Tag: save energy

Optimizing Compressed Air: 6th Step – Lower the Pressure!

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

The last step in EXAIR’s Six Steps to Optimizing Your Compressed Air System centers around air pressure. Unless you’re controlling your air pressure for each individual application, there’s a strong chance you can achieve quite a bit of savings by lowering the air pressure just upstream.

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.

Pressure Regulators “dial in” performance to get the job done without using more air than necessary.

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.

While one advantage of a pressure regulator is certainly maintaining consistent pressure on 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 for any compressed air operated product.

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 a 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, CCASS

Application Engineer

E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com

Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

Let the EFC Turn Your Compressed Air Off!

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

Compressed air is not free! But when used correctly, it’s a tool that, in most cases, is the most effective option! The best way to save compressed air is to simply turn it off when it’s not being used. This might seem pretty simple, but there may be processes in your facility where this couldn’t be achieved by just turning a valve. In applications where product is traveling along a conveyor and must be dried, cooled, or blown off, there is likely some spacing in between the parts. It isn’t necessary to keep the blowoff running constantly if there are periods of intermittent spacing. To help reduce the overall load on the air compressor, implementing a solution to shut the air off in between each part can have a dramatic impact.

EXAIR’s Electronic Flow Control, or EFC, is designed to improve efficiency by reducing overall compressed air usage. It utilizes a photoelectric sensor that detects when the part is present. When it’s not, it triggers a solenoid valve to close and shut off the compressed air supply.

efcapp
EXAIR EFC

One way to use the Electronic Flow Control would be to turn an Atomizing Spray nozzle on to coat your product.  For example see the photo below where you can use the EFC to sense the pants coming down the line. Then turn the air supply on to spray a bleach solution to get the weathered look you are after. Once the pants pass, the EFC will turn the nozzle off, replacing a manual operation while saving compressed air and your liquid solution!

Another use would be to tell when a hopper that is being filled by a Line Vac is empty or over filled.  You can adjust the sensor and the control module to sense that the hopper is empty, and it will turn the compressed air on to the Line Vac to then feed the hopper.  Then set the timer module so it will run for the length of time it takes to fill the hopper.  The other way would be to place the sensor at the top of the hopper and have it sense when the pile of media has reached the full level.

The EFC models available from stock can accommodate flows up to 350 SCFM. For applications requiring more compressed air, EFCs with dual solenoids are also available. If you have an application in one or more of your processes where intermittent compressed air use could help save you money, give us a call. We’d be happy to take a look at the application and help determine just how quickly the EFC could start paying YOU.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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Free ROI Evaluation and Report with EXAIR’s Efficiency Lab Service

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

EXAIR’s Free Efficiency Lab

With any purchase process, it’s important to consider the return on your investment. This becomes even more important when trying to convince management that the upgrades you’re looking to make on the floor are worth the investment. At EXAIR, we offer a free service that allows you to send in your existing compressed air blowing devices to be compared with our recommended EXAIR manufactured equivalent.

Many facilities may not have the means to test the air consumption of their blowoff solutions. With compressed air being the most expensive utility in a manufacturing facility, it’s important to identify places where you can save money on your overall operating costs. EXAIR manufacturers a wide variety of products intended to help you reduce your compressed air usage. If you’re not able to accurately measure the consumption in your own shop, we invite you to send the products to EXAIR for testing.

All you have to do is contact an EXAIR Application Engineer and ship them straight to our warehouse in Cincinnati, Ohio. Once we receive it, our engineers will complete some in-depth testing to determine the compressed air consumption, sound level, and force that your current solution provides. With this information, we’ll be able to compare it to an EXAIR Engineered solution. This way, we ensure that you receive the best, safest solution possible. All while saving money through reduced air consumption and improved efficiency.  We’ll send you back a comprehensive report that’ll help you to make the best decision for your company.

This service is something that we offer to our customers completely free of charge. This way, you can be assured that by selecting a new solution from EXAIR, you’re making a well-informed decision. Oftentimes, it’s not known just how much some of these products cost to operate. Contrary to popular misconception, compressed air is certainly not free. In fact, it is rather costly, as a 4th utility in an industrial plant.

Check out the Efficiency Lab for yourself here in this video:

If you think there are applications in your facility that you suspect are consuming too much air, we’re here to help. Reach out to an Application Engineer to organize your own, free Efficiency Lab evaluation of your equipment. Allow us to show you the difference!

Tyler Daniel, CCASS

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

Understand the ROI of Your EXAIR Products With Our FREE Efficiency Lab Service

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

Many facilities may not have the means to test the air consumption of their blowoff solutions. With compressed air being the most expensive utility in a manufacturing facility, it’s important to identify places where you can save money on your overall operating costs. EXAIR manufacturers a wide variety of products intended to help you reduce your compressed air usage. If you’re not able to accurately measure the consumption in your own shop, we invite you to send the products into EXAIR for testing.

All you have to do is contact an EXAIR Application Engineer and ship them straight to our warehouse in Cincinnati, Ohio. Once we receive it, our engineers will complete some in-depth testing to determine the compressed air consumption, sound level, and force that your current solution provides. With this information, we’ll be able to compare it to an EXAIR Engineered solution. This way we ensure that you receive the best, safest solution possible also capable of saving money through reduced air consumption and improved efficiency.  We’ll send you back a comprehensive report that’ll help you to make the best decision for your company.

This video below shows our EXAIR Efficiency Lab and some examples of the different types of products we’ve tested in the past:

This service is something that we offer to our customers completely free of charge. This way, you can rest assured that in going with a new solution from EXAIR, you’re getting the most bang for your buck. Oftentimes, it’s not known just how much some of these products cost to operate. It’s just compressed air, air is free right?? Compressed air is certainly not free, but in fact rather costly as a 4th utility in an industrial plant.

Making sure that you understand the products used within your various applications is even more critical in a time where everything in life is rapidly getting more expensive. By ensuring you’re using the best possible blowoff solutions for your processes, you can save a dramatic amount of energy that would otherwise be wasted.

If you think there’s anything in your facility that could be using too much air, we’re here to help. Reach out to an Application Engineer for more information on how we can help save you money!

Tyler Daniel, CCASS

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