Tag: occupational health & safety

Industrial Safety: Compressed Air

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

At EXAIR, we have a statement that says, “Safety is everyone’s responsibility.”  EXAIR builds its name around manufacturing safe and protective compressed air products.  In the United States, we have an organization called the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that enforces governmental directives for safe and healthy working environments.  They do training, outreach programs, and educational assistance for manufacturing plants to reduce injuries and fatalities.  They can also enforce these directives with heavy fines for violations.  With compressed air systems, the two most common violations are 29CFR 1910.242(b) for dead-end pressure/chip shielding and 29CFR 1910.95(a) for maximum allowable noise exposure.

Unsafe Nozzle

Here is an example of a nozzle that is dangerous.  As you can see, there is only one path where the air can pass through.  Other similar types of blow-off devices that would fall into this same group would include copper tubes, flexible lines, and open pipes.  They are dangerous as compressed air cannot escape if it is blocked by your body or skin.  If operated above 30 PSIG (2 bar), these nozzles could penetrate the skin and create an air embolism within the body, which can cause bodily harm or death.  This is a hazard that can be avoided by using EXAIR Super Air Nozzles and Safety Air Guns.  The nozzles are designed with fins, which allow the air to escape and cannot be blocked by your skin.  So, you can use the EXAIR Super Air Nozzles safely above 30 PSIG (2 bar) and remain OSHA compliant.

Unsafe Air Gun

To counteract the dead-end pressure violation, some nozzle manufacturers create a hole through the side of the nozzle (reference photo above).  This will allow the compressed air to escape, but now the issue is noise levels.  With an “open” hole in the nozzle, the compressed air is very turbulent and very loud.  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) states that 70% to 80% of all hearing loss within a manufacturing plant is caused by compressed air.  OSHA created a chart to show the maximum allowable noise exposure.  This chart shows the exposure time and noise limits before hearing protection is required.  The EXAIR Super Air Nozzles, Super Air Knives, and Super Air Amplifiers are designed to have laminar flow, which makes them very quiet.  As an example, the model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun has a sound level of only 74 dBA, well under the noise exposure limit for 8 hours.

One of the last things that companies think about when purchasing compressed air products is safety.  Loud noises and dead-end pressure can be missed or forgotten.  To avoid any future fines or having to purchase additional personal protective equipment (PPE), it will be much safer to purchase EXAIR products.  If you would like to improve the safety of your facility and reduce energy costs, an Application Engineer at EXAIR can review your current blow-off devices.  Remember, safety is everyone’s responsibility. 

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

Photo: Industrial Security Signal by DavidRockDesign.  Pixabay license

More And More Award Winning Products From EXAIR

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

As you might expect, a LOT of things have changed at EXAIR Corporation since 1983. Most of our current senior management had yet to graduate high school, and a fair number of current employees had yet to BE BORN. According to our computer system (another BIG change since 1983), our first ten customers were here in southwest Ohio (#11 was in Michigan), and now, we sell direct across the US & Canada, and our worldwide distributor network offers representation on six continents. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is our founder’s vision of manufacturing quiet, safe, & efficient compressed air products for process improvement in just about any industry that uses compressed air. And THAT, dear reader, continues to gain high profile attention. The photo above shows the seven awards that our products have recently won, which were announced in 2021 or early 2022. Here’s a rundown:

Plant Engineering 2020 Product of the Year (Fluid Handling) GOLD AWARD:
1/2 NPT No Drip External Mix Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles

No Drip External Mix Atomizing Spray Nozzles

The 1/2 NPT models are the latest addition to our newest product line. The External Mix version offers the highest liquid flow rate, and largest pattern coverage. Among the applications where they’ve excelled so far are:

  • Snack food provider – applying flavoring to bulk snack materials.
  • Commercial bakery – spraying cooking oil onto pans used in a conveyor oven.
  • Sporting goods manufacturer – applying adhesive to the tops of skateboard decks to glue the grip tape on.

Plant Engineering 2020 Product of the Year (Material Handling Systems) GOLD AWARD:
2-1/2 NPT 303SS Threaded Line Vac™

EXAIR's Threaded Line Vac Family
EXAIR Threaded Line Vac + Your Pipe + Compressed Air = Instant Conveyor System

For bulk material conveyance, it really doesn’t get any simpler than EXAIR Air Operated Conveyors. Stainless Steel models are especially popular when the environment – or the product – is corrosive, or hot…they’re good to 400F (204C), and can even be modified with High Temperature components for exposure up to 900F (482C). The Threaded versions have been successfully used to:

  • Recycle sprinkles applied to wafers into a return hopper in a candy production facility.
  • Replacing an auger conveyor to allow for homogenous mixing of grains & supplements in feed stock at an agricultural mill.
  • Providing a low cost solution to convey product into a hopper at a grain processing plant.

Plant Engineering 2020 Product of the Year (Maintenance Tools & Equipment) SILVER AWARD
Occupational Health & Safety 2021 New Product of the Year (Industrial Hygiene-Dust Control) WINNER
Occupational Health & Safety 2021 New Product of the Year (Health & Safety/Cleanup) PLATINUM
EasySwitch® Wet-Dry Vac

Like our Spray Nozzles product line, our Industrial Housekeeping Products line has also grown considerably over the years. The Deep Hole Vac-u-Gun and Heavy Duty HEPA Vac were real game changers when they came along, and the EasySwitch® Wet-Dry Vac Systems are likewise making an impact. Switching from wet to dry operation is, as advertised in the name itself, INCREDIBLY easy. Among our satisfied customers are:

Occupational Health & Safety 2021 New Product of the Year (Lab Safety) WINNER
Intellistat® Ion Air Gun™

The newest innovation in a long line of EXAIR static elimination solutions, the Model 8500 Intellistat® Ion Air Gun is made for laboratories, clean rooms, medical & electronic applications, and carries an ISO 14644-1 Class 5 rating for clean room use. Because of their rapid decay rates and lightweight construction, they’re used in a diverse range of applications and areas, including:

  • A supplier of fiberoptic parts uses an Intellistat® to remove dust and static charge from product prior to packaging.
  • A medical device manufacturer has one in a Class 7 clean room for silicone parts cleanliness.
  • A nutritional supplements maker uses their Intellistat® to remove static charge & powder residue from the tops of plastic bags before sealing them. The excess/residual powder causes them not to seal correctly.

Machine Design 2021 Big Idea! (Electrical Components) BRONZE AWARD
Gen4® Static Eliminator Power Supply

All EXAIR Gen4 Static Eliminators use one of two Power Supplies – your choice of the 2-port Model 7960, or the 4-port Model 7961.

EXAIR Static Eliminators produce ionized air via a Corona discharge, which requires high voltage, low current electricity. The Gen4® Static Eliminator Products feature armored & shielded cables with an internal ground, for safety and reliability. The ground path is completed through the cable and the Power Supply port, eliminating the need for an external ground connection. Faults in external ground connections result in the majority of the problems with those devices, so the internal ground is a “Big Idea!” indeed. The Gen4® Static Eliminator Power Supplies are switchable for 115VAC or 230VAC voltages, and are offered in 2, or 4 outlet designs, which can power any 2, or 4 EXAIR Static Eliminator Products. Like most EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products, they’re used for a wide range of applications, in a wide range of industries:

If you’d like to find out more about these, or any of our other engineered compressed air products (we’re pretty proud of them all), give me a call. I can talk about them all day long…and sometimes I do!

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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