There’s an old adage we say quite often, “A photo is worth a thousand words”. This is something we really believe in. We can have an hour-long conversation about your application, and we may think we understand it. But when you send a photo, we see something that wasn’t mentioned, will cause a problem or make implementing our solution easier. Or, we simply don’t get the chance to talk about it.
So sending a photo, troubleshooting or specifying a part of an application can be a bigger help than a conversation! And that works in reverse too! Our team of application engineers are well versed in how our products work and the best installation to get the most out of them! But sometimes it is hard to get across in a conversation! So fairly often I open up MS Paint and quickly put together a rudimentary sketch of the installation of the product! I have two examples below!
A customer wanted to spray a fine coat of oil on the surface of a part to keep the surface from corroding. The liquid was in a bucket, and they didn’t want to invest in a pump, so we chose a Siphon Fed nozzle. There was one issue. After picking the nozzle, we learned the parts were not equally spaced on the conveyor belt. The problem was if they ran the nozzle constantly they would create a large mess and waste a lot of expensive oil. So, opting to select the No Drip version of the nozzle and implementing an EFC was the best option to get him up and running! The nozzle would close the liquid valve when the compressed air went under 20 PSIG. And that was the job of the EFC. It sensed the parts with the photoelectric sensor and told the integrated solenoid valve to open, turning the nozzle on and spraying the part. Then the logic inside would close the valve, turning the nozzle off after a set timed delay!
This customer wanted to see how everything would go together, so I inserted some images in MS Paint and sent a sketch over! While it’s not the prettiest of sketches, it got the point across. They bought the system and got it up and running with great success!
This one is more of a troubleshooting sketch. The customer bought a 2″ line vac to attach to the bottom of a hopper and convey plastic pellets to a screw injector hopper. They installed the line vac right to the bottom of the hopper, turned the air on and…. it didn’t work. So they gave us a call and asked for an Application Engineer! During the normal “How is it set up” conversation, we started talking about how the material is presented to the inlet of the Line Vac. Which is when he said it was just coming straight off the bottom of a hopper. If you know how our line vacs work, you know right away what the problem was! The line vacs need to pull in ambient air with the product to provide a good conveyance. So, typically they work the best when the inlet can be vented somewhat to allow for dynamic airflow. However, that doesn’t mean it can be used on a hopper bottom. Another option is that you can make a “Snorkel” of sorts. I threw the photo above together real fast to show my customer how they could use a simple tee fitting to allow the line vac to pull ambient air and the product through the conveyance hose! As a result, the customer made some simple changes using parts they had lying around the shop, and it’s working great now!
As you can see, it’s definitely beneficial to see the application, even in a crude drawing! So, if you have an application where you need a little help visualizing how an EXAIR product can be set up and used, please reach out! We have a full office of Application Engineers waiting to take your phone call, email or online chat to help you get the most out of our products!
Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer
Email: Jordanshouse@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_JS
