Tag: science

What I Do

Published on by Brian Farno1 Comment

I’ve blogged before about having a fantastic wife and three smart and rapidly growing daughters. Our nightly routine is one that gets to be cumbersome and sometimes painful, at the same time, I wouldn’t change a single aspect as it gives both my wife and me one on one time with each girl. Even my pre-teen daughter still wants this one-on-one time when we just sit and calm down from the day by talking or singing in her case. I know it won’t last forever, so I always try to stay present. Here lately all three of my daughters on different days have asked me what I do at work during the day. It caught me off guard all three times.

They know that I work for EXAIR, and they know we make “stuff”, they’ve been to the company parties and even had lunch with me here in the office, they still didn’t know what I did, and at the time each one asked, even I didn’t know what I did. The answers I gave were all fairly similar. I help people figure out how to fix stuff by using the stuff we make. If they have something from EXAIR that isn’t working then I help them figure out why it isn’t working, and we try to get it fixed. Then they would ask things like, if their car is broken they call you, no that’s only when I’m at home. I tell them I also get to test products and see what they can do, even make videos of what our stuff does. Of course, they wanted to know if I made TikToks and I proudly informed them I do not and that most of this stuff is on a website or on YouTube.

The fact is that they know I love to work with my hands and see my work around the house or at other people’s homes on their cars or on their projects. They know that I value my experiences and I always try to have them recall an experience they may have already had when they are struggling with something. The best is when my oldest is learning about heat transfer. First, we did an experiment with my trusty Zippo lighter, so she experienced that holding your hand six inches over a flame you can feel the warmth but underneath you can’t. Then I showed them Vortex Tube Videos. They didn’t find it as cool as I do. (DAD PUN INTENDED!)

Lucky for me, when people are contacting me at work, they generally get excited about seeing compressed air turned into hot and cold air streams without moving parts and being able to solve heat transfer issues quickly and easily. The exact opposite reaction of young children, which helps me not feel like such a nerd.

The point of this story is that I am here to help, it’s one of the key responsibilities I hold as an Application Engineer here at EXAIR. With that, I share all of my experience that comes with over 15 years in the industry and always keep my eyes and ears open when I don’t know something. If you are at a wall with your point-of-use compressed air system or a process in your manufacturing, contact us and see how our bank of experience can help you to determine the best path moving forward.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Carburetors and Venturi Tubes: Thank You Giovanni Battista Venturi

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I know it has been a little while since I blogged about something with a motor so it should be no surprise that this one ties to something with a combustion chamber. This all starts with an Italian physicist, Giovanni Battista Venturi. His career was as a historian of science and a professor at the University of Modena. He gave Leonardo da Vinci’s creations a different perspective by crediting da Vinci to be a scientist with many of his creations rather than just an amazing artist. He then began to study fluid flow through tubes. This study became known as the Venturi Tube. The first patents in 1888 came to fruition long after Giovanni passed away. So what was this Venturi effect and how does it tie in to carburetors let alone compressed air?

The illustration below showcases the Venturi effect of a fluid within a pipe that has a constriction. The principle states that a fluid’s velocity must increase as it passes through a constricted pipe. As this occurs, the velocity increases while the static pressure decreases. The pressure drop that accompanies the increase in velocity is fundamental to the laws of physics. This is another principle we like to discuss known as Bernoulli’s principle.

1 – Venturi

Some of the first patents using Venturi’s began to appear in 1888. One of the key inventors for this was Karl Benz who founded Mercedes. This is how the Venturi principle ties into combustion engines for those that do not know the history. This patent is one of many that came out referencing the Venturi principle and carburetors. The carburetors can vary considerably in the complexity of their design. Many of the units all have a pipe that narrows in the center and expands back out, thus causing the pressure to fall and the velocity to increase. Yes, I just described a Venturi, this effect is what causes the fuel to be drawn into the carburetor. The higher velocity on the input (due to this narrowing restriction) results in higher volumes of fuel which results in higher engine rpms. The image below showcases Benz’s first patent using the Venturi.

2 – Venturi Patent

While carburetors slowly disappear and now can mainly be found in small engines such as weed eaters, lawn mowers, and leaf blowers, the Venturi principle continues to be found in industry and other items. Needless to say, I think Giovanni Battista Venturi would be proud of his findings and understanding how monumental they have been for technological advancements. For this, we will recognize the upcoming day of his passing 199 years ago on April 24, 1822.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@exair.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – Thierry Dugnolle, CC0, Venturi.gif, retrieved via Wikimedia Commons https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Venturi.gif

2 – United States Patent and Trademark Office – Benz, Karl, Carburetor – Retrieved from https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=00382585&homeurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO1%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526d%3DPALL%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsrchnum.htm%2526r%3D1%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526s1%3D0382,585.PN.%2526OS%3DPN%2F0382,585%2526RS%3DPN%2F0382,585&PageNum=&Rtype=&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page

Centrifugal Air Compressors: How Do They Work?

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Centrifugal air compressors are one example of dynamic style air compressors. The dynamic type of compressors have a continuous flow of air that has its velocity increased in an impeller that is rotating at a higher speed. The kinetic energy of the air is increased due to the increase in velocity and then becomes transformed into pressure energy through the use of a volute chamber, or a diffuser. The volute chamber is a curved funnel that increases in surface are as it approaches the discharge port. This converts the kinetic energy into pressure by allowing the velocity to reduce while the pressure increases. Approximately 1/2 of the energy is developed in the impeller and the other half is developed in the volute chamber or diffuser.

1 – Basic Centrifugal Air Compressor

The most common centrifugal air comppressor has between two and four stages in order to generate pressures up to 150 psig. A water cooled inter-cooler and separator is placed between each stage in order to remove condensation and cool the air down prior to being passed on to the next stage. These compressors still have advantages and some disadvantages. The list below showcases just a few.

Advantages:

  • Lubricant-free air is generated
  • Complete packages up to 1,500 hp
  • Initial costs decrease with increase in compressor size
  • No special foundations or reinforcements needed

Disadvantages:

  • Specialized maintenance requirements
  • Higher initial investment
  • Unloading/waste of air required to drop system pressures

To determine which type of compressor may be best suited for your facility, we suggest to locate and contact a compressor sales company in your geographic area. When it comes to determining the volume of air required to operate the EXAIR products and even some other point of use compressed air applications, EXAIR’s Application Engineers can help you determine the volume you will need to ensure the compressor is sized appropriately. If you would like to discuss any other point of use application, please contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – Dugan, Tim PE – Basic Centrifugal Air Compressor, Compressed Air Best Practices; retrieved from https://www.airbestpractices.com/technology/air-compressors/centrifugal-air-compressor-controls-and-sizing-basics

Bifurcation Of Air – The Wonders of Science That Is The Vortex Tube

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EXAIR has provided the benefits of vortex tube technology to the industrial world since 1983. Prior to that, French scientist George Ranque wrote about his discovery in 1928 calling it the tube tourbillion. But it wasn’t until German physicist Rudolf Hilsch’s research paper in 1945 on the wirbelrorhr or whirling tube, that the vortex tube entered the minds of commercial engineers. Nearly 60 years later, EXAIR is a leading provider for cooling products utilizing vortex tube technology.

More than 2,000 BTU/hr in the palm of your hand!

EXAIR Vortex Tubes produce a cold air stream down to -50° F and are a low cost, reliable, maintenance-free (there are no moving parts!) solution to a variety of spot cooling applications. These applications span a wide variety of industries and include cooling of electronic controls, soldered parts, machining operations, heat seals, environmental chambers, and gas samples. We’re always finding compelling new cooling opportunities for the vortex tubes.

How a Vortex Tube Works

So how does it produce the cooling stream? Compressed air is plumbed into the side port of the Vortex Tube where it is ejected tangentially into the internal chamber where the generator is located. The air begins flowing around the generator and spinning up to 1 million RPM toward the hot end (right side in the animation above) of the tube, where some hot air escapes through a control valve. Still spinning, the remaining air is forced back through the middle of the outer vortex. Through a process of conservation of angular momentum, the inner stream loses some kinetic energy in the form of HEAT to the outer stream and exits the vortex tube as COLD air on the other side.

The adjustable control valve adjusts what’s known as the cold fraction. Opening the valve reduces the cold air temperature and also the cold airflow volume. One can achieve the maximum refrigeration (an optimum combination of temperature and volume of flow) around an 80% cold fraction. EXAIR publishes performance charts in our catalog and online to help you dial into the right setting for your application, and you can always contact a real, live, Application Engineer to walk you through it.

EXAIR manufactures its vortex tubes of stainless steel for resistance to corrosion and oxidation. They come in small, medium and large sizes that consume from 2 to 150 SCFM and offer from 135 to 10,200 BTU/hr cooling capacity. Each size can generate several different flow rates, dictated by a small but key part called the generator. That generator can be changed out to increase or decrease the flow rate.

While operation and setup of an EXAIR Vortex Tube are easy, its performance will begin to  decrease with back pressure on the cold or hot air exhaust of over 3 PSIG. This is a key  when delivering the cold or hot airflow through tubes or pipes. They must be sized to minimize or eliminate back pressure.

The Vortex Tube is integrated into a variety of EXAIR products for specific applications, like the Adjustable Spot Cooler, the Mini Cooler, the Cold Gun Aircoolant System and our family of Cabinet Cooler Systems.

If you would like to discuss your next cooling application, please contact an Application Engineer directly and let our team lead you to the most efficient solution on the market.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF