Professor Penurious puts some heat transfer and fluid flow theory into practice for a good cause. EXAIR is also donating $100 for everyone of us who may have also taken the ice bucket challenge through our other “friends”, family or organizations. So we are going to try to get a montage video together from many other employees who participated. And thanks to EXAIR for always being up for a good cause.
Also understand this much – the most satisfying of them all is the one below…Everybody wanted to see Professor Penurious get it!
Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
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This morning, we played our own little version of a popular segment of the game show “The Price Is Right,” right here in the Application Engineering department. Brian Farno (our manager and host extraordinaire) presented us with a question (that he already knew the answer to after speaking with a current customer):
What would you expect the conveyance rate to be, for an EXAIR Model 6083 1-1/2” Aluminum Line Vac, conveying hot-melt glue pellets, across a total distance of 15 feet vertically & 100 feet horizontally? (And please note we normally have a bulk density in lbs./ft3 and/or other associated information about pipe bends, product shape etc. – but we took our best shot at it anyway).
Our office doesn’t look like this. I kinda wish it did, though…
We didn’t have those cool podiums to stand behind that recorded our answers on the screen, but here’s what we came up with:
Russ Bowman: 5 lbs per minute
Dave Woerner: 10 lbs per minute
Justin Nicholl: 8 lbs per minute
Professor Penurious: 1 lb per minute (Insert $1 bid joke here)
Now, we had all referenced our wealth of data charts for conveyance rates with our Line Vac product series. We used several very different materials over a few different lengths/heights, and use that data to estimate what a user might expect to see, based on how close their application is to our actual test conditions. I actually used this data for my answer – a 1-1/2” Aluminum Line Vac conveyed tumbling media (64 lbs/cu ft; the lowest bulk density material we tested for) at a rate of about 5-1/2 lbs/minute, going 20 feet vertically.
Left: hot-melt glue pellets. Right: tumbling media
Turns out, Dave came the closest without going over: they were actually getting a little over 11 lbs per minute…again, going 15 feet up and 100 feet over. The user was so pleased with the results, they’re incorporating a Line Vac in a similar application, involving hot-melt glue pillows. We’ve now added their data to our database and are pleased with the knew knowledge.
If you have an application involving hopper loading, bulk material conveying, chip removal, parts transfer, etc., and would like to find out how an EXAIR Line Vac can help, give me a call. We might both be impressed with the results. Come on down!
Professor Penurious, by the way, is still concentrating on hosting the game shows. Stay tuned…
Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
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I just got a new pair of glasses. My existing pair was fifteen years old…it had also been that long since I had been to the ophthalmologist. Which is a shame, because my health coverage includes an eye exam every year. That’s a subject for another time, though. Today, I want to talk (again) about what you can get used to (if you allow yourself,) and what I HOPE I can get used to.
It shouldn’t be hard to believe, but my eyesight has changed a bit since my mid-thirties, when I got my last pair of glasses. I’d been noticing for some time that I had to take off my glasses to read small print, and some of that was getting too small to read if the light wasn’t just right. I got used to taking things into another, better-lit area in those cases. My new glasses have changed all that, making me think that I should have done this a few years ago. I’m committed to having my eyes checked on an annual basis now, and I encourage you, dear reader, to do the same, especially if your health plan covers any part of it.
I had the pleasure of talking to a Chip Trapper user recently – they’ve had our system in their shop for almost five years, and I got the call because it had lost its suction, and they wanted to purchase a new pump unit (Reversible Drum Vac or RDV) for it.
This is a fairly regular call for us. It’s a situation that is usually very easily remedied by a simple cleaning of the RDV unit itself. In fact, it’s so common that Brian Farno’s RDV Cleaning & Rebuild Video is our most popular Video Blog (even beating out the Professor Penurious series, if you can believe that.)
Once they had watched the video, they dove in to their RDV. Once it was restored to operation, my new friend called me to express amazement at how well it was working…it seems that the performance had degraded over time, and, week in/week out, they had simply gotten used to it taking a little longer to draw the coolant out of their sump. They’ve now incorporated the RDV cleaning ritual into their planned maintenance schedule…something else they’re already used to.
Another thing I’m having to get used to is the ribbing I’m taking for my new glasses. See, they’re my first pair of bifocals. Which brings me to my parting advice for today: Don’t get old if you can help it. Especially if you’ve got friends like mine.
Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
Visit us on the web: exair.com
Follow me on Twitter
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