Tag: spray coating

EXAIR’s External Mix Atomizing Spray Nozzles For High Flow Rates and Liquids Over 300 cP

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

EXAIR’s Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles are used to atomize fluids in a wide range of different spray patterns. They utilize a small amount of compressed air which mixes with the liquid supply to create a fine mist of atomized liquid. EXAIR manufactures Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles in (3) different varieties: Internal Mix, External Mix, and Siphon Fed. Siphon nozzles are applicable for processes where the liquid cannot be pressurized, possessing the ability to siphon liquids up to 36″ or be gravity fed. Internal Mix nozzles produce the finest atomization and are ideal for liquids with a viscosity below 300 cP. For this blog, I’m going to focus on just the External Mix variety.

On all External Mix Atomizing Nozzles the volume of liquid is easily adjusted through the valve stem on the standard Atomizing Nozzle, or by regulating the liquid pressure (the only option with the No-Drip style). Increasing the liquid pressure will result in an increased liquid flow rate. The External Mix nozzles have the highest flow rates and can be used with liquids with a viscosity greater than 300 cP. Since the air and liquid are mixing just outside the nozzle, thicker liquids have a lesser chance of clogging in the nozzle. Both the liquid stream and the air stream will come into contact with each other just outside both the air and liquid caps. The compressed air breaks the liquid up into very small particles, allowing you to use much less liquid than a liquid only nozzle.

This makes them very effective in applications that utilize expensive paints, oils, or other liquids. Rather than wasting the expensive materials, the nozzle can be set to precisely dispense only what is necessary to achieve a successful application. The External Mix Atomizing Nozzle is available in the standard configuration as well as the No-Drip style. The No-Drip Atomizing Nozzle is used in a variety of applications where any liquid dripping from the nozzle after the air supply has shut off would cause a problem. This is common in painting applications where any paint dripping would affect the quality.

The External Mix Atomizing Nozzle is available in (3) different sizes: 1/8” NPT, ¼” NPT, and ½” NPT. If your application could benefit from utilizing a fine atomized spray of liquid look no further than EXAIR’s Air Atomizing Nozzles. With all sizes and configurations available from stock, we can get one out to you quickly!  

Tyler Daniel, CCASS

Application Engineer

E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com

Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

EXAIR Internal and External Air Atomizing Nozzles

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment
EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles

In today’s market, the cost of consumable products is on the rise; especially with paints, oils, and yes, even the cost of water.  You can help ease some of that cost by being more efficient at spraying.  The EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles can accomplish this objective.  By using compressed air to shear the liquid, small, micron-sized droplets are produced.  As a reference, reducing the area of a particle by one-half will increase the surface area by eight.  With smaller diameter particles, your liquid spraying will go a long way; saving you money. 

EXAIR stocks three different body sizes in 1/8” NPT, ¼” NPT, and ½” NPT ports that support a large range of flow; so, you can create a light mist or a monsoon.  The combination of an air cap and a liquid cap controls the spray patterns and liquid flow rates.  These caps are easily interchangeable for each body size to change the spray patterns, control the amount of fluid, and reduce any downtime for cleaning.  The amount of liquid to be applied is easily adjusted by the inlet air pressure, the liquid pressure, and the liquid adjustment valve.  So, you can dial in the exact amount of fluid required for your process to stop any waste or excess.

EXAIR manufactures three families of Atomizing Nozzles; Internal Mix, External Mix, and Siphon Fed.  The Siphon Fed generates a vacuum from the compressed air to draw the liquid to the nozzle (no liquid pump is required).  The External Mix and Internal Mix require both air and liquid to be pressurized.  In this blog, I will narrow my discussion to the Internal Mix and External Mix Atomizing Nozzles.

Internal Mix

The Internal Mix Atomizing Nozzles are designed, as the name suggests, to atomize the liquid inside the nozzle.  This means that the liquid and air streams will come together just before leaving the Atomizing Nozzle.  For this type of Atomizing Nozzle, the air and liquid supplies are pressurized and independently controlled, but because of the internal nature, the pressures will have to be similar.

The Internal Mix Atomizing Nozzle can spray fluids with a viscosity below 300 CPS.  EXAIR manufactures these nozzles with stainless steel construction; making them compatible with many different kinds of liquids.  And they are used in many applications like washing, coating, cooling, quenching, and dust control.

External Mix

To expand on the External Mix Atomizing Nozzle, it atomizes the liquid outside the nozzle.  The air and liquid supplies are pressurized and can be controlled independently.  Higher viscosity fluids can be sprayed at up to 800 CPS using this type of atomizing nozzle.  Also, with the external mixing, it helps to diminish the drying effects of the solution.  EXAIR manufactures these nozzles with stainless steel construction, as well. 

No Drip Atomizing Family

What can make the Atomizing Nozzle even better?  The No Drip option is offered with all of our Atomizing Nozzles.  This patented design is used to keep the expensive liquid from dripping out of the Atomizing Nozzles during off-cycles.  When the compressed air is turned off at the nozzle, a valve inside the body will create a seal on the liquid side.  The No Drip function enhances the Atomizing Nozzles for intermittent processes as the liquid remains inside the body for quick spraying. With delicate applications, the unwanted drips will not occur and ruin the finish of your product.  Unlike some manufacturers, there is no need to run a separate compressed air line to operate the no drip function.  The Atomizing Nozzles with the No Drip option can give you the best performance in efficiency, effectiveness, and flexibility without any drips.

If you need to maximize the liquid dispersion and reduce consumption, the EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles are the products to use.  The Internal Mix and External Mix Atomizing Nozzles can shear the drops into micron-sized particles, saving expensive consumable oils and liquids.  If you have a spraying application, you can speak to one of our qualified Application Engineers.  We will be happy to help you select the correct model.

John Ball
Application Engineer


Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Hot Off The Press (Release) – New Air Atomizing Spray Nozzle Video

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

EXAIR’s Research & Development Engineers continue to set a high bar on new product introductions, and our Marketing team continues to keep pace with them to get information about those new products to users who will benefit most from using them. To that end, a Press Release was issued on February 22, 2023 (coincidentally, a day we call Founder’s Day) to announce our newest video:

New Air Atomizing Spray Nozzle Video Provides Key Features & Advantages.

With 142 (so far) distinct models, odds are that no matter what you’re spraying, or what you’re spraying it onto (or into), EXAIR has an Air Atomizing Spray Nozzle (or Liquid Atomizing Spray Nozzle, which adds another 35 distinct models to our liquid spraying nozzle offerings) to meet your needs.

If you’d like to find out more about a particular Spray Nozzle, or any of our engineered compressed air products, for that matter, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Internal Mix Atomizing Spray Nozzles For Maximum Adjustability

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

It’s not difficult to spray a liquid – oftentimes, you just need to pressurize it and force it out a small(ish) hole, or array of holes, in a nozzle-type device. If your application calls for small droplet size, a consistent & repeatable spray pattern, precise control of the flow rate, pattern size & shape, or the ability to turn the flow on & off, you might be looking for an engineered solution like EXAIR’s Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles.

With 142 distinct models, we can accommodate liquid flow rates as low as 0.14 gallons per hour, to as high as 303 gallons per hour, and patterns as small as 2″ round (at 6″ from the nozzle), and as large as a 13 foot hollow circular pattern.

From Round Patterns (left), to Flat Fan Patterns (middle), to Hollow Circular Patterns (right), EXAIR has Spray Nozzles to suit your liquid spraying needs.

Internal Mix Air Atomizing Spray Nozzles mix the air & liquid internally (just like the name implies), which means that both the air supply pressure, and the liquid supply pressure, will affect the liquid flow rate, and the pattern size. This makes for an incredibly wide range of adjustability. Consider our Model AN1010SS Internal Mix Narrow Angle Round Pattern 1/4 NPT Air Atomizing Spray Nozzle. Let’s say we want to spray about 1-1/2 gallons per hour…that’s about 3 fluid ounces a minute, which is a pretty light mist, comparable to what you might get from a typical trigger spray bottle of kitchen or bath cleaner in your home. We can do that (or thereabouts) at several different combinations of liquid & air supply pressures, highlighted in different colors below:

  • GREEN: With liquid at 10PSI, and air at 10psig, we can spray this amount with a fairly tight 2.3″ to 5″ diameter, when we get 6 – 15″ (respectively) away from the nozzle tip.
  • BLUE: If we wanted to widen that out a bit, increasing to 20PSI liquid & 24psig air, the flowrate increases slightly to 1.7 gph (an extra half ounce a minute) but the diameter of the spray pattern increases to a 2.8″ to 6″ diameter.
  • YELLOW: Increasing the liquid to 30PSI and air to 36psig increases the spray pattern to a 3.0″ to 6.5″ diameter, while keeping the flow rate in the same neighborhood.
  • ORANGE: At 40PSI liquid & 48psig air, we can get a spray pattern diameter of 3.5″ to 6″ diameter.

We can get a 4″ to 7″ diameter with a little more air & liquid pressure, but that starts to increase the flow rate as well. If we want to keep the flow rate lower and still get a larger pattern, we’ll consider Model AW1010SS Internal Mix Wide Angle Round Pattern 1/4 NPT Air Atomizing Spray Nozzle:

  • GREEN: Regulating the liquid to 10PSI and air to 10psig, this Wide Angle Round Pattern model now gives us a 7″ to 14″ round pattern…about three times as big as the AN1010SS under the same conditions, with the same liquid flow rate.
  • BLUE: 20PSI liquid pressure and 20psig air pressure increase the flow pattern to 9″ – 15″ in diameter.
  • YELLOW: At 30PSI liquid pressure and40psig air pressure, we’re going to ‘max out’ with a 10″ – 16″ diameter round pattern. Further increases in either liquid or air supply pressure will increase the liquid flow rate without appreciably changing the pattern size.

EXAIR has a comprehensive line of Spray Nozzles, engineered for efficiency & ease of operation. If you have a liquid spraying application you’d like to discuss, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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