Tag: O

Chip Shields, OSHA, And You

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Safety is a key part of our culture at EXAIR Corporation.  We have regularly scheduled, all-hands required, safety training on a number of topics.  Our Order Entry team can likely tell you as much about our lockout/tagout procedures as our Machinists can.  Nobody even thinks about entering The Shop without safety glasses, and it’s not just because of the signs.

We pay attention to these…
…so we don’t ever have to use this.

OSHA 1910.242(b) states that “Compressed air shall not be used for cleaning purposes except where reduced to less than 30 p.s.i. and then only with effective chip guarding and personal protective equipment.“ (emphasis mine)  All EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products are engineered to meet the requirements of the first part (30psi outlet pressure to prevent dead ending…we’ve written about that numerous times, including here, here, and here) and we can also provide pre-installed devices to satisfy the second part:  the EXAIR Chip Shield.

Any EXAIR VariBlast or Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun can come fitted with a Chip Shield, and any Soft Grip Safety Air Gun, except for those with Stay Set Hoses, can as well.  Safety Air Guns with Back Blow Nozzles automatically come with a Chip Shield. The principle is simple: a clear polycarbonate (so you can still see what you’re doing) round disc slips over a short (or long if you want) pipe extension between the gun & the nozzle.  It’s fitted with a rubber grommet so you can position it to where it’s most effective – sometimes that might be closer to the part being blown off; sometimes it may be back a little closer to the operator.

EXAIR Safety Air Guns are available, from stock, with Chip Shields.

If you already have an air gun that’s doing the job, you can easily add an EXAIR Chip Shield to it.  They’re made to fit a wide range of extension diameters, and can even come with the extension if you need it.  We also stock a number of adapter fittings; if you know what threads your air gun has (or if you can send us some photos) we can quickly & easily spec those out for you.

Convenient and inexpensive “thumb guns” with cross drilled nozzles (left) are compliant with the first part of OSHA 1910.242(b). Fitting one with an EXAIR Chip Shield (center) makes it compliant with the second part. A Model 1102 Mini Super Air Nozzle (right) makes it quiet & efficient.
We can provide a Chip Shield for most any device with a threaded fitting. I couldn’t find a way to re-use the non-OSHA-compliant nozzle that came with this gun (thank goodness.)
Another example of a larger air gun fitted with a more powerful cross drill nozzle (left) that can be made totally OSHA compliant with an EXAIR Chip Shield (center.) An EXAIR High Force Super Air Nozzle (right) keeps the power, while reducing noise level and compressed air consumption (right.)

Since 1983, EXAIR Corporation has been manufacturing quiet, safe, and efficient compressed air products for industry (emphasis mine.)  If you have concerns or questions about safety in regard to your compressed air use, call me.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Energy Rebates and EXAIR Products

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

In case it goes unnoticed, EXAIR focuses on engineered compressed air point of use products to ensure that our customers are utilizing their costly utility as efficiently as possible.  The main benefits to purchasing EXAIR products are the support you receive from us at EXAIR, the quality of the product, the savings in compressed air, and the increase in safety.  Another added benefit is a large number of utility companies are offering rebates on the purchase of engineered nozzles, just like the Super Air Nozzles that EXAIR offers.

Many energy providers offer these energy rebates for commercial or industrial users.  Here in the Cincinnati area, Duke Energy offers rebates on items such as lighting, air compressors, engineered air nozzles, heaters / dryers for extrusion machines, energy management systems, variable frequency drives, data center equipment, even food service equipment, custom incentives, and many other items.

Duke Energy Rebate
Example of our local energy rebate offering for Engineered Nozzles

For each engineered compressed air nozzle that is installed, in order to meet the rebate requirements they must flow less than or equal to given flow rates in SCFM at 80 psig inlet pressure. The pipe sizes, flow rates, and EXAIR equivalents are shown below.

EXAIR Engineered Air Nozzle Part Number EXAIR Flow Rate @ 80 psig
#1102/#1103 – 1/8 NPT 10 SCFM
#1100/#1101 – 1/4 NPT 14 SCFM
#1108SS-NPT/#1109SS-NPT/#1110SS-NPT
All are 1/8 NPT		 2.5, 4.9, 8.3 SCFM
respectively
#1003 – 3/8 NPT 18 SCFM

By just replacing the nozzles the customer saved 2.7 SCFM per nozzle.If we take an example such as the EXAIR Case Study  shown below for 1/4″ copper tube that was being used as an open ended blow off.  The copper tubes were consuming 19.6 SCFM at 100 psig inlet pressure, there were 10 machines with one line per machine operating 40 hours, 52 weeks per year.   The customer retrofitted the open pipes with a model 1100 Super air nozzle and was able to reduce the air consumption by 2.7 SCFM per nozzle.  If they were to purchase these nozzles this year, current list price for a model 1100 Super Air Nozzle is $36.00 USD, then apply for the energy rebate offered by Duke Energy and receive $20.00 per nozzle replaced.  The total savings and return on investment is shown below.

Case Study 1561
EXAIR Model 1100 Super Air Nozzle Replaces Open Copper Pipe Blow Off

10 nozzles x 2.7 SCFM = 27 SCFM  x 60 minutes per hour x 8 hours per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks per year = 3,369,600 SCF of compressed air saved per year.

3,369,600 / 1,000 SCF x $.25 = $842.40 USD savings in compressed air per year.

Cost Savings per week = $16.20 USD

Total purchase cost is  $36.00 x 10 nozzles = $360.00 USD

Energy Rebate = @20.00 per nozzle x 10 nozzles  = $200.00 USD in rebates.

$360.00 USD purchase price – $200.00 USD energy rebate = $160.00 USD final purchase cost.

Return on investment at a savings of  $16.20 USD per week is

$160.00 / $16.20 = Less than 10 weeks pay back!

By applying for the energy rebate this customer could reduce the ROI of this air savings project from just over 22 weeks (which is still very good) to less than 10 weeks.

If you would like to learn more about whether there are Industrial energy rebates available in your area, contact an Application Engineer and let us know where you are located and who your energy provider is.

We will help you determine the correct engineered solution to save your compressed air as well as help you to apply for eligible energy rebates in your area.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

How Much Money Will You Save with Engineered Air Nozzles

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

The simplicity of installing an air nozzle and the importance of saving compressed air (which in turn saves money) go hand-in-hand with our engineered air nozzle product line. For an 8 hour shift running 250 days per year, replacing one 1/4″ open air tube can save $650 dollars per year. Replacing any run-of-the-mill, commercial air nozzle can typically save $330 dollars per year!

How many open tubes or commercial air nozzles do you have?
10 tube replacements = $6500 saved per year
25 tube replacements = $16,250 saved per year
50 tube replacements = $32,500 saved per year                          

10 commercial nozzle replacements = $3300 saved per year
25 commercial nozzle replacements = $8250 saved per year
50 commercial nozzle replacements = $$16,500 saved per year

If you want to know EXACTLY how much replacing your current compressed air blow off devices with EXAIR engineered air nozzles will save you, take advantage of our free Efficiency Lab. We will test your current device for flow, force and noise levels with our calibrated equipment. You will receive a report with all the details, including and ROI – which is generally within weeks!Capture2

 

To see our complete line of nozzles, get our Blowoff Guide sent to your desk. EXAIR offers Air Nozzles ranging in thread size from our smallest Atto Super Air Nozzle with an M4 thread providing 2.0 ounces of force to our largest 1-1/4″ NPT Super Air Nozzle providing 23 lbs. of force. In addition to the various thread size and force levels, select nozzles are also offered in brass, stainless steel, zinc aluminum alloy and even PEEK plastic for superior chemical resistance or applications needing a non-marring nozzle (a maintenance crew for a large telescope used the PEEK nozzles to blow off their large mirrors). Offering such a wide variety to choose from, selection can seem like a daunting task. Luckily we have you covered with our FREE Blowoff Guide to help make the best product selection for your needs. The Blowoff Guide features performance specs as well as dimensional information and airflow patterns. Some things to consider when making a choice would be matching existing pipe size, material compatibility, noise level in the area, compressed air requirement and/or force required for successful blowoff.

Blowoff guide
To order your FREE Blowoff Guide, please click here.

We also offer a few handy accessories for our Air Nozzles as well. For example our Flexible Stay Set Hose are available with 1/4 MNPT X 1/4 MNPT fittings or 1/4 MNPT x 1/8 FNPT connections and lengths from 6″ up to 36″. The Stay Set Hose can be bent to deliver the air to the critical area while holding position until it is manually repositioned.

stay sets
Flexible and durable, EXAIR Stay Set Hoses come in lengths from 6″ to 36″.

Additionally we offer our Swivel Fittings allowing for 25 degrees of movement to provide the best angle for air delivery to the part. These useful tools are available in 316ss or 303ss from M4 thread up to our largest 1″ NPT size.

Swivel Fittings
Swivel Fittings make it easy to adjust the aim of your Air Nozzle.

For help selecting the right engineered Air Nozzle and accessory to fit your specific application, please contact EXAIR for assistance.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN