Tag: japanfalone

How to Size Pipes for Your Compressed Air System

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Most facility’s compressed air systems have evolved over time. A spur added here a spur added there. Eventually pressure drop issues develop. Common practice is to increase the air pressure at the compressor. While it may address the symptom it does not address the problem and is very costly. For every 2 PSI increase in pressure requires 1% more energy.

A properly designed system will be a loop with spurs. This will ensure all airsystem

drops will share the air equally. The header loop should be able to carry all the air the compressor is capable of producing.  Best practices suggest the distribution header should be sized to allow an air velocity not to exceed 30 ft/second. The formula to calculate this is:

A =    144 * Q * Pa
       V *60 x (Pd +Pa)

Pipe Diameter = √ (A*4/3.14)

Where:

A = cross sectional area if the pipe bore in square inches or ∏ x diameter squared / 4
Q = Flow rate SCFM
Pa = Prevailing absolute pressure. Sea level is 14.7
Pd = compressor gauge pressure or psig.
V = Design pipe velocity ft/sec

Example: Size a header for 500 SCFM at 100 PSI at an elevation at sea level

A = 144 x 500 x 14.7 / 30 x 60 (100 + 14.7) = 5.13  square inches

Pipe diameter then is square root of  (5.13 * 4) / 3.14 = 2.56″

So an 2.56″  internal diameter pipe would be the proper size header.

The same formula can be used to calculate the sizes of the drops. In this case you would use the demand flow rate for Q.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax (513) 671-3363
Web: http://www.exair.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

It’s Your Birthday…It’s Your Birthday

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In an earlier post, I spoke about how I like my job and the people I work with. Here is a prime example of why I feel that way. As a father I’ve always enjoyed celebrating the kid’s and wife’s birthdays. But for me, my birthday is more or less just another day. No big deal.joebd2013

I turned 65 this week and had the most exceptional and memorable birthday ever. I was completely overwhelmed by all the attention I was given by my co-workers. The entire company took time out to present me with a birthday cake and sang a revised version of happy birthday strummed on the guitar by our lead engineer, and yes, everything they say about engineers is true.

The highlight of the day was the gifts they gave me. My hobby requires the use of lead which is hard to come by these days. Each employee presented me with a bag of scrap lead. AWESOME!

The adrenalin hardly subsided when they invited me out to dinner after work. Being of Italian descent, they took me to a nice Italian restaurant.

range

As if the gifts of lead were not enough, they presented me with a range bag with my name and company logo embroidered on it. It will be a life long reminder of a super group of people that collectively make a company.

I had a college professor once tell me that happy employees produce astounding results. The work environment at EXAIR is a happy one, which is why I was astounded on my birthday…

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Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax   (513) 671-3363
Web: www.exair.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

Is Smaller or Bigger Better

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If anything, the commercials during the Superbowl, have fostered my curiosity for the entertainment value of everyday advertising. I’ve seemed to have gained a more critical eye and come to a conclusion; human consumption is like the tide, it waxes and wanes only to repeat itself.portable TV

There was a time that everyone was clamoring for pint sized TV’s. Today, sports fans would have a commercial movie screen if they could fit it into their home. In the 50’s and 60’s huge high finned cars  were in vogue. Today, sub compacts are in demand. Today’s manufacturer has to be diverse in their product offerings to fulfill the broad range of customer needs.

EXAIR is well known for its ability to modify standard product to fit their customer’s needs. Here is an example of how we modified our standard air amplifier to meet the customer’s needs to install into a flue pipe and assist the movement of flue gasses.

                           Standard DesignStandard Design                          Modified Designspecial air amplifier

If you have a special application, call one of our application engineers 1-800-903-9247

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax (513) 671-3363
Web: http://www.exair.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

Doomsday Prepper or Just Being Prepared?

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I watched “Doomsday Preppers” for the first time on TV. My initial take was that these folks have a screw loose. But then I remember the pictures of  the devastation Hurricane Sandy caused. It was cold and people were without food and shelter. Mobility was limited due to fallen trees and gasoline unavailable. Many of the residents were overcome with anxiety and mental breakdown.sandy

When hurricane Ike came through Cincinnati we lost power for several days. Lucky for us it was mild weather so shelter was not an issue and we still had water service. The worst was overcoming the temptation to open the fridge to get a beer.

This really got me to thinking. What would I do if I were thrust into a real dire situation. What if that meteorite had landed in Texas and taken out the refineries. A major disruption in fuel supplies would cripple the trucking industry, without gas farmers could not harvest the crops, businesses could not open their doors, without a job to go to, people would not have the money to buy supplies. OMG! , I am starting to sound like a “prepper”! In all reality, one does not have to go to the extremes but at least be prepared.

How well is your facility prepared for the impending heat this summer? Will you wait to experience a shutdown because of overheated control panels, or you preparing now for panel cooling?  EXAIR has a complete line of Cabinet Coolers , to cool your electronic enclosures, that have no moving parts and use compressed air for power . Now is the time to be thinking of beating the heat. Feel welcomed to contact one of our application engineers to go over your cooling requirements.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax (513) 671-3363
Web: http://www.exair.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair