Tag: ndraker

Adjustable Air Amplifier Transfers Plastic Bag Scrap

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

Many times EXAIR products are used to help sort materials based on their weight or their density by providing a consistent force against a series of targets that should be of the same density or weight, but when they are not, the airflow can be “tuned” to remove the non-conforming parts.

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Model 6042 Aluminum Adjustable Air Amplifier rejects empty pouches.

In this case, our customer (a packaging automation specialist) was working with a form fill and seal machine that was dedicated to making pouches 2” x 8” and filling them with a food product. In some cases, the pouches would not become filled with product and needed to be removed from the line. So, our customer devised a way to mount model 6042 2” Adjustable Air Amplifier along-side the travel of the pouches and set the input pressure and air gap setting to get optimum vacuum capture velocity to suck away empty ones and leave the full ones in-tact. Above you can see a photo that the customer took while mocking up the application at their facility. You can see the hose connected to the output to direct the empty pouches to a wire basket below.

A couple of things in this application made use of the Adjustable Air Amplifier the best choice. The first was the funnel-shaped suction area on the back side of the Adjustable Air Amplifier. This optimizes the Air Amplifier’s ability to draw in ambient air to propel it to the outlet. In doing this the un-filled, light-weight, plastic pouch becomes caught in the high velocity stream and thus gets carried away as desired. The second thing is that since compressed air is the source of power, the customer has infinite adjustability over the amount of suction force that they can apply to the pouch in the application. They can adjust the air gap opening on the Adjustable Air Amplifier to have a coarse adjustment of air consumption as well as vacuum level. Then, they have a finer adjustment that a pressure regulator can provide to really dial in the suction force as they need it to be for removal of the empties.

The idea here is that while Air Amplifiers are generally used for their output flow to cool targets and provide a significant Blowoff force, they can also be used to draw in not only smoke and fumes but also other lightweight items like the empty pouches above.

If you have a need to set up any kind of sorting process, maybe just to separate two different recycling streams or perhaps it is a need to perform a quality control function as shown above, think about EXAIR and our many solutions in this area.

Neal Raker, International Sales Manager
nealraker@exair.com
@EXAIR_NR

Adjustable Spot Cooler Keeps Band Saw Blade Cool

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment
flir image
Heat camera image of band saw blade heat

We run into interesting applications that require cooling all the time. Here’s an example of a spot cooling application for a tire cutting application that used a FLIR camera to show the heat generated within the band saw blade.

The customer is a world supplier of tires for various vehicles from ATV to construction use. And they have a need to cut tires up for quality control testing as well as R&D purposes. They were looking for a low cost and efficient way to cool the blade without using liquid coolant or water as those methods require implementation of waste handling schemes that this customer did not want to deal with. So, they came to EXAIR as they knew we specialized in cold air cooling products. Specifically, they had interest in model 3925 (Dual Point, Adjustable Spot Cooler System). The dual point hose kit would allow for even cooling on both sides of the band saw blade. After discussing their application details, we agreed that model 3925 would be the best offering we could make to the customer. As we have a band saw in our workshop, I located some rubber material that we had with similar properties to a tire and made some quick tests to determine that in fact, model 3925 allowed for only a modest 5°C rise in temperature. The customer was quite satisfied at our test result and purchased 4 units for their band saws.

Neal Raker, International Sales Manager
 nealraker@exair.com

@EXAIR_NR

 

EXAIR No-drip Atomizing Nozzles – Finalist for Flow Control Magazine Innovation Award

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment
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EXAIR No Drip Atomizing Nozzle

In this summer of 2016, we are nearing the beginning of one of the largest sporting events on the planet, The 2016 Summer Olympics. At the heart of this celebration will be sporting events of all kinds. And in the tradition of the Olympics there is always a gold, silver and bronze winner to award the top three athletes in each event.

EXAIR is participating in a competition as well. It isn’t one of a sporting nature, but rather, one of ingenuity and innovation. Flow Control Magazine holds an annual competition for innovations in new products available in industry and we have entered the No Drip Atomizing Nozzle into the competition.

In general, Atomizing Nozzles are used for the application of high value fluids within industrial processes. In some cases where the Atomizing Nozzles are mounted above the target, residual fluid that is left inside the nozzle body can drip out when de-energized and cause un-wanted blemishes on the target surface.

EXAIR No Drip Atomizing Nozzles allow for external adjustment of compressed air and liquid inputs to adjust the liquid spray flow rate as well as droplet size for a wide range of applications. That’s pretty common amongst atomizing nozzles in general. So what is so innovative about the No-Drip Atomizing Nozzles?

We have found a way to control the on/off function of the atomizing spray which supports the no-drip feature as well as the atomizing flow with only one compressed air supply. Most other manufacturers require a nozzle that has a separate control for the small valve within the nozzle and another for the airflow that atomizes the fluid coming through. It is this innovation that dramatically improves the simplicity with which these nozzles can be installed into an application and controlled through typical air automation techniques. It was innovative enough that the US Patent Office granted EXAIR a patent on the design (Patent # 9156045). So, we’ve made the No-Drip Atomizing Nozzle available with 3 different spray patterns and 14 different liquid volume options to suit a wide variety of application need. Operating pressures can fall anywhere between 30 – 250 PSIG to atomize fluids up to 300 centipoise.

If you agree with the US Patent Office on the innovation and think that EXAIR’s No Drip Atomizing Nozzles should be a winner in this competition, we would appreciate your official vote.

Please vote for the EXAIR No Drip Atomizing Nozzles at this link to the Flow Control Magazine’s Innovation Awards page.

Thank you!

Neal Raker, International Sales Manager nealraker@exair.com

@EXAIR_NR

Atomizing Nozzle Used in Copper Forming Applications

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment
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EXAIR Atomizing Nozzle, Narrow, Round Spray Pattern

 

Copper and its alloys are used in a variety of products from consumer goods like musical instruments, drawer and door pulls, wind chimes, electrical contacts and many other, similar parts that you do not see on more complicated pieces of equipment such as HVAC systems.

Comparatively speaking, copper is quite a malleable metal. That’s what makes it so useful for manufacturing processes such as expanding, reducing, flaring, beading and other similar processes that don’t necessarily involve a cutting or grinding action on the material, but rather a tool that comes into contact with the material to impart a specific shape that makes the made part beneficial to some other product or process.

And so, in the metal forming process, you generally have a hardened alloy tool that comes into contact with the soft copper (or brass) to impart one of the above mentioned effects to the material. With the metal forming process, you have friction that needs to be reduced substantially to aid in the forming process while maintaining the tool integrity and keeping heat generation to a minimum. There are a variety of oil-based lubricants that companies who specialize in this kind of processing, will use to lubricate the raw part prior to forming.

This is the point within the process where EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles can play a significant role in application of the lubrication. By atomizing the lubricant, the customer can have a controlled, even application of the lubricant to the tooling and/or material surface prior to putting the material through the forming operation. By applying a controlled layer of atomized lubricant, the customer can apply the lubricant in a sparingly manner to conserve on how much is used for each part formed. They get the benefit of the lubrication without over-doing it and wasting excess volume of lube applied. This, in turn, allows for a cleaner and safer processing area as well as measurable cost savings for the lubricant as well.

For lower viscosity lubricants (< 300 cP) that require only a light application of material, we have model AN1010SS which can provide a Narrow, Round spray pattern to coat smaller parts. If the part is larger or perhaps starts out as a sheet, we do also have model AW1030SS which can provide a Flat, Wide Angle spray pattern. If the lubricant has a viscosity that is higher than 300 cP, we also have a series of External Mix Atomizing Nozzles with similar spray flow patterns that can be selected for high precision adjustment of the liquid flow and droplet size to suit any need.

If you are in the metal forming industry and you are concerned with application of lubricants in your applications, we be glad to help you pick an Atomizing Nozzle to suit your needs. Contact us to discuss your application.

Neal Raker, International Sales Manager
nealraker@exair.com
@EXAIR_NR