Tag: reduce compressed air

Control Air Pressure at the Point of Use with EXAIR’s Pressure Regulators

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

In any application necessitating the use of compressed air, pressure should be controlled to minimize the air consumption at the point of use. Pressure regulators are available to control the air pressure within the system and throttle the appropriate supply of air to any pneumatic device. As the last of the six steps to optimizing your compressed air system, controlling air at the point of use can often be overlooked. To help you achieve this, EXAIR offers a line of point of use pressure regulators to make sure you’re operating at the optimal pressure for your application.

Pressure regulators utilize a control knob that is turned to either increase/decrease tension on a spring. The spring puts a load on the diaphragm which separates internal air pressure from the ambient pressure. Typically made of a flexible rubber material, these diaphragms react very quickly to changes in the air supply. By either increasing or decreasing the flow of air based on the load on the diaphragm, downstream pressure remains fairly constant.

Regulator Internal

While one advantage of a pressure regulator is certainly maintaining consistent pressure to your compressed air devices, using them to minimize your pressure can result in dramatic savings to your costs of compressed air.

As pressure and flow are directly related, lowering the pressure supplied results in less compressed air usage. EXAIR recommends operating your Intelligent Compressed Air Products at the minimum pressure necessary to achieve a successful application. If you notice a desirable result at a pressure of 60 PSIG, or even less, there’s no need to run full line pressure. In-line point of use pressure regulators are the simplest and most reliable way to allow you to dial down the pressure to any compressed air operated product. For example, a Model 110012 Super Air Knife will consume 42 SCFM when operated at 100 PSIG. When the pressure is reduced to 60 PSIG, this drops to just 27.6 SCFM. That’s a 34% reduction in compressed air usage, just by dialing down the pressure at the point of use!

When selecting a pressure regulator for your application, it’s critical that it is appropriately sized to supply adequate volume to the point of use devices downstream. Doing so, minimizes the risk of experiencing “droop”. Droop is a decrease in outlet pressure from the specified setting due to an increase in flow rate.  Droop occurs when the demand at the point of use exceeds the volume of air that the regulator can supply. By ensuring the pressure regulator is rated to deliver sufficient volume of air, you’ll reduce the chances of experiencing droop. EXAIR offers pressure regulators in kits along with many of our products, we’ve done the hard part for you and made sure they’re properly sized!

If you’re looking for ways to help lessen the demand on your compressor, EXAIR’s team of Application Engineers will be happy to help. Reach out to us via phone, chat, or e-mail and see for yourself just how easy it can be to start saving compressed air!

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

Engineered Air Nozzles Keep Your Operations Safe

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

If you are looking for a way to save money and make your blow off applications safer, look no further than EXAIR’s Engineered Air Nozzles & Jets. By upgrading your blowoff, cooling, and drying operations to use one of our Super Air Nozzles or Jets you can save as much as 80% of your compressed air usage when compared with an inefficient solution. Plus you can remove open ended pipes and other unsafe blow offs that OSHA will fine you for.

IMG_8150

 

An open copper pipe or tube, even if “flattened” as we commonly see, wastes an excessive amount of compressed air. This wasted compressed air can create problems in the facility due to unnecessarily high energy costs, maintaining system pressure that can affect other processes and excessive noise exposure for personnel. An open pipe or tube will often produce sound levels in excess of 100 dBA. At these sound levels, according to OSHA, permanent hearing damage will occur in just 2 hours of exposure.

osha

By simply replacing the open tubes and pipe with an EXAIR Super Air Nozzle, you can quickly reduce air consumption AND reduce the sound level. Sound level isn’t the only thing an OSHA inspector is going to be concerned about regarding an open pipe blowoff, in addition OSHA 1910.242(b) states that a compressed air nozzle used for blowoff or cleaning purposes cannot be dead-ended when using with pressures in excess of 30 psig. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to use an air gun with 30 psig fed to it, but the effectiveness of it is dramatically reduced. This is why there needs to be a device installed that’ll prevent it from being dead-ended so that you can operate at a higher pressure.

sag-osha-compliant

EXAIR’s Super Air Nozzles are designed for maximum performance and safety. The engineered features keep EXAIR nozzles running quietly, and cannot be dead-ended. Using an OSHA compliant compressed air nozzle for all points where a blowoff operation is being performed should be a priority. Each individual OSHA infraction will result in a fine if you’re surprised with an OSHA inspection. Inspections are typically unannounced, so it’s important to take a look around your shop and make sure you’re using approved products.

You’ll find all of the tools you need in the EXAIR catalog. Click here if you’d like a hard copy sent directly to you! Or, get in touch with us today to find out how you can get saving with an Intelligent Compressed Air Product.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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Twitter: @EXAIR_JS

Six Steps to Optimization: Step 6 – Control the Air Pressure at the Point of Use to Minimize Air Consumption

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

Since air compressors use a lot of electricity to make compressed air, it is important to use the compressed air as efficiently as possible.  EXAIR has six simple steps to optimize your compressed air system.  Following these steps will help you to cut your production costs and improve your bottom line.  In this blog, I will cover the sixth step; controlling the air pressure at the point of use.

Regulators

One of the most common pressure control devices is called the Regulator.  It is designed to reduce the downstream pressure that is supplying your system.  Regulators are commonly used in many types of applications.  You see them attached to propane tanks, gas cylinders, and of course, compressed air lines.  Properly sized, regulators can flow the required amount of gas at a regulated pressure for safety and cost savings.

EXAIR designs and manufactures compressed air products to be safe, effective, and efficient.  By replacing your “old types” of blowing devices with EXAIR products, it will save you much compressed air, which in turn saves you money.  But, why stop there?  You can optimize your compressed air system even more by assessing the air pressure at the point-of-use.  For optimization, using the least amount of air pressure to “do the job” can be very beneficial.

1100 Super Air Nozzles

Why are regulators important for compressed air systems?  Because it gives you the control to set the operating pressure.  For many blow-off applications, people tend to overuse their compressed air.  This can create excessive waste, stress on your air compressor, and steal from other pneumatic processes.  By simply turning down the air pressure, less compressed air is used.  As an example, a model 1100 Super Air Nozzle uses 14 SCFM of compressed air at 80 PSIG (5.5 bar).  If you only need 50 PSIG (3.4 bar) to satisfy the blow-off requirement, then the air flow for the model 1100 drops to 9.5 SCFM.  You are now able to add that 4.5 SCFM back into the compressed air system. And, if you have many blow-off devices, you can see how this can really add up.

In following the Six Steps to optimize your compressed air system, you can reduce your energy consumption, improve pneumatic efficiencies, and save yourself money.  I explained one of the six steps in this blog by controlling the air pressure at the point of use.  Just as a note, reducing the pressure from 100 PSIG (7 bar) to 80 PSIG (5.5 bar) will cut your energy usage by almost 20%.  If you would like to review the details of any of the six steps, you can find them in our EXAIR blogs or contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR.

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

“Go Green” in 2019 With EXAIR’s Super Air Nozzles & Jets!

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

If one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2019 is to help improve your impact on the environment, look no further than EXAIR’s Engineered Air Nozzles & Jets. By upgrading your blowoff, cooling, and drying operations to use one of our Super Air Nozzles or Jets you can save as much as 80% of your compressed air usage when compared with an inefficient solution.

open tubes
Example of a manifold of open pipes

An open copper pipe or tube, even if “flattened” as we’ll commonly see, wastes an excessive amount of compressed air. This wasted compressed air can create problems in the facility due to unnecessarily high energy costs and the pressure drop that can be experienced affecting other processes. In addition to simply using too much compressed air, an open pipe or tube will often produce sound levels in excess of 100 dBA. At these sound levels, according to OSHA, permanent hearing damage will occur in just 2 hours of exposure.

OSHA Chart

By simply replacing the open tubes and pipe with an EXAIR Super Air Nozzle, you can quickly reduce air consumption AND reduce the sound level. Sound level isn’t the only thing an OSHA inspector is going to be concerned about regarding an open pipe blowoff, in addition OSHA 1910.242(b) states that a compressed air nozzle used for blowoff or cleaning purposes cannot be dead-ended when using with pressures in excess of 30 psig. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to use an air gun with 30 psig fed to it, but the effectiveness of it is dramatically reduced. This is why there needs to be a device installed that’ll prevent it from being dead-ended so that you can operate at a higher pressure.

nozzle_anim_twit800x320
EXAIR Super Air Nozzle entrainment

EXAIR’s Super Air Nozzles are designed with fins that serve two purposes. They help to entrain ambient air from the environment, allowing us to maximize the force and flow from the nozzle but keeping the compressed air consumption minimal. In addition, these fins are what prevents the nozzle openings from being completely blocked off. Using an OSHA compliant compressed air nozzle for all points where a blowoff operation is being performed should be a priority. Each individual infraction will result in a fine if you’re subject to an OSHA inspection. Inspections are typically unannounced, so it’s important to take a look around your shop and make sure you’re using approved products.

sag-osha-compliant
The fins along the outside of the Super Air Nozzle prevent it from being dead-ended

So, go ahead and make 2019 the year of energy savings, increased efficiency, and improving worker safety. You’ll find all of the tools you need in EXAIR’s 32nd edition of the catalog. Click here if you’d like a hard copy sent directly to you! Or, get in touch with us today to find out how you can get saving with an Intelligent Compressed Air Product.

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD