Tag: material handeling

Heavy Duty Line Vacs: Made for Abrasive Materials and/or Higher Throughput

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

The Heavy Duty Line Vacs are made from a hardened alloy steel for abrasion resistance.  The generators inside these Line Vacs are more powerful than the standard models; so, that they can also convey heavier materials at higher conveyance rates.  They can reach rates as high as 40 lbs./min. (18.2Kg/min) of material.  With the hardened alloy construction, they are great for sand blasting applications, ceramic, glass, garnet, tumbling media and steel shot.  They are manufactured with inlet and outlet connections for ship-on hoses or threaded pipes.  EXAIR stocks the Heavy Duty Line Vacs in the range from ¾” (19mm) to 3” (76mm) for both hose and NPT connections.  These Line Vacs are our most powerful design with great wear resistance.

2″ Heavy Duty Line Vac (left;) the 3″ model (right.)

The table below gives a quick comparison of the EXAIR Light Duty Line Vac, Standard Line Vac & the Heavy Duty Line Vac models.  The test shows the 2″ size in each model conveying Rock Salt over two different horizontal distances.  As expected the Heavy Duty Line Vac conveys more material in less time!

Heavy Duty Line Vac Distance

The performance of the Heavy Duty Line Vac’s is nothing short of amazing!  With vacuum ratings between -144 to -20 inches of water column, it is more than likely there is a Heavy Duty Line Vac model that will suit your application.

HD Line Vac Performance

Models range from 3/4″ OD to 3″ OD either in smooth bore or NPT threaded models for the ultimate in versatility.  The table below shows the different Heavy Duty Line Vac Models and their respective recommended kit, which includes a pressure regulator for fine tuning performance, filter separator to keep the compressed air supply clean and a mounting bracket.

HD Line Vac Offerings

If you would like to discuss the Heavy Duty Line Vac or any of our quiet and efficient compressed air devices, I would enjoy hearing from you…give me a call.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

Send me an Email
Find us on the Web 
Like us on Facebook
Twitter: @EXAIR_JS

Turn Ordinary Pipe Into A Powerful Transfer System w/ EXAIR’s Threaded Line Vac!

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

EXAIR’s Line Vacs are the ideal low-cost solution for bulk material transfer or trim and scrap removal. Available with NPT threaded connections, EXAIR’s Threaded Line Vacs allow you to convert ordinary pipe into a powerful conveying system for parts, scrap, trim, and other bulk materials. With performance identical to that of the Standard Line Vac, the Threaded Line Vac is available in sizes ranging from as small as 3/8 NPT and up to 3” NPT. There’s a suitable Line Vac for most standard sized NPT pipe common in any industrial facility.

The Threaded Line Vac is available in a range of different materials: Aluminum, Type 303 Stainless Steel, Type 316 Stainless Steel, and as a Heavy Duty conveyor constructed of a hardened alloy steel for use in abrasive applications. Where most materials or hard anodized coatings wear out or wear off over time, the Heavy Duty Line Vac is the ideal solution for heavy and abrasive materials. In addition to being abrasive resistant, the Heavy Duty Line Vac is also more powerful and suitable for longer vertical and horizontal transfer distances.

Each style of Threaded Line Vac is also available as a High Temperature option. By replacing the traditional o-rings with graphite seals, we’re able to provide a solution capable of withstanding temperatures up to 900°F!!!

The conveyance rate through the Line Vac is infinitely adjustable by regulating the air pressure supplied to it. At lower pressures, the conveyance rate (and air consumption) will decrease. At higher pressures, the conveyance rate will increase. If you have a Threaded Line Vac with the standard performance but need just a little bit more, the option also exists for a High Power unit that would match the performance of the similarly sized Heavy Duty. This can be ordered from the factory with an “HP” prefix, or modified yourself. Check out our video to see just how simple it is to get more out of your Threaded Line Vac.

With all sizes and materials on the shelf and in stock, we’re able to get a solution out to you quickly. We’ll ship out the very same day for stock orders received by 2:00 ET. Backed by our Unconditional 30 Day Guarantee, you’re able to make sure it is the right solution for you before committing to keep it. If you have an application that could be better served with an in-line pneumatic conveyor, give us a call. We’ll be happy to help you determine the most suitable size for the application.

Tyler Daniel, CCASS

Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

Custom Pneumatic Conveyors for Unique Applications

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

EXAIR’s Line Vac Air Operated Conveyors provide an efficient method of converting ordinary pipe, hose or tubes into powerful in-line conveyors.  To accommodate the wide variety of unique problems manufacturers face, EXAIR has the ability to customize and tailor Line Vacs to different specifications.  Certain processes may require customizations like unique sizes, shapes and materials in order for the product to be a perfect fit for their system.  EXAIR will work in collaboration with the customer to fabricate the best possible Line Vac solution for easy and efficient conveyance.

I worked with a customer to design a special Line Vac.  They needed 3” ANSI 150# Flanges on a 3” PDVF Line Vac.  So, we had a special material with special ends to fit their specific need.  The PVDF with Hastelloy hardware was for chemical resistance, and the flanges would mount into their piping system.  As with many of our Line Vacs, we can turn a normal piping system into a conveyance system for waste, parts, or bulk materials.  For this customer, they needed a backup system for a fume hood.  With electrical vacuums and blowers, loss of power or motor failures can cause a momentary lapse in fume removal.  Since the chemical material that was used in the hood was dangerous, they needed a reliable source to extract the fumes.  Since any Line Vac does not have moving parts or require electricity, they are durable, reliable and require little to zero maintenance. The Line Vac only uses compressed air or gas to make them operate.  For this customer, they attached nitrogen to the special Line Vac to operate when there was a power failure to protect the workers in the area. 

For customers with space limitations, smaller sizes can be created while still offering the same quality of conveyance.  In situations where the Line Vac requires a specific flange mounting option, EXAIR can accommodate.  Applications requiring custom mounting holes, brackets or inlet positions are no problem to solve due to EXAIR’s in house manufacturing.  For applications where stock aluminum, or 303 and 316 stainless steel won’t work, alternate materials like PVDF, OVC or PTFE can be utilized.  Even in extreme environments, EXAIR can produce both heavy duty or high temperature iterations to handle even the toughest material or conditions.  Other details like the customer’s particular hose size, or pipe threading are specifications that EXAIR will have no problem accommodating.

EXAIR Line Vacs: For bulk material conveyance through lines from 3/8″ to 6″, in aluminum, 303SS, 316SS, or abrasion resistant hardened alloy, available from stock with the widest variety of connections in the industry.

Stock Line Vac models include standard, Heavy Duty, high temperature, Light Duty and Sanitary Flange.  All versions are able to be customized with different connections to meet customer’s specific needs.  All Line Vacs are CE compliant and OSHA safe.  For help solving any specific conveyance problems, please contact an Application Engineer. 

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

Air Operated Conveyors: Line Vacs

Published on by bdwagesLeave a comment

Get rid of your buckets and ladders, and add an EXAIR Line Vac. These small units can move large volumes of material. They are a perfect solution for moving things like plastic pellets, textiles, food products, pills/tablets, granules and much more. By adding a small amount of compressed air through the directed nozzles on the Line Vac, you will create a vacuum on one end and a high flow of air on the other to lift and or push your material up and over to a new location.

EXAIR Line Vacs: For bulk material conveyance through lines from 3/8″ to 6″, in aluminum, 303SS, 316SS, or abrasion resistant hardened alloy, available from stock with the widest variety of connections in the industry.

With multiple sizes from 3/8″ up to 4″ (up to 6″ in our Light Duty Options), we can help you select the best size for your application. In addition to sizes, we offer these is the following materials; Aluminum, 303 Stainless Steel, 316 Stainless Steel, High temp 303 and 316 Stainless Steel, a hardened alloy, and in a flanged 316 Stainless Steel. We offer these in the Standard Fitting, a Threaded Fitting, and a Sanitary Flange Fitting. Lastly, we can make these in custom materials and sizes if you have the need.

Line Vacs can convey many things.

We have testing data from materials of many weights and sizes to compare your project to, so that we can help you choose the best size for your application. The information we need starts with the type and size of material. Keep in mind that we will be aerating your product, so we need to be cautious of creating combustible dusts such as flours, grains, pesticides, fine powders and much more. Beyond this, we need to understand the surface area on your product that the air will catch.

We will then need to understand the vertical and horizontal lengths that you need to move your media. For instance, up 10 feet and over 5 feet… With this, we will need to understand the “turn”. Keeping in mind that this is about air flow, 90° turns need to be taken in to account. We will need to add 10-15 feet of length in our calculations to overcome a 90°turn. If you can engineer a gradual turn, rather than an abrupt one, your product will flow much smoother. Next, we will enquire about the type of container your media is being conveyed from, and to. Example, it is going from a super sack, to the dumpster, or from a drum to a hopper.

Next, we need to have an accurate bulk density, or pounds per cubic feet (or kg/m3). If this is unknown, we can easily find this by putting your product in a container and weigh it. We simply multiply the Length x Width x Height of the container, and divide that by the weight. This will give us the pounds per cubic foot. Finally, we need to know how many pounds per minute do you need to have conveyed.

Be sure to check out our promotion on Line Vacs as well.

With the above information in hand, please reach out and discuss your data with myself, or any of the application engineers to determine the Line Vac that is perfect for your application.

Thank you for stopping by,

Brian Wages

Application Engineer

EXAIR Corporation
Visit us on the Web
Follow me on Twitter