Tag: pipe

The Case For The EXAIR Super Air Wipe

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

If you’ve ever used an air gun to blow something off, you’re familiar with the cleaning ability of compressed air.  If you can get the whole object blown off from where you’re standing, there really is no substitute…but what if you need to get to the other side…or sides?

Even if your product is not on fire, you probably wouldn’t want to “limbo” under it with an air gun…

This is where the EXAIR Super Air Wipe comes in…they allow you to blow a continuous, uniform 360° air stream, all around your product.  Consider their benefits:

*Sizes: the Super Air Wipe’s compact ring design means it won’t take up a lot of room; you just need a few inches, in any direction, to install one.  We stock them in eleven sizes, from 11″, all the way down to our brand-new 3/8″ diameter.

*Durability:  All EXAIR Super Air Wipes are assembled with stainless steel shims and hardware.  Models up to 4″ come with a rugged, stainless steel wire braided hose, connecting the two halves for compressed air supply.

The aluminum Super Air Wipe is available in 11 sizes; the stainless steel Super Air Wipe comes in 5 sizes…all from stock.

*Ease of installation:  Smaller sizes can be supported by the compressed air supply line, if a pipe is used and threaded into the connector hose’s 1/4 NPT port.  Larger sizes can likewise be adequately supported with pipe to both halves. All models have a bolt circle of 1/4″-20 tapped holes for more permanent and rigid mounting.  The split ring design is another key feature:

Simply open the two halves, and clamp them around your product…no threading!

*Corrosion resistance: Depending on the environment in which the Super Air Wipe will be installed, we offer them with aluminum (3/8″ – 11″ sizes) or stainless steel (3/8″ – 4″ sizes) bodies.

*Temperature rating: Aluminum Super Air Wipes are good to 400°F (204°C) and stainless steel models are good to 800°F (427°C.)

*Range of operation: We install a 0.002″ thick shim in all stock Super Air Wipes; this is suitable for a wide range of typical industrial/commercial blow off applications…a Pressure Regulator can then be used to “dial in” the air flow precisely to meet specific needs.  If a job calls for higher force & flow, additional 0.002″ shims can be installed.  Shim Sets come with the Super Air Wipe Kits, or individual shims can be ordered separately.

*Performance: Before the Super Air Wipe, a ring of nozzles was commonly used.  In fact, they still are, but we’re trying to fix that, at every opportunity we come across.  Problem with those is, it’s hard to get an even air flow all around, which leads to inconsistent blow off.  They can also be loud & inefficient, as we’ve found in numerous Efficiency Lab tests and Case Studies, like this one…

These wasteful and loud modular plastic tube blow offs…
…were replaced with EXAIR Super Air Wipes. 24 such replacements netted the customer an annual compressed air cost savings of over $13,000.00.

…and this one…

Implementing a Super Air Wipe salvaged a $30,000 job for this customer. Click on the picture to read all about it in our Case Study Library (registration required.)

Do you have a challenging blow off application that you need help with?  Call us to find out how an EXAIR Super Air Wipe (or another one of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products) can be a simple, quick & easy solution.

Super Air Wipes Help a Swiss CNC Machine to be More Accurate

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
Precision Required

As machined parts require tighter tolerances, machine shops are starting to look at Swiss-type CNC machines.  These types of machines are extremely accurate and very fast in producing small parts.  But in order to reach that level of accuracy, the bar stock may have to be pre-treated by a centerless grinder.

Our customer was using Swiss-type CNC machines with guide bushings to produce a very tight-tolerance part.  Because they were using guide bushings, the outside diameter of the bar stock had to be smooth and concentric.  This helps to reduce any vibration when machining.  A centerless grinder was used to accomplish this.  The bar stock that they used was 10 feet long and it was placed into a bar feeder.  They had to grind the bar to an outer diameter of 30mm with a surface finish of 32Ra.  As they were loading the bar stock, they noticed that the surface finish was scuffed and marred.  This was enough to affect the machining process and not meet the tolerance standard.

As they reviewed the possible causes, they found that after the bar was ground, some grinding remnants were sticking to the outside of the bar.  As the rods were leaving the grinder and placed onto a roller-type conveyor, the oily film and metal shavings were sticking to the rollers.  This would scrape and mark the rods as they traveled along the conveyor toward the Swiss-type machining center.  As an attempt to remove this debris, they attached two copper tubes to blow compressed air onto the top and bottom of the bar.   Not only was this loud and inefficient, it was not effective.  They still had a dirty line along the sides of the rod that remained.  They contacted EXAIR to see if we could help them with this dilemma.

In order to get a consistent blow-off force around the entire circumference of the rod, EXAIR Air Wipes were engineered to be an ideal solution for this kind of problem.  I recommended the model 2482 Standard Air Wipe Kit.  The Standard Air Wipe is designed to blow compressed air in a 360 degree flow pattern.  This air pattern is directed at a 30 degree angle toward the center to blow the debris off of the bar stock.  The Coanda effect maximizes the entrainment of ambient air into the compressed air.  This makes the unit very efficient and powerful.  The model 2482 Standard Air Wipe has an I.D. of 2” (51mm) which gives it enough clearance for the 30mm bar stock.  It can be mounted easily near the exit of the centerless grinder to keep the grinding remnants inside the machine.  The kit includes a filter, regulator, and shim set.  The filter will remove contaminants from the compressed air system to keep from introducing any new grime and to keep the inside of the Air Wipe clean and functional.  The shim set and regulator provide the ability to adjust the air to the ideal force level and remove any debris from the surface of the bar.

Standard Air Wipe with Shim Set

As they removed their home-made copper tubes and attached the Standard Air Wipe, they noticed some great improvements.  The dark lines of debris previously along the sides of the bar stock were gone.  The surface was clean around the entire circumference of the bar.  The customer also noticed that the Standard Air Wipe was much quieter than their home-made solution, as it only has a decibel rating of 77 dBA.  As an added benefit, the Standard Air Wipe was using much less compressed air than the copper tubes.  This is due to its design to maximize the amplification ratio.  With more of the “free” ambient air than the compressed air being moved over the target area, it will save money in compressed air usage.  The ROI could be less than four months.

If you have any items that need to have a 360 degree blowing pattern, you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR to see if a Standard Air Wipe could work for you.

John Ball
Application Engineer

Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb
Picture: External-Micrometer-Screw-Gauge by Emilian Robert Vicol.  Creative Commons license

Super Air Wipe Cools, Cleans and Dries Extruded Shapes

Published on by Leave a comment

We have many customers that use the manufacturing process of extrusion to make their various type of products.  EXAIR has an Intelligent Compressed Air Product that works very well with these processes to provide a drying, blowoff and cooling function.

Many types of products are produced via the process of extrusion, which is to shape (as metal or plastic) by forcing through a die.  There are many advantages to the extrusion process, including it being a continuous operation, it runs at high speeds, is good for high volume and low production costs, as well as many other factors.

The extrusion process typically requires heating of the metal billet or melting of the plastic to a high enough temperature to allow it to flow and be shaped as it it forced through the die. After the product has passed through the die and has been shaped it must be cooled and this is usually achieved by passing the it through a water bath.  Once the material has been cooled, it needs to be dried to remove the moisture, before the extrusion enters the next stage of processing, like getting cut to length or printed upon.

The EXAIR Super Air Wipe is ideal for blowoff, drying, cleaning and cooling of continuous materials such as extrusions, pipe, cable and more.

saw_2-2

The Super Air Wipe has a split design which offers easy clamping around the surface of the material, eliminating the need for threading. All Super Air Wipe models include stainless steel screws and shims.  Stainless Steel wire braided hose which is plumbed to each half, is included on sizes up to 4″ to simplify installation and plumbing. Aluminum models are rated to 400°F and the stainless steel models for temperatures up to 800°F.  Models are available in size from 1/2″ to 11″ Throat Diameters.

The Super Air Wipe provides a uniform, 360° air stream that is ideal for drying and cooling of extruded materials.

To discuss your application and how an EXAIR Super Air Wipe can benefit you extrusion process, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

Send me an email
Find us on the Web
Like us on Facebook
Twitter: @EXAIR_BB

Consider these Variables When Choosing Compressed Air Pipe Size

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Here on the EXAIR blog we discuss pressure drops, correct plumbing, pipe sizing, and friction losses within your piping system from time to time.   We will generally even give recommendations on what size piping to use.  These are the variables that you will want to consider when selecting a piping size that will suit your need and give the ability to expand if needed.

The variables to know for a new piping run are as follows.

  • Flow Rate (SCFM) of demand side (products needing the supplied compressed air)
  • System Pressure (psig) – Safe operating pressure that will account for pressure drops.
  • Minimum Operating Pressure Allowed (psig) – Lowest pressure permitted by any demand side point of use product.
  • Total Length of Piping System (feet)
  • Piping Cost ($)
  • Installation Cost ($)
  • Operational Hours ( hr.)
  • Electical Costs ($/kwh)
  • Project Life (years) – Is there a planned expansion?

An equation can be used to calculate the diameter of pipe required for a known flow rate and allowable pressure drop.   The equation is shown below.

A = (144 x Q x Pa) / (V x 60 x (Pd + Pa)
Where:
A = Cross-Sectional are of the pipe bore. (sq. in.).
Q = Flow rate (cubic ft. / min of free air)
Pa = Prevailing atmospheric absolute pressure (psia)
Pd  = Compressor discharge gauge pressure (psig)
V = Design pipe velocity ( ft/sec)

If all of these variables are not known, there are also reference charts which will eliminate the variables needed to total flow rate required for the system, as well as the total length of the piping. The chart shown below was taken from EXAIR’s Knowledge Base.

Piping
Airflow Through 1/4″ Shed. 40 Pipe

Once the piping size is selected to meet the needs of the system the future potential of expansion should be taken into account and anticipated for.   If no expansion is planned, simply take your length of pipe and start looking at your cost per foot and installation costs.    If expansions are planned and known, consider supplying the equipment now and accounting for it if the additional capital expenditure is acceptable at this point.

The benefits to having properly sized compressed air lines for the entire facility and for the long term expansion goals makes life easier.   When production is increased, or when new machinery is added there is not a need to re-engineer the entire system in order to get enough capacity to that last machine.   If the main compressed air system is undersized then optimal performance for the facility will never be achieved.   By not taking the above variables into consideration or just using what is cheapest is simply setting the system up for failure and inefficiencies.   All of these considerations lead to an optimized compressed air system which leads to a sustainable utility.

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