Tag: osha air nozzles

Adjustability and Precision w/ EXAIR’s Super Air Nozzles & Stay Set Hoses

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

If you’ve been tasked with reducing operating costs in your plant, upgrading your blowoffs to EXAIR’s Engineered Air Nozzles & Jets might be just the ticket. When replacing a homemade or inefficient solution, EXAIR’s Super Air Nozzles can save you as much as 80% of your compressed air usage.

An open copper pipe or tube, even if “flattened” as we’ll commonly see, wastes an excessive amount of compressed air. This wasted compressed air can create problems in the facility due to unnecessarily high energy costs and the pressure drop that can be experienced affecting other processes. In addition to simply using too much compressed air, an open pipe or tube will often produce sound levels in excess of 100 dBA. At these sound levels, according to OSHA, permanent hearing damage will occur in just 2 hours of exposure.

By simply replacing the open tubes and pipe with an EXAIR Super Air Nozzle, you can quickly reduce air consumption AND reduce the sound level. Sound level isn’t the only thing an OSHA inspector is going to be concerned about regarding an open pipe blowoff, in addition OSHA 1910.242(b) states that a compressed air nozzle used for blowoff or cleaning purposes cannot be dead-ended when using with pressures in excess of 30 psig. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to use an air gun with 30 psig fed to it, but the effectiveness of it is dramatically reduced. This is why there needs to be a device installed that’ll prevent it from being dead-ended so that you can operate at a higher pressure.

EXAIR’s Super Air Nozzles are designed with fins that serve two purposes. They help to entrain ambient air from the environment, allowing us to maximize the force and flow from the nozzle but keeping the compressed air consumption minimal. In addition, these fins are what prevent the nozzle openings from being completely blocked off. Using an OSHA-compliant compressed air nozzle for all points where a blowoff operation is being performed should be a priority. Each individual infraction will result in a fine if you’re unfortunate enough to be the victim of an unannounced OSHA inspection.

If your process involves numerous different products with varying dimensions, you might need a way to adjust each blowoff based on the material being run. With our Stay Set Hoses, this can be achieved quickly and easily without the need for any tools or a long shutdown.

EXAIR’s Stay Set Hoses are available from 6”-36” in length with ¼ NPT male threads on each end, or a ¼ NPT male on one end and 1/8 NPT female on the other. The Stay Set Hoses are rigid and allow you to maintain precise positioning of the blow off nozzle. The hoses have “memory” and will not creep or bend. They’re easily repositioned as well, making them an ideal solution for applications that may require frequent repositioning due to varying parts.

All of these products are available to ship same-day with an order received by 2:00 ET from stock. Give one a try today!

Tyler Daniel

Application Engineer

E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com

X: @EXAIR_TD

How Does OSHA Talk About Compressed Air Use?

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

When it comes to OSHA and their safety standards in regard to compressed air, it boils down to two main topics. OSHA standard 1910.242(b) and 29 CFR-1910.95 (a).

OSHA standard 1910.242(b) – Compressed air shall not be used for cleaning purposes except where reduced to less than 30 psi and then only with effective chip guarding and personal protective equipment.

For a logical reader, it might seem that this standard requires the air used for tasks like blowing off equipment or cleaning floors to be limited to a maximum of 30 psig. However, this interpretation isn’t entirely accurate. When the standard mentions reducing air pressure to below 30 psig, it specifically refers to the static pressure measured when the air nozzle is blocked against an object, such as a person’s body. The “dynamic” pressure, which is the speed of the air as it flows from the nozzle, can be much higher, provided that the static pressure “Dead end Pressure” remains under 30 psi when the nozzle is obstructed. This is why it’s crucial for employers to educate their workers about the dangers of compressed air and the significance of not modifying air nozzles.

Our Air Nozzles and Jets video shows a great depiction of how this can be achieved with our engineered design of nozzles. The recessed holes and the fact that there are multiple passages for the air to exit are easy to see on the nozzle. Products like the Super Air Knife may not be so easy to see, but the way the air knife cap overlaps prevents the Super Air Knife from being dead-ended in the event an operator comes into contact with the discharged air.

OSHA standard 29 CFR-1910.95 (a) – Occupational noise exposure.

The Occupational Noise Exposure regulation (OSHA’s 29 CFR 1910.95) mandates that employees who are exposed to an average noise level of 85dBA TWA (time-weighted average) must be included in a Hearing Conservation Program (HCP). Employers are obligated to ensure that these employees receive hearing conservation training throughout their employment. This training should commence with an initial orientation and be reinforced annually. Section 1910.95(a) of the standard lays the groundwork for a hearing conservation program aimed at safeguarding workers from the detrimental effects of noise exposure in the workplace. Let’s take a brief look at the key aspects of implementing a hearing conservation strategy, including the “what,” “who,” “how,” and “when.”

The first step in understanding and addressing any sound level issues is to measure the sound. The easy-to-use Digital Sound Meter, model 9104 shown below, allows for accurate testing of noise levels throughout the facility.  Noisy areas can be quickly identified, leading to review, design and implementation of the engineering controls.

SoundMeter_new_nist225

Some of the worst offenders for noise violations are compressed air applications.  A prime example would be inefficient blow offs used for cooling, drying, or cleaning.  Open pipe, copper tube or drilled pipe are a few of the common culprits.  Not only do they consume excessive amounts of compressed air, they can produce noise levels above 100 dBA.

Crushed open ended pipes blowing chips away

EXAIR manufactures a wide variety of engineered products that utilize compressed air and deliver it in a controlled manner.  This allows for the most efficient use of compressed air and keeps the sound levels much lower than homemade methods.  A Super Air Knife can replace a drilled pipe, reducing sound by as much as 20 dBA, while using 50-70% less compressed air.  An engineered Super Air Nozzle can replace an open pipe or copper tube and reduce sound levels down to 74 dBA, and even down to 58 dBA for the smallest available nozzles.

If you have questions regarding OSHA standard 1910.242(b) and 29 CFR-1910.95 (a), or how to solve any issue with an EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Product, feel free to contact EXAIR . One of our Application Engineers would be pleased to help you determine your best solution.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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6 Steps to get the most out of your Compressed Air System: Engineered Products

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

If you’re reading the EXAIR Blog, you’re probably well aware that compressed air is the most expensive utility in an industrial environment. The average cost to generate 1000 Standard Cubic Feet of compressed air is $0.25. If you’re familiar with how much air you use on a daily basis, you’ll understand just how quickly that adds up.

To make matters worse, many compressed air systems waste significant amounts of compressed air just through leaks. According to the Compressed Air Challenge, a typical plant that has not been well maintained will likely have a leak rate of approximately 20%!! Good luck explaining to your finance department that you’re carelessly wasting 20% of the most expensive utility.

The six steps to optimizing your compressed air system is something we cover a fair amount on this blog. And there is a real reason for that. Yes, we sell compressed air products. But we are also aware compressed air costs money to generate, so using this source responsibly is very important.

This is where the 6 steps come into play, but today we are just covering Step 3. Which is upgrading your blow off, cooling and drying operations using engineered compressed air products. (If you want to read about the other 5 steps, check them out here, Step #1, Step #2, Step #4, Step #5, Step #6)

I compare step three to replacing your house windows. We recently got some prices to replace our windows, but along with that comes the cost savings we expect to get as they are better designed now than in the 1990ies to retain your temperature inside. Thus reducing the cost to cool and heat your home.

Similar to my “upgrade” to new windows, upgrading blow offs, cooling and drying operations using engineered compressed air products is Step 3 in EXAIR’s Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System. We’ve assigned an order to these steps in accordance with basic good engineering practice & protocol, but it’s not necessary to follow them in any particular order. In fact, all six steps really don’t apply to every single compressed air system.

Step 3 does apply to most systems, though. I spent a fair amount of time in all sorts of industrial facilities in my previous roles, and almost all the time, regardless of the industry or the size of the facility, the maintenance and production part of the facility used air guns. However, I don’t recall ever seeing an engineered nozzle on one before I came to EXAIR. Since then, I’ve worked with a bunch of users to dramatically reduce compressed air consumption by replacing their cheap and inefficient air guns with EXAIR Safety Air Guns, or by retrofitting EXAIR Super Air Nozzles onto their existing air guns. We actually carry adapters to fit our Super Air Nozzles to a number of readily commercially available air guns for that very purpose.

In addition to air guns & nozzles, our Air Knives have a long history of replacing drilled pipes & pipe manifolds with inefficient nozzles used to make a curtain of air flow. The following chart details the savings you can get from the use of a 24″ Super Air Knife instead of similar devices for a 24″ wide air curtain:

Even though an electric powered blower will use less electricity than the amount of electricity an air compressor uses to supply an engineered product like the Super Air Knife, the maintenance costs make the total cost of ownership eclipse that of the engineered Air Knife.

Our Case Study Library documents many real-world situations where customers worked with us to gather & publish “before/after” documentation, proving the benefits of Step 3. I encourage you to check those out, and if you think you might have an opportunity to do a Case Study with us, we offer discounts or credit for that…give me a call.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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5S + Constant Evolution = 6S

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment
A sticker on my dad’s old lunch box. I still use the lunchbox today. He worked for a steel mill in maintenance for more than 35 years. This was from one of their many safety program pushes.

6S is a standard in many facilities. This standard spawns from the Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma standards of 5S. Of course, it adds one more characteristic to it: the sixth S, Safety. Back in 2006, I achieved a Green Belt in Six Sigma and Safety was mentioned a good amount as a driver for several of the processes. The fact Safety was not one of the fives shows two things, I’m getting older and getting closer to that age where I have been out of school longer than I was in; and Safety is and should be a top priority, maybe it always should have been.

In case you have never been introduced to Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma, this principle focuses on a single piece flow and optimizing a work process to minimize the amount of time it takes. This increases efficiency in the manufacturing process and ultimately puts money back into the bottom line of the business.

The first S is Sort, you should remove anything that is not needed for the production process, this could be additional tooling or resources that are not needed for the specific work station or task. This prevents any kind of clutter or confusion on what is needed.

The second S is Set In Order, just like the photo above, every tool and bin should have it’s place at the work station. This helps operators find what they need when they need it. The outlines also give a visual indicator to any tool or device that may be missing and or in use. Again, it helps with the operators time efficiency and reduces risk of leaving a tool in a process.

Third is SHINE, every aspect of a work area should be cleaned up, sometimes this needs to be done throughout the shift and other times just at the end of the shift to put everything back in place and prepare for the next operator or day. When I worked in retail I would hear managers tell people, “You have time to lean, you have time to clean.” and while it isn’t the best approach, it is a true statement. This does contribute to keeping production running at high efficiency, being able to spot leaks or wear issues on equipment that aren’t caked in chips, grease, and used fluids. It can also aid with safety by preventing slips or falls from a leak or debris building up from a process.

Fourth, Standardize, this means all work areas should look the same, maybe not the exact same tools, or process, but any operator should be able to walk into a work station, read the documentation, and be able to function sufficiently. This also helps to keep the old ways of tribal knowledge from happening which will prevent changes and adjustments from not being documented and will help to reduce learning curves when changes happen.

Fifth, Sustain, this is one of the hardest. This means the standards that have been set in place are kept. Repetition is key in a scenario where 5S or 6S are being implemented and even where they have been set in place for a while. Revisiting the standards and ensuring they are aligned to production and operator needs is always good.

A Safety Sticker from my dad’s 1988 lunchbox that I still use to this day. They were running safety programs before it was cool.

Sixth, Safety, this should always be at the forefront of any process. Being able to keep operators safe during a work day is always a high priority and one of the many ways to do that is to use the other five Ss to make sure that they can efficiently and safely work throughout their day.

Whether it is replacing open pipe blowoffs with engineered nozzles, cross drilled blowguns with Safety Air Guns, installing Line Vacs to help evacuate trim or debris, Super Air Amplifiers to cool down a part before it is being handled. I’ve even helped customers with custom length air hoses to ensure their operators can’t reach the air hose into a process too far in order to ensure operator safety. EXAIR is always focused on safety and ensuring our products help increase process efficiency. If you want to see how we can help you and your team, contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS
National Business Development Manager

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF