Super Air Amplifier

Super Air Amplifier Overview – Vent, Exhaust, Cool, Dry, Clean

Published on December 26, 2018 by Leave a comment

Vent, exhaust, cool, dry, clean -with no moving parts! That tag line from the catalog section pretty much says it all about the EXAIR Air Amplifiers, both the Super Air Amplifier and the Adjustable Air Amplifiers. I want to share some more information about the Super Air Amplifiers.

In general, the air amplifiers employ the Coanda effect – a basic principle of fluid flow – to create air motion in their surrounding. Through intelligent design, this surrounding fluid flow can be manipulated and exploited, creating an amplification of a small amount of compressed air.

How do they work? In the figure below – a small amount of compressed air flows into the unit (1) to an annular chamber (2). The air is then throttled through a small ring nozzle (3) at high velocity. This primary air stream adheres to the Coanda profile (4), which directs it towards the outlet. A low pressure area is created at the center (5), inducing a high volume flow of the surrounding air into the primary stream. At the exit, you have the combination of flows, resulting in a high volume, high velocity flow.

Close Up of the Coanda Profile

The amplification ratio – the outlet airflow compared to the compressed air flow is dependent upon the cross sectional area of the inlet, and the 3/4″ Super Air Amplifiers have 12:1 amplification ratios all the way up to the 4″ and 8″ Super Air Amplifiers with 25:1 amplification ratios! That is a lot of ‘free air’ to use for cooling, drying and cleaning. And a lot of air or smoke that can be drawn at the inlet and vented away from the area. For more on the amplification ratios, see this -blog-

Each Super Air Amplifier has a patented shim (patent#5402938) that precisely sets the compressed air flow, and shim sets are available to install to increase the force and flow as needed.

Super Air Amplifier Shims — Patented Shims for the Super Air Amplifier

The balanced outflow of air minimizes wind shear to produce a very quiet, powerful flow at sound levels up to three (3) times quieter than other air movers. A 4″ Super Air Amplifier operated at 80 PSIG will have a Sound Level of just 73 dBA.

The video below shows the power of the Super Air Amplifier in inducing a high volume flow of surrounding air (for venting) into the primary air stream (for cooling/drying/cleaning)

Typical applications include venting weld smoke, cooling hot parts, drying wet parts, cleaning machined parts, distributing heat in mold & ovens, dust collection, and exhausting vent fumes.

If you have questions about the Super Air Amplifier or any of the 16 different EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Product lines, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or any of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer
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Sound Power Vs Sound Pressure

Published on October 4, 2018 by Leave a comment

sound-level-comparison — EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product dBA ratings as compared to other sounds

When trying to explain or state a number associated with how loud a sound or noise is it can be somewhat confusing or at the very least, ambiguous. This blog will help to make it clear and easy to understand the difference between Sound Power and Sound Pressure.

Sound Power is defined as the speed at which sound energy is radiated or transmitted for a given period of time. The SI unit of sound power is the watt. It is the power of the sound force on a surface of the medium of propagation of the sound wave.

Sound Pressure is the sound we hear and is defined as the atmospheric pressure disturbance that can vary by the conditions that the sound waves encounter such as furnishings in a room or if outdoors trees, buildings, etc. The unit of measurement for Sound Pressure is the decibel and its abbreviation is the dB.

I know, the difference is still clear as mud! Lets consider a simple analogy using a light bulb. A light bulb uses electricity to make light so the power required (stated in Watts) to light the bulb would be the “Sound Power” and the light generated or more specific the brightness is the “Sound Pressure”. Sound just as with the light emitting from the bulb diminishes as the distance increases from the source. Skipping the math to do this, it works out that the sound decreases by 6 dB as the distance from the sound source is doubled. A decrease of 3dB is half as loud (Sound Pressure) as the original source. As an example sound measured at 90 dB @ 36″ from the source would be 87dB at 54″ from the sound source or 84dB at 72″.

We at EXAIR specialize in making quiet and efficient point of use compressed air products, in fact most of our products either meet or exceed OSHA noise standards seen below.

EXAIR also offers the model 9104 Digital Sound Level Meter. It is an easy to use instrument for measuring and monitoring the sound level pressures in and around equipment and other manufacturing processes.

If you have questions about the Digital Sound Level Meter, or would like to talk about any of the quiet EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Products, feel free to contact EXAIR or any Application Engineer.

Steve Harrison
Application Engineer

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Super and Adjustable Type Air Amplifiers

Published on August 29, 2018 by Leave a comment

The EXAIR Air Amplifiers are a powerful, efficient and quiet air mover, whose power can be harnessed for blowoff, cooling and ventilation applications. Using a small amount of compressed air, air amplifiers pull in large amounts of surrounding air to produce a high volume, high velocity outlet flow. Quiet and efficient, output flows with amplification ratios of up to 25 times are possible. There are two types, the Super Air Amplifier and the Adjustable Air Amplifier.

The Super Air Amplifier, with sizes ranging from 3/4″ to 8″, has a patented design (patent #5402938) that uses a special shim to maintain critical position of the components parts. It is through this critical gap setting that a precise amount of compressed air is passed at exact intervals controlled by the shim toward the center of the of the Super Air Amplifier. The jets of air create a high velocity flow across the entire cross sectional area, which in turn pulls in large amounts surrounding air, resulting in the amplified outlet flow. Because the outlet flow remains balanced and minimizes wind shear, sound levels are typically three times lower than other types of air movers. The shims are available in thicknesses of 0.003″ (supplied as standard), 0.006″ and 0.009″, and changing to a larger shim will increase the force and flow of the outlet air. The 8″ Super Air Amplifier is supplied with a 0.009″ shim, with a 0.015″ shim available.

2″ Super Air Amplifier and Patented Shim Design

For high temperature applications (up to 700°F/374°C) a special 1-1/4″ High Temperature Air Amplifier is available, with performance equal to the 1-1/4″ Super Air Amplifier. Its surfaces are protected from heat stress by a mil-spec coating process. The High Temperature Air Amplifier is highly effective at pushing large amounts of hot air to areas that typically remain cool.

The Adjustable Air Amplifier, with sizes ranging from 3/4″ to 4″, does not use a shim, and has an infinitely adjustable air gap, which regulates the air consumption and outlet flow from a light breeze to a powerful blast. A highly effective air mover, it can be tailored to meet the exact air flow and force of your specific application. They are available in aluminum and in stainless steel (Type 303) for food service, higher temperatures (400°F/204°C) and corrosive environments.

2″ Adjustable Air Amplifier, in Aluminum or Stainless Steel

Force and flow of the Adjustable Air Amplifier is changed by loosening the knurled lock ring and turning the exhaust end to open or close the gap. Once the desired force and flow is achieved, the knurled ring can be tightened to lock the device at the current setting. Typically, an air gap of 0.002″ to 0.004″ provides the required performance.

The table below summarizes the key features of the Super Air Amplifier and Adjustable Air Amplifier. Please contact an Application Engineer if you need assistance in making a selection.

Note that EXAIR can manufacture special Air Amplifiers to your specification including special flanged mounting style or with a PTFE plug to avoid sticky material build up.

To discuss your application and how a Super or Adjustable Air Amplifier or any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product can improve your process, feel free to contact EXAIR, myself, or one of our other Application Engineers. We can help you determine the best solution!

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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Two Types of Air Amplifiers – Volume and Pressure

Published on December 6, 2017December 6, 2017 by Leave a comment

When the topic of Air Amplifiers comes up, there are two avenues to consider – is it the air pressure or the air volume that you wish to amplify? There exists technologies to amplify either parameter, and we will examine them both.

There may be equipment or processes within a facility that operate best at air pressures higher than can be delivered, due to air compressor limitations or the supply system. An Air Pressure Amplifier can take the existing compressed air supply, and boost the pressure allowing for the higher needed air pressure without requiring a dedicated compressor capable of operating at the higher pressure.

An Air Pressure Amplifier is basically an air pump, driven by a portion of the compressed air supply. The pump cycles and compresses the remaining amount of compressed air to a higher outlet pressure. This higher output pressure can be used to operate the equipment or process that required the pressure levels that the base system could not supply. The drawback is that the pump system consumes a good amount of the compressed air volume, to power the pump which reduces the amount of air available for other equipment or processes. This drives up the compressed air consumption for the system, and requires the extra capacity to operate.

The other type of Air Amplifier is the kind that amplifies the air flow volume. EXAIR manufactures this type of amplifier.

The air flow amplification works by taking compressed air (1) and directing into an annular chamber (2). It is then throttled through a small ring nozzle (3) at high velocity. This primary stream of air adheres to the Coanda profile (4) and is directed through the outlet. A low pressure area is created at the center, inducing a high volume flow (5) of surrounding air to be drawn in and added to the main air stream. The combined flow of primary and surrounding air exits as a high volume, high velocity flow.

EXAIR manufactures (2) types of Air Amplifiers, the Super Air Amplifier and the Adjustable Air Amplifier. In addition, a special model for High Temperature applications is available. Sizes range from 3/4″ (19mm) to 8″ (203mm) to meet most air flow requirements. Air amplification ratios start at 12:1 for the 3/4″ model and increase to 25:1 for the 4″ and 8″ models.

Charts and tables are available to help determine the right Air Amplifier for the job.

If you have questions about the Air Amplifiers, or would like to talk about any of the EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Products, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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