Tag: tube cooling

EXAIR Case Study: Tube Cooling with the Adjustable Spot Cooler!

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

EXAIR has an extensive library of Case Studies for your reference to learn about how our products can help. The library is organized by product, so you can easily find the information and product you are interested in. These case studies summarize how our customers have purchased, used, and benefited from our products and their implementation. These studies focus on our products and our customers’ projects. We keep our customers anonymous and only use photos, details and data that are approved to be shared.
Here is an example of my latest case study!

APPLICATION GOAL: Customer is an OEM who builds 20 automated systems every year. One of the most time-consuming applications is heating and bending Teflon tubes that route fluids around the system. They wanted to speed up the time it took to do this, and increase the accuracy of the bends.

BEFORE EXAIR: When forming Teflon tubing for plumbing runs inside these large processing machines, the tubing needs to be heated with a heat gun to soften the tube to allow for forming. After forming, the tube must cool down to hold its shape. Cooling time can take approximately 6 minutes per bend. Alternatively, ice-water-soaked rags can be used, which may decrease the time down to 2–3 minutes.  However, there is no guarantee that the form will hold at the precise angle and may need to be reformed, which starts the process over again. Also, ice water and rags create a mess and can cause a slipping hazard if dripped on the floor.

AFTER EXAIR: Using the EXAIR Model 3925 Adjustable Dual Spot Cooler System, they were able to decrease the cooling time to under one minute. And due to the dual hose option, it gave them the ability to spread the cold air around the tubes so they did not have to remove them from the fixture while cooling, meaning the tube holds its shape to a greater accuracy.

SUMMARY:  By reducing the cooling time from 6 minutes per bend to approx. 1 minute per, with at least 300 bends per part, we can reduce the production time for each piece of equipment by 25 hours. Producing 20 pieces of equipment per year frees up the equivalent of 20.83 working days.  With an hourly rate average of $26.40, the EXAIR Model 3925 Adjustable Dual Spot Cooler System saves them $660.00 USD per machine in work hours alone! Over the course of one year, that’s a savings of $13,200.00 USD for just work hours. Meaning the ROI is right around the use of the Adjustable Spot Cooler to build one machine.

EXAIR appreciates a good success story. We encourage you to share your successes in using one or more of our products in your application. EXAIR believes in case studies so much, we incentivize our customers’ participation. We will offer a discount to any company who will provide enough information to produce a case study. If you are interested in creating a case study (and saving money) on your next project, please contact one of our Application Engineers. We would be happy to explain the details of working through this process with you.


Jordan Shouse, Application Engineer
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Adjustable Spot Cooler Removes Tackiness from Plastic Tubes

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

Black PVC Tube

A manufacturing plant contacted EXAIR to help them with a “sticky” situation.  This company extruded PVC tubes that would be used as fuel lines on small engines.  Plasticizers are typically used to add flexibility to plastic materials.  For the PVC material above, a plasticizer was added to make it softer and more elastic.  The issue that they saw was the outer surface of the tubes were tacky from the plasticizer and heat which made it difficult to handle in packaging the tubes.

This company extruded many different diameters, but they wanted to target their most difficult size, the smallest tube.  The dimensions were given as 0.187″ (4.7mm) O.D. by .0934″ (2.4mm) I.D., and the feed rate was close to 4 feet/min (1.2 meter/min).  The problem area that they explained was at the end of the production line where the extruded tubes were cut by a blade cutter into 12” (305mm) lengths.  The tubes would then fall into a collection bin for batch processing.  Since the collection bin was setup at a slight upward angle, they wanted the tubes to gather toward one end of the bin.  Since the tubes were still hot and sticking to each other, the operators had to individually handle each tube which was counterproductive and time-consuming.  After our discussions, I suggested that cold air could harden the PVC tube enough by removing heat and help to “set”  the platicizer.  Since they manufactured different sizes and feed rates, we needed to have adjustability as well in our cold air device.

How the Adjustable Spot Cooler Works

One of our most versatile spot cooling instruments is the EXAIR Adjustable Spot Cooler.  This system uses the Vortex Tube technology to convert compressed air into a cold air stream without any moving parts, refrigerants, or motors.  The Adjustable Spot Cooler is a low-cost, reliable, maintenance-free way to give spot cooling for a myriad of industrial applications.  For this customer, this product gave them the versatility that they were needing.

EXAIR stocks these units with either a single or dual point hose kit, a magnetic base, a filter separator, and two additional generators.  The control valve at the end of the unit adjusts the output temperature down to -30 oF (-34 oC) with a turn of a knob.  The generators are specifically engineered to control the amount of compressed air that is used.  Both types of controls will allow this customer to “dial in” the correct cooling capacity for the operation.  The filter separator included with the system will clean the compressed air to keep the unit and the product free of dirt and debris.  The magnetic base which this customer really liked makes the Adjustable Spot Cooler portable for use in different areas.

3925 Adjustable Spot Cooler

I recommended the model 3925 Adjustable Spot Cooler because it had the dual point hose kit to blow cold air on both sides of the tubes.  Since this company had different tube diameters and thicknesses, adjustability was very critical.  If the tubes got too cold, cracks could occur from the blade cutting machine; and, if the tubes were too warm, the tackiness on the surface of the tube would remain.   Once they installed the Adjustable Spot Cooler, this company was able to increase their packaging line for the different size PVC tubes.  Now the operators could reach into the collection bin and grab many aligned tubes instead of individually separating and sorting.

If you have a “sticky” situation, the EXAIR Adjustable Spot Cooler may be a product for you.  The company above was able to have their tubes slide together in the collection bin.  Many applications could be improved by adding cold air.  And, if you have a similar situation, an Application Engineer at EXAIR will be happy to discuss a solution.

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

 

Photo: Black tube by NIMR London.  CC License 2.0

Super Air Wipe Vs. Block Type Air Wipe

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When you need to cool, blow off or dry extruded objects there are several options available, however only the EXAIR Super Air Wipe delivers the performance, efficiency and versatility that most applications require!  In today’s blog we will contrast some of the differences between the EXAIR Super Air Wipe and block type air wipes.

The split-ring design of EXAIR’s Super Air Wipe offers easy clamping around the surface of the material moving through it and eliminates the need for time-consuming, cumbersome threading.  While Block Type Air Wipes are also of split design the diameter of the material drawn through it can typically only vary by approximately 1/16″!  In contrast the EXAIR Super Air Wipe is effective on materials that can range in size from approximately half the throat diameter up to within a fraction of an inch on the internal diameter.  This range can be as large as five to six inches in our largest Super Air Wipes.  The key is to ensure the material does not contact the Super Air Wipe.

Mounting the EXAIR Super Air Wipe is a snap, it can be accomplished by using either the 1/4 – 20 tapped holes on the downstream side or by utilizing a hard pipe compressed air supply line.  The access to these bolt holes makes it easy to change out in the event the production line runs several different sizes. If needed the included stainless steel 1/4-20 bolts can also be removed and longer bolts could be installed to mount from either side.

Connecting the EXAIR Super Air Wipe to your compressed air supply is straightforward.  For sizes up for 4″ throat diameter a stainless steel braided connecting hose is supplied pre-installed from the factory and a single 1/4″ FNPT inlet is used to supply the entire wipe.  For the 5″ up to 7″ throat diameter there is a single 1/4″ FNPT inlet on each half of the wipe which would need to be connected with compressed air.  Lastly, the 9″ and 11″ sizes from stock each have two 1/4″ FNPT inlet on each half of the wipe which would need to be connected to provide the appropriate flow for optimal performance.

split design1
EXAIR Super Air Wipe features hinged design for trouble-free threading

Another very important consideration is the temperature of the material you are running.  EXAIR Aluminum Super Air Wipes are rated for temperatures up to 400°F (204°C) with the Stainless Steel models rated up to 800°F (427°C).    Typically, block air wipes are made from delrin or polypropylene with a replaceable wear liner,  unfortunately these materials do not tolerate higher temperatures like the EXAIR Super Air Wipes.

Super Air Wipe extrusion save
EXAIR Super Air Wipe cooling an extrusion, high temperatures are not a problem!

To explain how the EXAIR Super Air Wipes work, reference the animation below: Compressed air flows through the inlet (1) of the Air Wipe into the annular chamber (2).  It is then throttled through a small ring nozzle (3) at high velocity.  This primary air stream adheres to the Coanda profile (4), which directs down the angled surface of the Air Wipe.  A low pressure is created at the center (5) inducing a high volume flow of surrounding air into the primary airstream.  As the airflow exits the slot, it creates a conical 360° ring of air that will attach to the surface of the material running through it (6) uniformly wiping the entire surface with the high velocity airflow.

sawworksani
How The Super Air Wipe Works

While block style air wipes have a  fixed performance because they operate off a series of non-adjustable drilled holes, the EXAIR Super Air Wipe operates off an adjustable shim design.  As shown in the figure above the shim sets the gap opening of the ring nozzle (3).  The stock thickness of the stainless steel shim is .002″ (.05mm), shims can be stacked to provide a coarse adjustment in volumetric air flow.  Custom shim thicknesses are also available to tailor the performance to your needs.   The shim thickness coupled with a pressure regulator gives the Super Air Wipes adjustability from a gentle breeze to remove light debris or provide cooling all the way up to a forceful blast to remove more viscous fluids or provide quick cooling.

The EXAIR Super Air Wipe is 1.13″ (29mm) thick on all (11) Aluminum models that range in size from 3/8″ (10mm) to 11″ (279mm) throat diameter and all (5) Stainless Steel models that range in size from 1/2″ (50mm) to 4″ (102mm).

Super Air Wipe Family Photo

The Aluminum Super Air Wipe is available in 11 sizes 3/8″, 1/2″, 1″, 2″, 3″, 4″, 5″, 6″, 7″, 9″ & 11″; the Stainless Steel Super Air Wipe comes in 5 sizes, 1/2″, 1″, 2″, 3″ & 4″…all from stock!

So when you need to cool, blow off or dry extruded material or need expert advice on safe, quiet and efficient point of use compressed air products, give us a call.  We would enjoy hearing from you!

Steve Harrison
Application Engineer
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