Tag: ultrasonic

Father’s Day Weekend & Leak Detection

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

In case you didn’t know, yesterday was Father’s Day. In our household, both Father’s Day and Mother’s Day are pretty low-key, and we normally just get some much-needed family time in. This year for Mother’s Day we prepared the patio and outdoor living space at our home for the Summer activities. For Father’s Day, the schedule was a little different. My wife and oldest had a play to go to in the early afternoon and I had a list of repairs to do as well as some recovery from a dodge ball tournament on Saturday. While most of my repairs were things like fixing a leaking hose, unpacking from the tournament, and weeding the garden, I did not have any major repairs on my list which meant I could take the younger two daughters and head to the pool. That ice-cold water definitely helped with the recovery part of my day, so we went. Met the rest of the crew after their show and had some nice ice cream time then home. I was feeling pretty good as my tasks were all completed, and I was going to be able to just enjoy the meal my wife had fixed for dinner and play some games with my girls. Well, the house had other plans, we arrived home to a thermostat that had crept up while we were gone.

Ice from the compressor line in the condensing coil.
While the leak detector wasn’t out, there was no shortage of thermometers being used here along with a slide rule. (Leak Detection had been completed.)

Now, our HVAC system has limped along for probably a decade longer than most, and we continue to regularly maintain it. This is a true testament to how well preventative maintenance can truly expand the life of an item. Needless to say, during my routine inspection and maintenance at the start of the year, we found the unit was low on refrigerant. One of the first steps we performed when we saw it was starting to freeze up was to begin testing for leaks. This task takes a special gas detection meter that will sniff out the refrigerant vs. just air movement. Sure enough, we found a corroded joint in the A-Coil that has developed a fairly considerable leak. This tool made me think of the Ultrasonic Leak Detector that we sell here at EXAIR. It also made me start to correlate how a leak in a refrigeration system can cause the entire process to ice over because there isn’t enough refrigerant present and so the entire system begins to work harder and harder and the coil temp drops below freezing. The humidity in the air begins to collect on the A-Coil inside the house because the coil is so much cooler than the humid air around it and the ice starts to form. Once the ice forms you restrict the airflow through the coil which causes more ice to form and eventually no airflow happens and the entire compressor line will freeze. This often can lead to other failed parts if not discovered early enough. How is this like a compressed air system?

Well, leaks in a compressed air system cause the compressor to work overtime. It drops efficiency within the other items in the system which creates a lack of performance and potentially shuts down the system. Leaks can be found by utilizing a less specialized, Ultrasonic Leak Detector which can be seen in operation in the video below. Fixing these leaks can easily put capacity back in and save additional maintenance and replacement costs.

If you want to discuss how the Ultrasonic Leak Detector can save you money and costly shutdowns, contact an application engineer today.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Intelligent Compressed Air®: Common Compressor Room Mistakes, And How To Avoid Them

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

While we don’t sell, install, or service air compressors, EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products run on compressed air, so helping you get the most out of your compressed air system is important to us. Today, we’re starting where it all begins: the compressor room.

Some of the mistakes that are commonly made in the compressor room are by design, and others are operational. My colleague Tyler Daniel wrote a great blog on design considerations recently, so I’m going to focus on the operational aspects, which include maintenance…and maybe some minor design stuff:

  • Poor ventilation: Air compressors get hot. They’ve got a lot of moving parts, and many of those parts are moving under a great amount of force (pressure is literally defined as force per unit area), and at a high rate of speed. Add in the heat of compression (it takes energy to compress air, and that energy has to go somewhere, something another colleague, John Ball, explains here), to all that friction and you come up with a TREMENDOUS amount of heat. An industry thumbrule, in fact, states that over 2500 Btu/hr of heat is generated, PER HORSEPOWER, by a typical industrial air compressor. If the compressor room isn’t big enough, you’ll need an exhaust fan capable of removing all that heat.
  • Lack of filtration: Take a good, full breath in through your nose, right now. Did you smell anything unpleasant or irritating? I hope not…clean air is a “must” for your lungs (and the rest of your body), and the same is true for your air compressor (and the rest of your compressed air system). Keeping up with the maintenance on the intake filter is literally “starting where it all begins”…from the 1st paragraph.
  • Not removing moisture: Water & water vapor will have an adverse effect on many components of your compressed air system: it’ll cause rust in iron pipes, damage the seals in air cylinders, motors, tools, etc., and if you use it for blow off or conveying, it’ll contaminate your product. We’ve written…again and again…about the importance of dryers, and which type might be best for you.
  • Tolerating leaks: The compressor room is loud, so leaks are going to be pretty big before you can hear them. And to add insult to injury, the vibration of a running compressor makes the compressor room a prime location for them to occur. Even one small leak that you couldn’t hear in a quieter area will cost you over $100 over the course of the year, and maybe only take minutes to fix. Good news is, even if you can’t hear them, they ALL make an ultrasonic signature, and we’ve got something for that.
EXAIR Model 9061 Ultrasonic Leak Detector “finds them all, big or small!”
  • Ignoring maintenance. If you don’t schedule planned maintenance, your equipment will schedule corrective maintenance for you…oftentimes at greater expense, and with no regard to your schedule.
    • Moving metal parts that make metal-to-metal contact (or that have very tight spacing tolerances) HAVE to be lubricated properly. If you run low on oil, or let it get dirty or emulsified, severe damage will follow. Keeping an eye on the oil level, and changing it (and the filter) at the manufacturer’s recommended intervals, is critical.
    • Emulsified or otherwise contaminated oil can damage seals, gaskets, and o-rings. That’s obviously a big problem for the compressor, and when it carries over into the header, it’s a big problem for pneumatic cylinders & tools as well. Periodic sampling & analysis of your oil can provide timely notice of issues that can be corrected before they become catastrophic failures.
    • Depending on the type of compressor, and its drive system, the manufacturer’s maintenance recommendations may also include:
      • Checking coupling or belt alignment of the drive.
      • Checking bolts for loosening due to vibration (a “necessary evil”, especially with reciprocating compressors).
      • Adjusting the pistons to maintain valve plate clearance.
      • Tightening or replacing the mounts & vibration pads.

If you’d like to find out more about how EXAIR Corporation can help you get the most out of your compressed air system, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Image courtesy of PEO ACWA Some rights reserved Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

The Basics of a Compressed Air Leak Detection Program

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

It is no surprise that compressed air can be a costly utility for industrial facilities. It can easily chip away at the bottom line finances if used carelessly and without planning. This is one of the leading reasons we have educated continuously on how to ensure this vital utility is used with safety and conservation in mind. If we have installed all engineered solutions at the point of use throughout a facility, there is still more to be saved. One of the easiest things to do with a utility system inside of a facility is to leave it unchecked and undocumented until something goes wrong. This does not have to be the scenario and in fact, starting a leak detection program in a facility can help to save up to 30% of the compressed air generated.

Leaks cost money!

That’s right, up to 30% of the compressed air being generated in an industrial facility can be exhausting out to ambient through leaks that run rampant throughout the facility. When the point of use production is still working fine, then these sorts of leaks go unnoticed. Another common occurrence goes something like this example: Maybe there is a leak bad enough to drop the packaging line pressure slightly, this may get fixed by bumping up a pressure regulator, production is back up and it is never thought of again. In all actuality this is affecting the production more and more with each leak.

The leaks add additional load onto the supply side. The compressor has to generate more air, the dryer needs to process more air, the auto drains dump more moisture, it all ads up to additional wear and tear also known as false load. All of this additional load on the system can add more maintenance which if left undone can result in system shut downs. One way to begin to eliminate this false load is to deploy a leak detection program. The steps are fairly easy.

Similar to our 6 Steps to Compressed Air Optimization, you start with a baseline of how much air the system is seeing and operating pressures. This begins the documentation process which is critical to the success of the program. Next, acquire an ultrasonic leak detector (ULD) and a layout of your compressed air system piping. Utilizing the ULD, test all compressed air piping along with equipment, and tag each leak that is detected. Next, begin to repair all of the tagged leaks and document the amount of compressed air savings with each repair. This again, is more documentation which leads to giving a quantitative value to the return on investment of the program. Lastly, schedule a follow up scan that recurs on a pre-determined basis to prevent the system from returning to it’s original leaky state.

EXAIR Ultrasonic Leak Detector

If you would like to discuss starting a leak detection program in your facility or have questions about the ULD or any point of use compressed air product, please reach out to an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

EXAIR Mini Cooler™: Overview 

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
EXAIR Mini Coolers

EXAIR offers a line of spot cooling devices to blow cold air to remove heat.  Heat can cause premature failures and shortened tool life.  We use the Vortex Tube phenomenon to make very cold air without any moving parts or Freon.  They only need compressed air as the “engine” to spin the air streams into two parts; hot air and cold air.  They are maintenance free and can supply cold air down to a temperature of -50oF (-46oC).  EXAIR “dresses up” a Vortex Tube to make a more functional device for spot cooling.  In this blog, I will cover the smallest of our spot coolers; the Mini Cooler™.   

The EXAIR Mini Cooler was designed for tight areas to cool small objects.  It has a cooling capacity of 550 BTU/hr (139Kcal/hr).  It only uses 8 SCFM (227 SLPM) at 100 PSIG (6.9 bar).  The system will come with a manual drain Filter Separator with mounting bracket, a Swivel Magnetic Base with 100 lb. (45.5Kg) pull magnet, and a flexible hose kit.  We offer two options for the flexible hose kit; a Single Point Hose Kit, model 3808, and a Dual Point Hose Kit, model 3308.  The Single Point Hose Kit will give you one flexible outlet to easily position the cold air stream near the target point.  It will also include a round point tip and a flat-fan tip.  The Dual Point Hose Kit adds a split to have two separate cold outlets; still including the round and flat-fan tips.  With these features, the Mini Cooler is easy to mount, use, and move for optimal cooling and blowing. 

Model 3308

When using the Mini Cooler, the flexible cold outlets can easily bend around fixtures, spindles, and welding horns.  The swivel magnetic base gives extra adjustment at the base of the cooler to aid in “hard to reach” places.   To further the benefits of the cooler, the operating pressure can be changed to lower or raise the cooling capacity to meet your demands.  At 100 PSIG (6.9 bar), the cold air flow can reach a temperature as low as 20oF (-7oC).

Some applications for the Mini Cooler would include small diameter milling and drilling where the cold air can keep the tool cool and remove the chips.  It can also be used for soldering, industrial sewing, ultrasonic welding, or even small punching applications to list a few.  With the dual point hose kit, it is ideal for targeting two sides of a cutter, aiming at multiple blades where material is being slit, or cooling multiple ultrasonic points for faster cycle times.

If you believe that you have an application where spot cooling could increase production rates and/or extend tool life, you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR.  We can offer the Mini Cooler for smaller targets; or, larger versions like the Adjustable Spot Cooler and Cold Gun Aircoolant System™.  We are looking forward to hearing from you.

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