how the fireplace in MY house is made of iron & brick.

…and not just any old bricks, but specially made ones called refractory (or fire) bricks. Because specific material of construction can be VERY important.

Then there’s the EXAIR Air Wipe product line. Our Standard Air Wipes are made of aluminum. They’re fitted with steel hardware, polyester shims, and have a PVC/rubber & brass connector hose assembly. As long as they’re not exposed to anything that’s particularly corrosive, or in a hot environment – they’re rated to 150°F (66°C) – they’re going to work just fine.

EXAIR Standard Air Wipe family. Sizes up to 4″ (102mm) come with a connector hose. Larger sizes must be plumbed with compressed air to the supply port on each half.

For more aggressive conditions in the Air Wipe’s area of installation, though, we’ll consider the Super Air Wipe:

  • We offer the body in two different materials: aluminum is good for up to 400°F (204°C), stainless steel is good to 800°F (427°C).
  • Either way, it comes with stainless steel hardware & shims, and a braided SS connector hose.
EXAIR Super Air Wipe Family. Sizes up to 4″ (102mm) come with a SS braided connector hose. Same as the Standard Air Wipes, 5″ (127mm) and larger Models are individually plumbed to each half. Aluminum bodies come in sizes from 3/8″ (10mm) to 11″ (279mm), and Stainless Steel bodies go from 3/8″ (10mm) to 4″ (102mm).

Here are some prime examples of the “more aggressive conditions” that are great fits for the Super Air Wipe:

  • Blowing off seawater from mooring cables on oceangoing vessels:
Reeling in this cable through an unprotected hatch carried seawater into the reel compartment. A Model 2404SS 4″ SS Super Air Wipe now dries the cable as it enters, solving a number of corrosion & maintenance problems.
  • Removing cutting oil from machined parts:
EXAIR Model 2407 7″ Aluminum Super Air Wipes remove cutting fluid from CNC machined parts. The oil-based fluid was contaminating robotic welders’ cover windows & lenses, which cost a lot of time (in cleaning the windows & lenses), and money (to replace the windows as the fluid attacked them, causing them to cloud & haze).
  • Cooling extruded tubing:
Tubing coming out of extruder was hot & pliable, and would slump or sag upon exit. An EXAIR Model 2401 1″ Aluminum Super Air Wipe cools it to prevent it from slumping, which made it so crooked it had to be tossed out as defective.
  • Blow off AND creating an environmental barrier:
An EXAIR Model 2404 4″ Aluminum Super Air Wipe not only blows off a steel rod during processing, it also contains smoke and oil mist from the machinery.

Super Air Wipes come in sizes from 3/8″ (10mm) to 11″ (279mm) with the Aluminum bodies, and 3/8″ (10mm) to 4″ (102mm) in Stainless Steel. Kits include a Shim Set to make gross adjustments to the flow & force, an Automatic Drain Filter Separator to keep the air supply clean & moisture free, and a Pressure Regulator to “dial in” the performance. If you have a particular application you’d like to discuss, or to find out more about our Air Wipes (or any of our engineered compressed air products, for that matter,) give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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