Tag: tube conveyor

Light Duty Line Vac Used To Move Weatherstrip Trim, Eliminates Production Delay

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Last week I was contacted by a custom machine builder who was looking to improve their design of a rubber weatherstrip notching machine for an automotive company. As the weatherstrip enters the machine, there are several cuts taken along the length, resulting in excess scrap trim which drops into a collection bin. The operation is then stopped, so the operator can manually empty the bin into a recycle hopper a few feet away. This was causing a few issues, most notably the delay in production, but also the operators were sometimes forgetting to empty the bin which caused jams in the machine and a messy work area. The machine builder was looking at our Line Vac Conveyors as a more reliable, automated option to convey the material instead of relying on the operator, so they reached out for assistance in selecting the best model.

The lightweight, rubber scrap trim varied in size, with the largest being a piece around 3/4″ wide x 13″ long, and they needed to convey it about 3′ – 4′ with the majority of the run begin gravity fed into the recycle bin. They were hoping to place the Line Vac right at the cutting head, so as the part is being processed, the scrap piece would be pulled in to the suction side, lengthwise, to avoid any blockage or build up. After reviewing all of the information and a sketch of the proposed setup, I recommend they use our Model # 130200 2″ Light Duty Line Vac. The Light Duty Line Vac uses less compressed air than our other air operated conveyors and is the ideal choice when looking to move lightweight or smaller volumes of material a short distance. With this particular application being mostly gravity fed, the Light Duty Line Vac would ensure the material was effectively picked up and delivered to the hopper, eliminating the current manual process.

Light Duty Line Vac
Light Duty Line Vacs are available to ship from stock in sizes ranging from 3/4″ up to 6″.

The Line Vac Air Operated Conveyors have no moving parts or motors to wear out, providing a maintenance free way to move dry material. For help selecting the best option to fit your needs or to discuss how another EXAIR product might be suitable for your application, give us a call.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

Line Vac Alleviates Back Breaking Work in Drying Cocoa Beans

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

An overseas plant had a large operation processing cocoa beans.  They would pick the pods off the cocoa trees, remove the beans from the pod, and place them on a large screened table to dry in the sun.  The drying process may seem primitive, but with the natural energy of the sun, it is free.  To completely remove the moisture from the cocoa beans, they would have to keep the beans exposed to the sun for close to a week.  As a daily operation, the workers would have to carry beans to and from a storage container by shovel and bucket.  In the morning when the sun was rising, they would shovel the beans from the storage container and spread them onto the table.  Before evening came, they would shovel the beans from the table back into the storage containers.  This back and forth was very hard work and time consuming.

In discussing their setup, the storage containers were a maximum of 10 meters away from the drying tables.  The bulk density of cocoa beans are roughly 980 kg/m^3.  So, with 19L buckets used to carry the beans, each one would weigh a bit over 18Kg each.  The operators would carry two buckets, multiple times during the day to load the tables (reference the photo below).  Then they would remove the beans in the evening to put them back into the storage containers.  The reason that they had to store the cocoa beans at night was because of dew.  When the temperature drops during the night, dew would settle onto the beans and rehydrate them.  So, to keep the beans drying at a moderate rate, they had to store them during the night.  This was very hard work on the workers’ backs, and they were also losing sunlight hours as this was a long tedious operation.  In trying to find a better solution to improve their operation, they searched and found the EXAIR Air Operated Conveyors.

Cocoa beans being dried
Cocoa beans being dried

The EXAIR Line Vac fit very well into their operation. I suggested the model 152200 Heavy Duty Line Vac Kit as this unit has our highest conveyance rate.  It can convey the cocoa beans at a rate of nearly 900kg/hr.  It is very compact and easy to use.  This plantation placed a 10 meter length of hose in between the storage containers and the drying tables.  They attached a 1 meter section of hose to the vacuum end of the Heavy Duty Line Vac.  Because the Line Vac pushes the product much better than it pulls, we recommend the vacuum hose to be 1 meter or less for optimum conveyance.  So, in the morning, they would go to the storage container and attach the 10 meter hose to the exhaust end of the Line Vac.  They would open the compressed air line to the Line Vac and watch the cocoa beans being conveyed to the drying tables.  In the evening, they would reverse the procedure and attach the Line Vac to the 10 meter hose near the drying tables.  They would watch the beans being conveyed back into the storage containers.  Not only did this save the backs of their workers, it also increased the amount of drying time.  With their new operation, the cocoa beans now had an additional 1 hour of drying each day in the sun.  This helped tremendously in getting the dried cocoa beans to the processing factory more quickly.

Line Vacs can convey many things.
Line Vacs can convey many things.

If your company has a strenuous operation in moving dry bulk products like this, you may want to consider an EXAIR Air Operated Conveyor. They are very reliable, easy to use, and long lasting.  If you need help in finding the correct model for your application, please contact us today.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Need an Upgrade? EXAIR has options.

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

Occasionally we field calls from customers who are currently using an EXAIR product but are looking to “upgrade” to something that might provide just a little bit “extra”. Such was the case recently when I was working with a customer who was currently using our Reversible Drum Vac to clean out their coolant tanks on their milling machines. The RDV was working great in the application but in an effort to gain more floor space, they were now going to store their coolant drums on their mezzanine, located around 10′ above the machining area so they needed something with more power to lift the heavy liquid coolant up to the mezzanine. I promptly suggested our High Lift Reversible Drum Vac. The High Lift Reversible Drum Vac provides up to 15′ of vacuum lift and mounts through the same, 3/4″ NPT threaded hole in the drum lid as their current unit. By purchasing a new High Lift pump unit only, and a 20′ vacuum hose, this customer avoided purchasing a completely new system (they  or other unfamiliar product. They simply replaced the pump unit into the 3/4 NPT bung of the existing drum, and swapped out the hose to meet their existing needs of higher lift.

HLRDV
The High Lift Reversible Drum Vac is designed to fit 30, 55 and 110 gallon, closed head steel drums.

This is just one example how EXAIR continues to offer new products to meet increasing customer demands. In fact, several other products have also been recently expanded or developed to demonstrate this commitment. Here is a short list showcasing some of our newer offerings.

The Chip Trapper System which filters suspended solids in liquid and traps them in a reusable filter bag inside the drum, is also offered in a High Lift version as well, providing the extra vacuum (180″ water column) discussed above, for elevated tanks or below grade sumps.

high-lift-chip-trapper
High Lift Chip Trapper System

We now offer our Heavy Duty Line Vac Air Operated Conveyors in 2.5″ and 3″ sizes with either smooth or NPT threaded ends. The HD Line Vac is constructed of a proprietary hardened alloy construction for superior abrasion resistance and is capable of moving dry material, higher and farther distances.

Heavy Duty Line Vac: Hardened Alloy Construction and High Performance
Heavy Duty Line Vac: Hardened Alloy Construction and High Performance

Our 1/2″ NPT Atomizing Nozzles provide higher flow rates, up to 303 GPH,  with varying spray patterns. Also available with our N0-Drip feature to positively stop the liquid flow when the compressed air supply is shut off.

ef5010ss
EF5010SS 1/2″ NPT External Mix Narrow Angle Flat Fan Pattern Atomizing Nozzle with flows up to 303 GPH.
no-drip
No-Drip Atomizing Nozzle eliminate liquid waste.

The High Velocity Air Jet and Adjustable Air Jet are now available in 303 Stainless Steel for application requiring superior construction where brass may not be suitable.

6013ss
Model # 6013SS Stainless Steel High Velocity Air Jet

 

Stainless Steel Adjustable Air Jet
Model # 6019SS Stainless Steel Adjustable Air Jet

Lastly, we now offer our HD HEPA Vac in a 30 gallon capacity for smaller area, lower scale cleanup for dusty environments.

Heavy Duty HEPA Vac Family
Heavy Duty HEPA Vac Family

All of these products are shipped from stock and can ship same day with orders received by 3:00 PM EST. If you are looking to upgrade your current EXAIR product or with help selecting the best solution, please give me a call, I’d be happy to help.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

Additional Application Information Eases Your Mind – Find it Here

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

At EXAIR, we make a variety of products to coat, conserve, cool, convey, and clean. (What we like to call the 5 C’s.)  Within that realm, there are thousands of applications.  Companies are always looking to either fix, modify, create, or improve their processes by increasing speed, productivity, safety, or all of these.  And EXAIR products are designed to do this safely and efficiently.  In some cases, additional information can be very helpful for the transition to a different type of process.  This is where the EXAIR application data base comes into play.

A food processing company was using pecans to make a nutty coating. As part of their procedure, they would manually dump a 40 pound bag of pecans into a grinder.  The grinder would crush the nuts, and then a screw conveyor would move them to a mixing hopper.  The hopper for the grinder was about 4 feet off the ground, and it was designed with one step for the operator to get above the opening.  They would carry a bag to the hopper, place it on the step, step up next to the hopper, open the bag, and then dump it into the hopper.  They would do this about every half hour.  One day, the operator had a misstep during loading and fell. After injuring himself, the company decided to change their procedure to be safer.  They researched different types of conveyors for the food industry, and they came across EXAIR.

In speaking to them about their operation, they mentioned that they were not familiar with Air Operated Conveyors, or Line Vacs. They asked if EXAIR had sold any Line Vacs in the food industry and wondered if they could speak to any of our customers for referrals.   At EXAIR, we do not share contact information to past or present customers for privacy reasons.  But, I did explain that we do have many application details for every product group in our Application Database.  It describes the problems or situations, and how the EXAIR product was used to correct it.  I commended this company for doing their research.  The more information that you have, the easier a decision can be made.  The Application Database is available from our homepage, on the right hand side. Click the word “Applications”, register, and you can search the database.

home-page

 

If you need additional information to help support your ideas or to present to your manager, EXAIR has a wealth of knowledge that you can use in our Application Database. This customer was able to find much information in our Application guide to support our product’s use in their application.  It gave them confidence, and in the grander scheme, it made the work environment safe.  They purchased a model 6064 Air Operated Conveyor for his application.  This is a 2″ stainless steel Line Vac to move the pecans from the 40LB. bags to the hopper.  If you want to improve your processes, you can log into our Application Database to search our wealth of applications to get an idea of what has been done before.  If you do not find what you need, please contact us, and we can always help you with the information that you are looking for.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb