Tag: industrial air blowers

Utilizing EXAIR Accessories

Published on by jasonkirbyLeave a comment
Accessories

At EXAIR, we take great pride in our Intelligent Compressed Air Products, which are renowned for their efficiency and minimal maintenance requirements, thanks to their design featuring few or no moving parts. While we often highlight these advantages, we also do not want to overlook the importance of the accompanying accessories that enhance our products’ performance. These accessories play a crucial role in ensuring our compressed air solutions maintain their low maintenance and reduced noise levels, further solidifying their compliance with OSHA safety standards.

Compressed air filters and regulators are among the most essential accessories we offer, and we highly recommend their use with all our products, as well as with other brands. The Filter Separator effectively eliminates water, dirt, and rust from your compressed air system, while the 5-micron filter element prevents contaminants from clogging or damaging connected equipment. For more precise and additional filtration, an Oil Removal Filter should be installed downstream of the Filter Separator; it utilizes a 0.03-micron element to remove oil and solid particles. Our Pressure Regulators allow you to set the desired operating pressure, and we advise maintaining the minimum pressure necessary for optimal performance. This not only conserves air but also fine-tunes the efficiency of EXAIR products in various applications.

Good engineering practice calls for point of use filtration and moisture removal, such as that provided by EXAIR Filter Separators.
The Thermostat’s leads (left) are spliced into the Solenoid Valve’s ‘hot’ lead (bottom right), which essentially acts as the automatic temperature controlled ‘on/off’ switch for the Cabinet Cooler System. NEMA 4/4X versions include mounting hardware (top right).

We offer specialized accessories designed to enhance the performance of some of our products. For instance, our Line Vacs are complemented by the Line Vac Hose, while our Cabinet Coolers can be paired with Thermostats and Solenoid Valves. Additionally, we recommend Mufflers for optimal use with our Vortex Tubes. When it comes to our Air Knives, we provide several excellent options. The Universal Air Knife Mounting System offers a straightforward and dependable solution for mounting. For applications requiring longer knives or independent control of airflow sections, our Coupling Bracket Kits are ideal. Lastly, our Air Knife Plumbing Kits simplify the plumbing process for Air Knives exceeding 24 inches in length.

For those looking to connect Intelligent Compressed Air Products, we offer a range of compressed air hoses and fittings designed to enhance the convenience of installation. Coiled Hoses are an excellent match for our Safety Air Guns, providing greater mobility during operation. Additionally, our Compressed Air Hoses are frequently utilized with our Industrial Housekeeping products, ensuring that both the drum and dolly have the necessary reach for effective use.

Model 9256 6″ Stay Set Hose

If you are looking for an effective solution to mount or position your Air Nozzles, consider our Magnetic Bases, Stay Set Hoses, and Swivel Fittings, which can be combined to create a comprehensive setup.

If you have questions about our accessories, or anything regarding EXAIR and our products, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Jason Kirby
Application Engineer
Email: jasonkirby@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jk

Replacing a Drilled Pipe for a Rubber Sheet Manufacturer

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

We received a call about an application to remove water from the surface of rubber sheets.  The reason for the call was because they were using a drilled pipe. It was loud and not removing an adequate amount of water.  (Reference the photo below).  EXAIR comes across this quite a bit.  A drilled pipe has turbulent flow which causes loud noises, ineffective blowing, and wastes compressed air.  With our Super Air Knives, we can create a stronger force as the airstream is laminar.  With the laminar flow, they are also quiet.  For example, our Super Air Knives have a noise level of only 71 dBA at 80 PSIG.  Also, since all of the air volume is traveling in the same direction, the liquid water will flow away from the airstream. 

The rubber sheet was 1200 mm wide, and I recommended a model 110248 48” (1,219 mm) Aluminum Super Air Knife Kit.  The kit includes the Super Air Knife, a filter, a regulator, and a shim set.  The filter removes the debris and water from the compressed air line to optimize the performance of the air knife as well as keep your product clean.  The regulator is used to make the “fine” adjustment to the blowing force while the shim set is used as the “coarse” adjustment.  Now they could reduce the inlet pressure to not overuse the compressed air and to get the proper removal of water from the sheet.  And with the 40:1 amplification ratio, the Super Air Knife will bring in 40 parts of ambient air to every part of compressed air, saving them a lot of money. 

After installation, the customer contacted me again and mentioned that they thought the performance would be better.  They sent me a photo of the setup.  (Reference below).  I noticed that they mounted the Super Air Knife as they did with the drilled pipe.  They had the Super Air Knife blowing perpendicular to the surface, which is not optimal.  I sent them the following setup points to help. 

Contact time is effectively the space in which the target is located within the airstream.  The longer the contact time, the more effective the Air Knife is at removing contamination (water in this case).   When customers install EXAIR Super Air Knives, they can have a tendency to install them incorrectly, reducing their performance capability.  In the photo above, you can see that the Super Air Knife is at 90 degrees to the surface of target travel, reducing contact time to a minimal value.  The following suggestions are how we would advise customers to mount our equipment to get the most effectiveness within their operation.

  1. Angle – EXAIR machines a chamfer on the cap of the Super Air Knife as a starting point.  You want to have the chamfer parallel with the target line.  This will create an air flow angle at about 45 degrees.  This angle will increase the contact area and contact time, which is very beneficial for removing debris and/or heat. (Note: this would indicate that the cap is mounted nearest to the surface being treated. 
  2. Distance — For optimum performance, the Air Knife should be between 3” (76mm) to 12” (305mm) from the target.  If the Super Air Knife is too close, the amplification ratio cannot propagate and the force is reduced.  If you are too far from the target surface, the air pattern will start to change, causing the velocity and force to decrease, resulting in less effective blowing action. 
  3. Counter-Flow — The direction of the air flow should be blowing against the target surface movement, in what we term a counter-flow direction.  Example: if the target parts are moving from left to right on a conveyor, you want the Air Knife to blow from right to left.  This will allow the contamination to be blown back away from the cleaned surfaces into the direction it came from, and it will increase the impact force to remove contamination, i.e. a head-on collision vs. a rear-end collision.

With these few simple steps, this customer was able to maximize the performance of their EXAIR Super Air Knife.  The sheets were dried through improved technology, efficiency, and correct positioning.  If you are still using antiquated products for blow-off, and you wish to improve your process with quiet, safe, and efficient products, an Application Engineer at EXAIR can assist you. 

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

Laminar vs. Turbulent Flow

Published on by jasonkirbyLeave a comment
If the object you’re blowing off is flat, the laminar air flow from a Super Air Knife is ideal. They come in lengths from 3 inches to 9 feet long.

EXAIR often differentiates between laminar and turbulent flow in relation to our blow-off products. To clarify, laminar airflow is notably more efficient in blow-off applications, as it reduces pressure drops, enhances product displacement, and minimizes noise levels when compared to turbulent airflow. Understanding these distinctions is essential for optimizing performance in various applications.

Laminar flow describes a type of airflow where the velocity and direction remain uniform throughout a designated volume of air. This phenomenon results in air movement that occurs in straight lines, aligning parallel to any solid surfaces present in the area.

Laminar airflow is effective in reducing turbulence. However, the introduction of devices or materials on surfaces can unintentionally create swirls within the workspace. This chaotic turbulent flow can disrupt tasks that require a dust-free environment, leading to potential contamination. Furthermore, obstructions such as items left inside enclosures can exacerbate this issue.

The Super Air Knife by EXAIR serves as a prime example of a product that delivers laminar airflow. This cutting-edge tool offers an efficient solution for tasks such as cleaning, drying, or cooling various components, webs, or conveyors. It produces a steady sheet of laminar airflow that applies a consistent force along its entire length, ensuring optimal performance for a wide range of applications.

Turbulent airflow is characterized by its unpredictable and chaotic fluid dynamics, standing in stark contrast to laminar flow, where fluids move in smooth, parallel layers. In turbulent conditions, the fluid’s speed and direction are in constant flux, leading to the development of eddies and swirls within the flow.

If you have questions about laminar or turbulent airflow, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Jason Kirby
Application Engineer
Email: jasonkirby@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jk

Buy 1, Get 40 Free

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

Buy one, get one free is a phrase many of us are familiar with. Most of the time it is a good thing; we all like free stuff. What would you say to buy one, get 30 free? Or even 40 free? That’s not far off how our Air Knives perform. They entrain large volumes of ambient air, so for every 1 SCFM of compressed air you are paying for, you are getting 30–40 SCFM of additional free ambient entrained air.

So how are our Air Knives able to do this? We explain this phenomenon in more detail in this blog here, but in summary, a Super Air Knife takes advantage of the Venturi Effect. Named after Giovanni Venturi, who found out that when you increase the speed of a fluid through an orifice, the surrounding fluid will move along with it. This creates a region of low pressure, and the faster the speed, the lower the pressure. With low pressure, the air around rushes in to fill that gap and join the airstream. The quantity of ambient air that gets ‘pulled’ into the airstream is entrained air, or free air.

The engineered surface of the Super Air Knife is designed to minimize as much loss in air speed as possible, which maximizes the amount of free air that is being entrained. The ratio between free air and compressed air used is called the amplification ratio. Super Air Knives have an amplification ratio of 40:1, with our Standard Air Knives having an amplification ratio of 30:1. For comparison, a pipe with holes drilled will have an amplification ratio of between 2:1 and 5:1. As you can see, with a Super Air Knife you are getting a much better deal on your compressed air usage.

This additional free air adds more mass, which allows the Super Air Knife to do more work. You will get a harder hitting force than a comparable product while using less compressed air. This makes Super Air Knives especially good for cooling and drying applications, where moving large volumes of air is ideal.

EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products such as (left to right) the Air Wipe, Super Air Knife, Super Air Nozzle, and Air Amplifier are engineered to entrain enormous amounts of air from the surrounding environment.

It’s not just our Air Knives that take advantage of the Venturi effect to produce large amplification ratios. Many of our products are designed with efficiency in mind, including our Air Amplifiers, Air Wipes, and Air Nozzles and Jets, to name a few. If you would like to discuss how an EXAIR engineered compressed air product can amplify your process, then give us a call!

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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