Tag: product support

Trouble Identifying an EXAIR part? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment
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EXAIR Model 3240H Vortex Tube with Hot Muffler Installed

 

Not a day goes by that we don’t receive a call from a customer that is having trouble identifying an EXAIR part. Due to the robust nature of our Vortex Tubes, they can be installed in applications for several years without any maintenance. When the time comes to expand that line, the labels may have worn off, the unit may be covered in grime or oil, or the personnel that originally ordered the product may no longer be with the company. In any case, one of the Application Engineers here at EXAIR will certainly be able to help!

I recently received an e-mail from a gentlemen in Indonesia who was suffering from that very problem. They had a Model 3240 Vortex Tube installed in a camera cooling application near a boiler. The engineer who designed the project was no longer with the company and they could not determine a Model number or when they had purchased it. They saw the EXAIR sticker, along with our contact information, and reached out for help. Vortex Tube’s come in different sizes, based on the available compressed air supply as well as the level of refrigeration needed. They’re available in (3) different sizes as well as Vortex Tubes for max refrigeration (R style generators) and Vortex Tubes for a maximum cold temperature (C style generators). In order to identify the Model number, you must look on the shoulder of the Vortex Tube generator. On it, there will be a stamp that indicates the generator style that is installed. In this case, the customer stated that there was a “40-R”, indicating to me that he had our Model 3240 Vortex Tube.

Our team of highly trained Application Engineers is here ready to assist you with any needs you may have regarding EXAIR products. With a little bit of investigative work, a quick discussion about the dimensions or a photo; we’re able to identify any of our products. If you’re considering expanding a current line into other parts of your facility, or perhaps adding a new location and need help identifying your EXAIR products; give an Application Engineer a call and we’ll be sure you get the right products on order!

Tyler Daniel

Application Engineer

Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

E-mail: tylerdaniel@exair.com

Don’t Throw the Baby Out With The Bath Water – and How it Applies to Manufacturing

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There are many curious sayings from history that are still part of our vernacular, and whose origins are debated.  Examples are ‘Spill the Beans’ and ‘Bite the Bullet.’  One of my first supervisors liked to use the expression ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.’  Initially, I didn’t quite understand what was meant by this, and then wasn’t sure it was relevant in some instances.  Fast forward many years, I hadn’t thought too much about it, but for some reason, the phrase recently came back into my thinking.

Today the phrase generally means not to get rid of something good when getting rid of something bad (when throwing out the dirty bath water, you don’t want to throw out the baby, too!)  As I look back to the supervisor that used it, it was for situations where the solution was within grasp, but due to recent shortcomings it may seemed out of reach. Scrapping the whole thing (the baby and the bathwater) and trying something new would not be the favorable way to proceed.

I remembered this phrase when recently a customer called in about the 3″ Line Vac they were using.  It was performing OK, but just was’t doing what they had hoped. They asked if it was still returnable under the 30 day guarantee (it was) and how to start the return process.

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EXAIR Line Vac Family

While we aim to make the return procedure simple and efficient, we will most likely ask a few questions.  We’ll ask ‘what are trying to do?’  ‘Can you send in any photos of the installation’ (we solve lots of issues by seeing something that can be easily remedied) and certainly we will ask ‘about the compressed air supply.’ In the recent customer call, the customer was trying to convey dog food, a distance of 25′ vertical and 18′ horizontal –  a fairly challenging distance, but not impossible.  A photo could be sent in if needed and then the discussion turned to the compressed air supply.  It was determined that the compressed air supply line was undersized for the 68.5 SCFM of 80 PSIG compressed air needed to for the Line Vac to operate to its full capability.  We reviewed the Installation and Maintenance Guide and suggested the proper pipe and air hose sizing for this installation. Armed with this new knowledge, the customer set about to modify the installation.

I got an email later that day from the customer.  Results were dramatically improved! Average of first measured trials yielded 50 lbs of material in 46 seconds, one of the fastest conveyance rates recorded for those types of distances. Customer was pleased and was looking forward to keeping the unit and getting the benefit that was expected.

In this case, the baby was not thrown out with the bath water.

To discuss your application and how an EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product can be a benefit at your facility, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our other Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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Twitter: @EXAIR_BB

E-Vac For Lubricant Recovery

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Over the last 3 months, I have been in contact with a customer, keeping track of an application that involved the EXAIR E-Vac.  The customer had reached out to us looking for some advice on how to solve a process problem. The operation is a drawing/stamping process, and the when the part exits the machine there is coolant that resides in a deep draw section, approx 0.4″ in diameter by 3.5″deep.  About 1 oz of coolant per part is retained, and over many 1000’s of parts, would add up to lost dollars and messy clean up.

The customer was looking for an automated process that would be able to draw out the coolant and direct the liquid back to the coolant reservoir, all while maintaining the current machine run rate. We settled in on the model 840015 Adjustable E-Vac Generator. The Adjustable E-Vac has a straight through pathway from suction through to discharge, allowing for fast evacuation times.  A simple turn of the unit changes the vacuum and flow levels to best match the needs of the application.  The Adjustable E-Vac coupled to a solenoid valve controlled by the stamping machine resulted in the automatic system the customer was looking for.

Adjustable EVac
Adjustable E-Vac Family

The customer ordered a unit, and based on the preliminary bench testing, it was approved for a production run trial. After some tweaking in the production environment, the unit was performing to spec, and was then subjected to a 100,000+ part run.  The results were a success!  Instead of the parts exiting onto an inclined conveyor, relying on gravity to drain and causing coolant to collect under the conveyor, the coolant could be removed in a controlled manner and sent back to the reservoir.  Less mess and no coolant loss.

EXAIR manufactures (3) types of E-Vacs – Low vacuum generators for porous materials, high vacuum generators for non-porous materials, and the adjustable type for flexible vacuum performance.  They are available in multiple sizes, to best match the vacuum requirements, while using the least amount of compressed air.

To discuss your application and how the EXAIR E-VAC can benefit your process, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our other Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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Twitter: @EXAIR_BB

Expert Product Support Is Second Nature at EXAIR

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

The other day, my good friend at our German distributor contacted me with a need for some help on a Digital Flow Meter. His customer made a test rig to put the Digital Flow Meter in-line with their machines on a per-machine basis to check for flow rates and leaks. That’s a great way to use the Flow Meters. But this customer was making some bench tests and were not getting what they felt to be proper flow rate readings and their readings were not consistent between the Digital Flow Meter readout and the data pulled from the USB Data Logger.

Luckily, my colleague and his customer thought to send me some photos of their set-up as well as a data chart output from the Data Logger. These made the job of sleuthing out the problem that much easier. You see, the customer took the time to read the instructions to know about how long to make the test pipe and where to locate the meter along the length of that test pipe. So, they wanted to show me that they had 30 diameters of pipe up stream and 5 diameters of pipe down-stream per the instructions.

When I viewed their photo as you will see below, I saw everything seemed to be laid out well and assembled with good technique. But one thing stood out to me. If the 30 diameters of pipe were up-stream of the meter. That meant the airflow was coming to the meter from the right in the photo. And as you can see, the meter is sitting upright so they can see the numbers on the readout properly.

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Digital Flow Meter on Test Pipe

There is only one problem. In that arrangement, the meter display would actually need to be upside down. The root of the problem is that the meter was installed for ease of reading in this test procedure. The customer neglected to note that there is only one direction in which the meter can be installed. There is an arrow on the side of the meter box that indicates the direction of flow.

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Digital Flow Meter Flow Direction Indicator

When you mount the meter counter to that arrow, the readings given by the meter become distorted due to how the meter works. One probe is heated to maintain a set temperature differential and if installed in reverse order, the meter overcompensates in its power applied which then messes up the reading output. The solution to this problem was to simply un-bolt the meter from the pipe and flip it over to have the right orientation. Unfortunately, this is what can happen when the instructions are not consulted in their entirety. But then again, who of us haven’t been guilty of that at some point!

The other problem the end customer was having was a mismatch of readings between their meter and the USB Data Logger. So I reviewed their output flow graph and noticed right away the problem. See the graph below:

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Flow Data Chart

When setting up the USB Data Logger through the software, they neglected to set the 4 mA base line to equal zero flow. So, whatever value was stored in the software ended up making 4 mA set to about 3 m3/minute according to the graph above. The top end of the flow meter’s capacity also has to be entered into the software as the 20 mA value so that the milliamp output truly mimics what the flow meter is seeing.

After a quick discussion with my colleague, he then turned to his customer to have the same discussion with them and all was working fine by the end of the day. The customer could get on to the original task at hand which was to discover leaks and baseline his machines for airflow.

If you ever have any difficulty with an EXAIR product, we have a full staff of Application Engineers who can assist you with these kinds of problems with the equipment. It is truly our goal to make sure that everyone’s experience with our company is top notch.

Neal Raker, International Sales Manager
nealraker@exair.com
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