Tag: training

Visitar A Costa Rica Y Nicaragua

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It feels good to be home after visiting with our distributors in Costa Rica (Dansar Industries) and Nicaragua (Optima Industrial) last week. Both companies were more than pleasant, had tremendously knowledgeable inside and outside sales forces, and were well informed about the intricacies of compressed air.  I was also able to meet and spend time with our distributor from El Salvador, ECOBLITZ.

Dansar Industrial Resized

Dansar Industries, Costa Rica

While in Costa Rica, I made visits to a few end users of EXAIR products.  Our distributor, Dansar Industries, had projects going with existing clients to increase production efficiency, lower compressed air use, and lower noise levels.  One application was to cool and dry extruded rubber after quenching through a dip tank.  The process in place was to use approximately 6-8 nozzles operating continuously, regardless of the presence of product.  The compressed air use was unknown, but certainly very high, and the sound level was over 103 dBA.  We installed and tested an EXAIR Super Air Wipe, lowering the compressed air use, and dropping the sound level to 84 dBA.  That’s akin to cutting the sound level in half, then cutting it in half again.  Coupled with an Electronic Flow Controller, the compressed air use was further reduced by consuming compressed air only when product was present.

Optima Industiral Resized

Optima Industrial, Nicaragua

While in Nicaragua, the full engineering team was trained on EXAIR products.  Receptive and enthused, we parted ways with a friendly contest among the engineers to see which could present EXAIR products most effectively.  The winner received dinner for two on the house.  With such commitment and capabilities in Optima, we’re optimistic for the future.

Working with international distributors and end users is a daily pledge for EXAIR.  If you need information about a distributor in your country or are interested in becoming an EXAIR distributor, our door is always open.  We also have a new tool to locate international distributors, here.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE

I’m Back! But My A4 Isn’t…Commence Troubleshooting

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Last week I enjoyed the company of Airtec Servicios, Dansar Industries, and Global Automation (EXAIR’s distributors in Mexico and parts of South America).  We met in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, for an EXAIR training event that covered all topics of EXAIR products.

Following my return to the States, I dug into a project at home that I’ve been working on here-and-there; my 98 Audi A4.  In an earlier blog post I showed the damage done to the cylinder head when a valve-train component failed and a few valves were bent.  After rebuilding the cylinder heads on a bench here at EXAIR, I finally got the engine back together and hit the key for the first time since I bought the car.

Fortunately, the valve timing was perfect and the engine fired right up.  Unfortunately, however, was the terrible knock from the bottom half of the engine – the half I left untouched during the initial repair.  (See image below for my feeling on the issue)

Lie_down_try_not_to_cry_cry_a_lot_cleaned_525Now I’m faced with a dilemma of the best course to take, and after chewing it over, I’ve decided to open up the bottom half of the engine and make the repair.  The most likely cause for the noise is a defective wrist pin or connecting rod.  When I open it up, I’ll be sure to take pics and share for those interested. I had thought repairing the top half of the engine would make the fix because most of the time that is the case. Similarly, we occasionally experience reduced performance in our Reversible Drum Vac. Most of the time (I’d speculate 95%-99%) a simple cleaning is all that is needed (see video demonstration here) because this product has no moving parts there is little to go wrong. Occasionally it is another issue that is causing reduced performance; for these times we have the Reversible Drum Vac troubleshooting guide:

lit6203-Reversible Drum Vac Troubleshooting

So, sometime soon I’ll run through the next troubleshooting steps for the engine in the A4. If you need help troubleshooting an EXAIR product or a compressed air application, please contact EXAIR.

In the meantime, the A4 is relaxing, hanging loose at home – and I am too.  Mexico was wonderful, and the people were more than kind.  But, it feels good to be home.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE

Vale, vale — Egeshegedre!

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Barco

Last week found me in Barcelona, Spain and Budapest, Hungary to conduct training sessions for our distributors.  In each city we were also pleased to welcome distributors from other countries as well.

On this trip I travelled into Barcelona by way of Atlanta.  The flight was long, but the plane was nice and I caught a few movies I’d been wanting to see.  After arriving in Spain I went to our distributor’s facility which was well equipped for training as well as various product demonstrations.  We brought in the regional sales reps and technical personnel (from both Spain and the United Kingdom) for a full training session on all EXAIR products.

After days of training and many hours of application centered conversations, we joined together along the pier near the Rambla for a good bite.  I snapped the picture above of the view from our table.

When the training was complete in Barcelona, I ventured to Budapest to repeat the agenda with our distributor there.  We were joined by our distributors from Bulgaria and Norway, both of whom were wonderfully pleasant and had great humor!  Along our way to dinner one evening we made a stop at a popular local destination to view the city center of Budapest.

Buda

This photo shows the scope of our distributor’s beautiful city.  On the left is the former city of Buda, and on the right is the former city of Pest.  Now, they are one in the same following unification in the 19th century.

I’d like to extend a huge thank you to all of our distributor involved in these training sessions.  Not only was EXAIR well received, we were and are well supported.  For contact information of an EXAIR distributor in your area, please don’t hesitate to email me directly at LeeEvans@EXAIR.com.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE

Compressed Air Challenge

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A few of us in the engineering department are attending the Compressed Air Challenge today.  The Compressed Air Challenge is a seminar which highlights the operation and optimization of compressed air systems.  Being that those subjects go hand in hand with EXAIR products and practices, we hope to not only attend and learn, but to contribute, given the opportunity.

One of the subjects to be covered is the impact of different compressor controls.  Many compressors use feedback control systems to either throttle the amount of intake air supplied to the compressor (known as modulating system control or throttling), or to reduce the compressor displacement/speed to accommodate for system load ( known as variable displacement/variable speed control, respectively).

These optional control systems can save energy costs by responding in real time to the needs of the system.  For example, if a compressed air flow of 100 SCFM at 80 PSIG is required for 2 hours of the workday and after this initial use only 50 SCFM at 80 PSIG is required, a variable speed compressor can accommodate for this change by adjusting the speed of the electric motor driving the compressor.  In this example the motor speed will lessen and the required electrical demand to product the required compressed air will lessen as well.  All the while, maintaining adequate compressed air pressure and flow.  I’m looking forward to learning more about these feedback systems.  These control systems do the same thing as an EXAIR product, they optimize and save compressed air costs!

If you have any questions about your compressed air applications or how EXAIR can fit into your current system, give us a call.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
leeevans@exair.com
@EXAIR_LE