Tag: pharma

NEMA 4X Panel Cooling Challenges

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Electronic components don’t like heat, which is kind of ironic, considering they generate so much heat by themselves. Heat causes them to malfunction, and prolonged exposure can shorten their lifespan, or even cause them to fail RIGHT NOW. In any case, it’s important to keep them cool.

The computer that sits on my desk has a little fan in the back. This circulates fairly clean air from our climate-controlled office through the inside, keeping everything working just like it should.

It’d be great if ALL electrical & electronic component enclosures were situated in such ideal environments. Many, though, are subject to HARSH conditions: dust, oil vapor, high humidity, water spray for sanitation, high temperatures, corrosive elements – just to name a few. And EXAIR has panel cooling solutions for ALL of them.

Today, dear reader, we’re going to look at that last one: corrosive elements in the environment. Some of the more popular places where we encounter these are:

  • Paper mills use chemicals that create harsh vapors. If you’ve ever been around a paper mill, you likely know the smell of methyl mercaptan. Whether you know the name or not, it’s the source of that trademark odor that permeates the air for MILES around paper mills, and it’s a byproduct of pulp processing that’s corrosive in wet or humid environments . . .like paper mills.
  • Wastewater treatment plants use highly corrosive chemicals to make clean water out of — let’s just say, not-so-clean water. And, the process releases hydrogen sulfide gas, which is HIGHLY corrosive.
  • Chemical plants: they make corrosive stuff ON PURPOSE. To be fair, those harsh chemicals are used in the production of just about everything in the modern world.
  • Electroplating facilities use some of the strongest acids and bases in their plating solutions, which release harsh & corrosive vapors.
  • Food processing facilities have to wash down entire rooms within their buildings, and some of the sanitizing agents they use create corrosive conditions.

You obviously can’t use fans (like my desktop computer in our clean office environment) for cooling control panels in these environments. Panel air conditioners have filters that can get dirty in a hurry, cooling coils that get fouled and corroded, and electric motors that burn out quicker in harsh environments. These environments are where Cabinet Cooler Systems make the most sense. With no moving parts to wear or electrical components to burn out, they’ll run darn near indefinitely, maintenance free, as long as they’re supplied with clean compressed air. And since 100% of the cold air they make comes from the compressed air supply, when they’re properly installed on a sealed panel, the only thing the components inside are ever exposed to is clean, cold, moisture-free air.

EXAIR NEMA 12 (oil tight, dust tight, indoor duty) and NEMA 4 (splash resistant, indoor/outdoor duty) Cabinet Coolers are made of lightweight and fairly corrosion-resistant aluminum. When harsh corrosive elements are present, though, our NEMA 4X (corrosion resistant, indoor/outdoor duty) Cabinet Coolers are made of type 303 Stainless Steel. When PARTICULARLY corrosive elements are present, we also offer them in type 316 Stainless Steel as well.

EXAIR NEMA 4X Cabinet Coolers are made of Stainless Steel for corrosion resistance in the harshest of conditions.

If you’ve got electric panels in a harsh environment, EXAIR has reliable, durable cooling solutions. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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New Product: New Clean room Rated Static Eliminator

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

 

           EXAIR’s new Intellistat® Ion Air Nozzle™ is the latest solution for static elimination in sensitive areas. Like the Intellistat® Ion Air Gun™, this new nozzle provides a lightweight solution rated for Class 5 clean rooms and controlled environments per ISO 14644-1. The Ion Air Nozzle comes equipped with a mounting bracket to assist with remote attachments or bench top assembly for hands-free use. It will reduce 1000 volts of static electricity to less than 100 volts in 0.6 seconds and up to 24” (610mm) away.  The Intellistat Ion Air Nozzle is a comprehensive solution for neutralizing static in sensitive processes like scientific and electronic testing, cleaning medical or pharmaceutical products and packaging, or removing debris from sensitive electronics.

            The compact stainless steel adjustable bracket can easily be installed into a customer’s process.  Hands-free operations that require both hands to package, test, or assemble parts are now possible. The Intellistat Ion Air Nozzle is equipped with an LED indicator to assure proper functionality and employs an EXAIR engineered Air Nozzle to maximize efficiency and meet OSHA requirements for sound level and dead-end pressure. The replaceable emitter point generates both positive and negative ions to eliminate either polarity of static electric charge.  They are made from durable, static-dissipative polycarbonate and feature a non-marring nozzle.  The Intellistat Ion Air Nozzle assures its usefulness in applications such as PCB or electronics manufacturing.

            The EXAIR line of Intellistat products is UL listed and CE compliant, along with the rest of EXAIR’s full line of industrial static eliminators. Shop these, as well as our line of Gen4 Static Eliminators, like our Super Ion Air Knives, Ion Air Cannons, Ion Air Guns, and more, on EXAIR.com. If you wish to talk about your static problems, you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR.  We will be happy to help.    

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

Clean Room Certification – ISO 14644

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

The number of clean room certifications are vast and vary tremendously. ISO 14644 is the most used standard when looking at electronics and pharma manufacturing controlled environments. With this popularity, it has also undergone revisions within the past five years.

No matter the standard, each is divided into classes. The classes are rated from 1 to 9. The class identifies the maximum limit for particulate size and quantity per cubic meter of air. The chart below showcases the size and the quantity breakdown.

Cleanroom Classification Allowable Maximums.

ISO 9 as you can see is the loosest standard. This standard is equivalent to air quality within a city environment. These environments can fit a multitude of manufacturing and are some of the easiest to achieve and abide by. The opposite end of the spectrum, ISO 1 is the strictest and hardest to maintain. There are three main factors when designing for a clean room. These are surfaces, airflow, and employee access.

When selecting surfaces that will be within the environment it is best to choose a surface that will hold up to the level of use as well as not be damaged by the cleaners or solvents being used to ensure the surface is clean. This should carry over into part fixturing and even machine materials of construction as well. This is not always easy and should be a design element to the process and environment.

Airflow within the room is what helps maintain the concentration levels of particulates. Generally, a clean room is positively pressurized to where the pressure within the room is higher than that outside of the room. This results in a positive air exchange, generally this is provided by the HVAC system. Having a system that does not recirculate the air from inside of the room and a substantial filtration system is key. Another type of airflow that can be found within these environments is a blowoff operation for the part or process. When installing a blowoff within a clean room environment it should be confirmed that the materials of construction are compatible with the environment and cleaning processes and that the airflow will not be introducing particulate into the environment which can result in contamination.

Lastly, employee access should be limited to those employees who are trained and necessary to be within the environment. Sometimes if an employee wears the wrong type of deodorant it can effect an entire environment. Even the wrong type of clothing or soap can alter the state of an environment, let alone using a blowoff incorrectly or bringing the incorrect cleaner inside the cleanroom. Access to these areas should be limited and individuals should be well trained to meet the demands of the clean room.

If you would like to discuss your production environment or blowoff application within a clean room, please contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Sanitary Flange Air Conveyors in Type 316SS

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

EXAIR currently offers a multitude of configurations when it comes to the Line Vac – air operated conveyors product line.  One of the easiest to install and best suited for food, pharmaceutical, chemical or other sanitary environments is the Sanitary Flange Line Vac¯.

Model 161200-316 – 316 Stainless Steel Sanitary Flange Line Vac

These are offered in four standard pipe sizes, 1-1/2″, 2″, 2-1/2″ and 3″.  The models are only available from stock in 316 stainless steel.   The sanitary flange is designed to be compatible with ISO 2852.  These can easily be used with a “Tri-Clover” clamp and gaskets of varying materials to fit your needs.  They have no internal moving parts and offer a compact, high throughput, quiet conveyance for parts, gases or ingredients.

EXAIR’s Sanitary Flange Line Vacs are offered from stock in four sizes.

Easily install into existing pipe runs for improved process performance.

With the sanitary flange design installation or removal are simplified in order to remove the unit for cleaning or reversing.  If you would like to discuss just how easy these are to upgrade your existing system or to install into a new system, please contact an Application Engineer.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF