New to EXAIR’s line of Liquid Only Atomizing Nozzles is the PowerStream Liquid Only Atomizing Nozzles. This family of nozzles does not require any source of compressed air to operate, just a supply of pressurized liquid.
These nozzles produce atomized droplets by forcing the pressurized liquid to impact onto the surface of the nozzle. With the PowerStream style of Nozzles, the liquid exits the nozzle at a 75° angle from the liquid inlet axis. The pattern produced is a fan-shaped pattern, compared to the full-cone on the OmniStream and the hollow-cone for the HollowStream nozzles. Flow rates for this nozzle range from 0.25 GPM at a pressure of 10psi, up to 1.84 GPM at 60psi with the largest Model DL8075SS.
This style of nozzle is a good fit for general-purpose applications in industry and will commonly be used to spray inexpensive liquids such as water, rinse aids, or detergents. They’re also effective for spraying a variety of chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides.
Adjustments to the nozzle’s liquid flow rate can be achieved by regulating the liquid pressure supplied to the nozzles. As we increase the liquid pressure, the flow through the nozzle will increase. As the pressure increases, not only do we increase the overall liquid flow rate but also the size of the spray pattern. If a tight tolerance in liquid flow rate is needed, the Air Atomizing Nozzles will provide more precise control over the application of fluids.
EXAIR’s PowerStream nozzle is our smallest liquid-only nozzle, coming at 1/8 NPT from stock. The wide-angle spray pattern can be used to create a “water curtain” or a wide sheet of atomized liquid.
As with our other Liquid Only Atomizing Nozzles, it’s constructed of 303 Stainless Steel and rated for pressures up to 250 PSIG. As with any stock product from EXAIR, you can also count on same-day shipping with orders received by 2:00 ET for US customers.
Every morning, I fry a couple of eggs, toast a couple of English muffins (or sandwich buns or croissants or even plain white bread in a pinch), prepare some sausage (or sometimes a Cincinnati staple called goetta), for a breakfast sandwich that rivals just about any fast food offering. The first thing I do is heat the skillet & spray it with a thin layer of cooking oil, even if I’m frying the sausage or goetta first.
Spraying a thin layer of cooking oil onto a cooking surface is also a great application for our Atomizing Spray Nozzles. We can accommodate a wide range of flows & pattern sizes, and with the No-Drip option, they can be turned off & on up to three times a second. This makes them popular in larger food processing facilities, which run the pans full of food through an oven on a conveyor, and route the pans back to the starting point to be refilled (after re-oiling) and through the oven again. All day long.
I had the pleasure of helping a caller recently who makes custom cakes, and wanted to automate the process of applying melted butter to their pans. They needed a quick ‘spritz’ of about 1/4 ounce into a 9″ diameter cake pan, and they wanted to supply the melted butter from an open, unpressurized container. For this, I specified a Model SR2040SS No-Drip Siphon Fed Round Pattern Atomizing Spray Nozzle. With a siphon height of 8″ (that means the liquid in the vessel is 8″ below the centerline of the Spray Nozzle), it’ll spray water at a rate of 5.3 gallons per hour, in an 8.8″ diameter pattern at a distance of 15″ away.
5.3 gal/hr ÷ 60 min/hr ÷ 60 sec/min X 128 oz/gal = 0.2 oz/sec, so a one second spray gets them really close to 1/4 oz.
We can work the same math for, say, a Flat Fan model to spray a rectangular sheet on the above-mentioned conveyor oven setup. Or an array of Narrow Angle Round models for a muffin pan.
142 distinct models. 8 different patterns. Liquid flow rates from 0.1 to 303 gallons per hour. If you’ve got a spraying application, EXAIR has an Atomizing Nozzle for you!
If you need a fine, controllable mist or spray that’ll give you reliable performance all day, every day, EXAIR has 142 distinct models of Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles, and almost two decades of experience in providing the best one for a particular application…give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
In today’s market, the cost of consumable products is on the rise, especially with paints, oils, and yes, even the cost of water. You can help alleviate some of that cost by being more effective at spraying and by using less liquid. The EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles can accomplish both of these objectives. With the addition of compressed air, the liquid can be sheared into smaller micron-sized droplets. By reducing the diameter of a particle by half, the surface area will increase by eight times. With a smaller diameter, it will increase the coverage; thus, using less liquid material in your application. In combination with a variety of spray patterns, you can accurately target the liquid onto the product instead of around the product. EXAIR manufactures three families of Atomizing Nozzles; Internal Mix, External Mix, and the Siphon Fed. In this blog, I will be discussing the Siphon Fed Atomizing Nozzles.
When no liquid pressure is available, the Siphon Fed Atomizing Nozzles will be able to create a vacuum to draw the fluid into the nozzle. This action is done by a unique design of the air cap. As the velocity of the air passes through the air cap, a low pressure is generated on the liquid side by a venturi. These Atomizing Nozzles can draw liquid from a suction height of 36” (91 cm) or can be gravity fed from a distance of 18” (46 cm). They are manufactured from stainless steel for durability and corrosion resistance. The Siphon Fed models can spray viscous fluids up to 200 centipoise, and are used in many applications like washing, coating, cooling, quenching, and dust control.
EXAIR carries three different body sizes; 1/8”, ¼”, and ½” NPT ports or with BSP conversion fittings. So, you can create a light mist or a monsoon. The maximum liquid flow rate through each body size is controlled by the air and liquid cap. These caps are easily interchangeable for each body size to modify the spray patterns, control the amount of fluid, and reduce any downtime if cleaning is required. The amount of liquid to be applied is easily adjusted by the siphon height, inlet pressure, and the liquid adjusting stem. So, you can dial in the exact amount of fluid required for your process to eliminate any waste or excess. They are very compact and easy to install. We carry mounting brackets for each size to allow for easy mounting and positioning. Versatility is very important in saving, applying, and spraying costly fluids, and the Siphon Fed Atomizing Nozzle has it.
No Drip Atomizing Family
To reduce waste even more, EXAIR has a No Drip option. This patented design is used to keep the expensive liquid from dripping out of the Atomizing Nozzles. When the compressed air is turned off, a valve inside the body will create a seal on the liquid side. For delicate applications, the No Drip option eliminates drips, which could possibly ruin the finish of your product. This option also enhances the function of the Siphon Fed Atomizing Nozzle in intermittent processes. It will keep the liquid inside the body of the nozzle; so, when air pressure is applied, the Atomizing Nozzle will give an instant spray. Unlike some manufacturers, there is no need to run a separate compressed air line to operate the No-Drip function. The Siphon Fed Atomizing Nozzles with the No Drip option becomes simple, efficient, effective, and controlled without any drips.
If you need to maximize the liquid dispersion and minimize liquid consumption, the EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles are the products to use. Instead of researching the requirements for liquid pumps or pressure pots, the Siphon Fed Atomizing Nozzle can draw the liquid through the feed line and start spraying. It can help reduce the cost of your project as well as save you money on your consumable products. If you have an application involving liquid spraying, an Application Engineer at EXAIR can help determine the correct model for you.
As a child of the 1970s, my friends and I played with a LOT of toys that were die-cast. Most of us didn’t know what that meant; we just knew that we had to try REALLY hard to break them. Turns out, the ruggedness of those toys – and their widespread availability to the first crop of Gen-X kids – is directly related to the casting process. Metal casting produces stronger products than welding pieces together, and it’s WAY more cost-effective than machining parts that don’t necessarily need to hold tolerances measured in thousandths of inches.
One of the more popular methods for parts & products like this is called green sand casting. Basically, they add a specific amount of water to the sand so that it’ll hold its shape – that’s why the best sand castles on the beach are made closer to the surf – and make a mold. Then they pour in molten metal, let it cool, remove the cast part, and repeat for as many parts as they need to make. Fun fact: they call it “green sand” because of the moisture content – like “green wood” gets its name because of the sap content – not because of the color (it’s NOT green colored).
Anyway, the mixing process for the sand & water blend is kind of an exact science. Too much water, and the mold won’t hold its shape, and too little will make it brittle. It’s also easier and quicker to mix if the water is sprayed, as opposed to dumping or pouring it in.
The reason I know all this is that I had the pleasure of talking with a caller who runs a specialty casting foundry. They make parts that weigh a couple of ounces, a couple of hundred pounds, and anything in between. They, of course, keep the molds they’ve made for repeat customers, so they’re ready to go when a new order is placed, but they’re also making new molds all the time, and wanted to improve the sand/water mixing process. They didn’t need the extremely fine droplet size of an Air Atomizing Spray Nozzle, nor did they want something whose flow was measured in gallons per hour. They were actually looking for about one gallon per minute from a compact device that could spray a wide round pattern into a rotary drum that looked an awful lot like a small concrete mixer. They chose Model FL1010SS OmniStream Cone Nozzle.
Since 1 gallon per minute is right in the middle of the FL1010SS’ flow performance range, it was the obvious choice for this application.
As the sand in the mixer turns, the conical spray is evenly, and quickly, is soaked into the sand. This reduced the time it took to get a consistent mixture, and eliminated clumps they’d occasionally get when the water was poured in, which they’d have to break up by hand after stopping the mixer, which saved even more time…and operator frustration!
If you need to spray liquid in a consistent, repeatable manner, EXAIR has an enormous range of flow rates & spray patterns. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
