Tag: ndraker

Super Air Amplifier Keeps Web Tension Clutch Cool

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment
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Model 120022 2″ Super Air Amplifier

I was working with a new customer today who was in the maintenance department at a printing company. He called because he was looking for a cooling solution to a heat build-up problem that his company was having on one of their pneumatically controlled web tensioner systems. The heat was building up in the pneumatic clutch which was housed inside a box along-side the web roller shaft. The customer had just replaced the clutch not even one month ago and production had called them down because it was making noises again.

After performing some routine checks, maintenance determined that production was operating the line at a speed higher than what the clutch was designed for in order to meet production goals. The unfortunate part was that being inside an enclosure did not allow heat to dissipate quickly enough from the clutch itself. So, the customer wanted to know how EXAIR products might be able to help them with this heat dissipation issue.

Once I had an understanding of the application and the nature of the problem, I guided the customer to utilize model 120022 (2” Super Air Amplifier). The clutch housing became so hot that they could not touch it with bare hands. That established the fact that the temperature of the housing already had the established temperature differential that was needed. All we needed to do was to provide a flood of room temperature air into this enclosure and also direct it at the clutch’s friction surface to quickly dissipate that heat.

You might ask why the customer didn’t opt to use fans. The reason is that fans were not sufficient enough to drop the temperature of the clutch during periods of extreme operation. The clutch housing actually needed to be doused with a high velocity airflow that was non-turbulent in nature. This is precisely the kind of airflow that exits the Super Air Amplifier. Because it is laminar (non-turbulent), 100% of the air volume will be directed to impact the target surface. With fans, you do not get that and thus an overall reduction in cooling effectiveness when compared to an Air Amplifier. Also, an Air Amplifier uses only a small volume of air to induce a much larger flow of ambient air to perform the cooling task.

Many times automotive component manufacturers will use Air Amplifiers in a similar manner when they are testing shocks, struts, brakes and other suspension parts to simulate real world air movements while the components are under test in a test cell. When testing without air flowing around the component, excessive heat builds up and can cause premature wear and failure. Similar to the issue with the pneumatic clutch described above.

The Super Air Amplifiers are a great tool for providing localized cooling to carry heat away from components or other tools when they are being operated under stressful or less than ideal conditions. Think about your operations. Do you have some component that fails consistently due to overheating conditions? If so, contact us to discuss your application and see how we may be able to help.

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

Extra Shims Give Super Air Knives A Boost

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

The EXAIR Super Air Knife is the most efficient and quietest compressed air blow off knife on the market. We know this because we’ve tested them, and our competitors’ offerings, for performance, using the same instruments, controls, and procedures. We’re not going to publish data that we can’t back up, and that’s a fact.

We will use the same precision calibrated equipment, by the way, to test your existing products for savings comparison in our Efficiency Lab service.
We will use the same precision calibrated equipment, by the way, to test your existing products for savings comparison in our Efficiency Lab service.

They’re also ideally suited to a wide variety of applications – they come in lengths from 3 inches to 9 feet long (and can actually be coupled together for uninterrupted air flows of even longer lengths,) a variety of materials for just about any environment, and changing performance is as easy as “dialing in” a regulator, or, for gross adjustments, installing a different (or additional) shim.

As the title of this blog suggests, a larger shim gap will give you higher flow and force from your Air Knife. Honestly, the 0.002″ shim that comes pre-installed in all of our Air Knives is perfectly suitable for most blow off applications, and appropriate air supply conditions are the first thing you should check for before going with thicker shims, but if you do indeed need a boost, a thicker shim will indeed give you one…here’s a video to show you how it’s done:

Keep in mind that appropriate air supply is going to be important here as well…by increasing the shim gap, you’re increasing the amount of compressed air flow required.  This means that you may need a larger diameter of infeed pipe to carry that much air, and/or you may have to plumb that air to additional ports on the Super Air Knife.

This is from the Installation & Operation Guide that ships with your Super Air Knife. It's also available from our PDF Library (registration required.)
This is from the Installation & Operation Guide that ships with your Super Air Knife. It’s also available from our PDF Library (registration required.)

For most cases, we can use the above data to determine how to properly supply a Super Air Knife with additional shims.  For example, let’s look at a 12″ Super Air Knife:

*With a 0.002″ shim, you’ll need a 3/8″ pipe, assuming infeed length of 10ft or less, to pass the 34.8 SCFM that this unit will consume when supplied @80psig.

*By installing a 0.004″ shim, you’re doubling the air consumption, which means it’ll consume the same amount as a unit twice this length…we can see from the chart, then, that a 24″ Super Air Knife will need a 1/2″ infeed pipe.

*Also, since you’re using the same amount of air as the 24″ Super Air Knife, the 12″ unit should be treated like the 24″ one, and plumbed to (2) inlets at opposite ends of the knife (see “Compressed Air Supply” notes above.)

This is just one simple case for a small unit. If you’d like to discuss altering the performance of your Super Air Knife, give us a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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Compressed Air Accessories – Filters and Regulators – The Rest of the Solution

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment
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EXAIR Regulator with gauge and Filter/Separator

Many times in the stories that are written in our daily blogs, we espouse the many benefits of installing and using EXAIR made products into our many customers’ compressed air-based applications. From the guy who has a small shop in his home garage using our Atto Super Air Nozzle to much larger applications where customers use our 84” Long Super Air Knives to do such things as drying cast Acrylic Sheets used in tub and shower surrounds, the message is a very consistent one. Customers benefit by saving money, increasing the safety level of an application, reducing sound levels and improving productivity.  There’s no doubt that our customers will excel in these areas.

Knowing there is much more to a compressed air system than just point of use products, lets shed a little light on the other “parts” of a typical system set-up. Those would be the compressed air filter / separators and the pressure regulators that are a highly recommended part of a good installation. But why are they so highly recommended? What exactly is their role and why would anyone want or need to install them?

First, the blunt realities of compressed air and its relative “un-clean” condition once it arrives at the point of use. Since compressed air a utility that is produced in-house, the quality and quantity available will vary widely from facility to facility. And since it is not a regulated utility such as gas or electricity are, there are no universal minimums of quality that compressed air must meet before sent out to the distribution system. Yes, of course, companies are all the time getting better at this part, but many still operate with older, iron pipe systems that produce rust and scale which wreak havoc on the components within mechanical products that use compressed air as their power source. The point is that you are never sure of the quality of the air you will get at the point of use, so install a compressed air filter near that point to keep the debris out of your Air Knife, Nozzle, Line Vac or even other components like solenoid valves, air motors and the like. Believe me when I say it is much easier to un-screw a bowl from a filter housing and change an element than it is to disassemble an air motor or an 84” long Super Air Knife because rust migrated in from the pipes. So it is quite safe to say that an ounce of prevention in this case is worth a pound of cure!

Second, the discussion turns to the Regulator part of the equation. As many know, our products and those of other pneumatic product manufacturers have a certain set of specifications regarding performance at stated input pressures. But what if your application doesn’t require that “full, rated performance”? Maybe instead of needing two pounds of force, you only need one pound? In fact, if you provided two pounds of blowing force, you would end up “over-blowing” your target. By that, I mean you cause damage to the target or other surrounding items in the application. Or, perhaps blowing to hard (or sucking too hard in the case of a Line Vac or E-vac) might cause the vessel or the material you are picking up to collapse or deform (due to too much power).  There is also the concern about using more energy than one really needs to in order to achieve the desired effect in an application. In other words, if you can achieve your goals with only 40 PSIG, then why would you ever use 80 PSIG to accomplish the goal? By reducing your compressed air from 80 down to 40 PSIG, you can easily reduce the air consumption of the “engineered” solution by another 40% + …………that’s the cherry on top of the cake when you compare the benefits of simply “bolting on” the solution of an engineered air nozzle vs. an open pipe in the first place. Then there is the issue of taking advantage of the pressure differential (from 80 down to 40 PSIG) that creates a little bit more air volume capacity. At 80 PSIG, your compressed air to free air volume ratio is 6.4:1. At 40 PSIG, it is only 3.7:1. The net effect is you effectively have an overall larger volume of air at the disposal of the application which is always a good thing.

Regulating pressure is definitely warranted given the benefits that compliment the operation of the core EXAIR products.

If you need a deeper understanding about how EXAIR’s products can help your application, feel free to contact us and we will do our best to give you a clear understanding of all the benefits that can be had by our products’ use as well as proper implementation of accessory items such as compressed air filters and regulators.

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

2” Heavy Duty Line Vac Improves Utility Pole Inspection Productivity

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment
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Typical Wood Utility Pole

In North America, wood utility poles are pretty much everywhere. And once installed, they have a definite lifespan which can be shortened through rot and insect infestations. For that reason, most utilities will employ an inspection routine to evaluate the strength left within the pole to determine if or when one should be replaced.

The inspection process can vary, but for the purposes of this blog, we will concentrate on the excavation method where a trench of 18” to 24” is dug around the pole base to expose the wood that has been underground. Once the wood has been exposed, the technician can perform a variety of tests to determine the remaining strength left within and recommend repairs or replacement if needed.

The part where EXAIR product comes into play is in the excavation process. Traditionally, the technicians will use a shovel to loosen the dirt around the pole and set it aside for re-packing around the pole once the inspection has completed. Needless to say, the excavation process is somewhat long and tedious as it must be done by hand to keep from damaging the pole and/or utilities that may be nearby. One customer decided to use a 2” Heavy Duty Line Vac to help speed up the excavation process. Instead of pushing on a shovel and continually swinging the dirt around to a tarp about 10 feet away, the technician can make less of an excavation effort by using hand tools to loosen the dirt and the Heavy Duty Line Vac to pull the dirt out of the hole and over to the awaiting tarp. This gives them ample room for inspection processes without overdoing the excavation which is the part that takes the most time anyway.

Companies who deal with utility pole inspections are judged not only on the quality of the inspection but also the quantity of poles that can be inspected in a given time. For this reason, time is of the essence because once you have demonstrated you can successfully inspect X number of poles, then your company is in line to gain more business through increased number of poles to inspect in the next round.

Heavy Duty Line Vacs have been set up to convey more dense materials as well as abrasive materials over longer distances where other forms of conveying simply can’t hold up or simply are too clunky to give just the right effect as is the case in this application.

Are you trying to move dense or abrasive material over distances of 100 feet or more? Give us a shout about your application. Let us show you what the EXAIR Line Vacs can do for you.

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

 

Utility pole image (no changes made) courtesy of Christopher Sessums  Creative Commons License