Tag: venturi

EXAIR Solenoid Valves and Ball Valves

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

EXAIR has been a pioneer in compressed air products for efficiency, safety, and quality.  We have designed our products using some interesting inventors from the past; like Henri Coanda and Giovanni Venturi.  These fluid dynamic engineers found a way to entrain ambient air.  We use these phenomena to increase the efficiency of our products by adding free ambient air to the airstream.  This will create a hard-hitting force without using a lot of compressed air.  Since compressed air is very expensive to produce, it will save you much money when using our blow-off devices.  To save even more money, EXAIR does offer valves to turn off the compressed air supply when not in use.  In this blog, I will go over the types of valves that we have.

The Manual Valves allow operators to turn on and off their system by hand. The full-flow ball valves range from ¼” NPT to 1 1/4” NPT in size and will not restrict flows.  EXAIR also offers a manual foot pedal valve for hands-free operations.  This ¼” NPT foot valve has a 3-way operation and works great if the operator has to use both hands in their process.

EXAIR also offers Solenoid Valves to turn on and off the supply of compressed air electrically for automated systems. We offer Solenoid Valves in three different voltages; 110Vac, 240Vac, and 24Vdc.  They have a large range of flows with ports ranging from ¼” NPT to 1” NPT.  All models are UL listed and are CE and RoHS compliant.

In more elaborate situations, EXAIR has attached these solenoid valves to a miniature PLC-like controller.  It is called the Electronic Flow Control, or EFC.  It uses a photoelectric eye to detect the part and trigger a timing sequence.  We have eight different timing operations to best combine the trigger mechanism with the blow-off device.  This is the next step in optimization, which will keep the compressed air usage to a minimum. 

EXAIR created a chart that shows “Six Steps to Optimizing Your Compressed Air System.”  Even though EXAIR has the most efficient products on the market for pneumatic systems, we still want to help our customers save even more money.  When not in use, the compressed air should be turned off, according to the fourth step.  In this blog, I discussed some products that can assist you with this.  If you wish to discuss further how to optimize your compressed air system, an Application Engineer at EXAIR will be happy to assist you. 

John Ball
Application Engineer


Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Air Amplifiers, Pressure vs Flow

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

At least once a week I get a call about our line of Super Air Amplifiers regarding increasing the air pressure on a compressed air system. Well, the Super Air Amplifiers are perfect at increasing the volume of air you exhaust into an application by increasing the output air flow through entrainment of ambient air along with the primary compressed stream! So, they will increase volume for exhausting to atmosphere, but they do not increase your compressed air system pressure for an application.

But, let’s break the two things down a little further!

EXAIR Super Air Amplifiers!

EXAIR Air Amplifiers are a low-cost way to move air, smoke, fumes and light materials. These Air Amplifiers use the Coanda effect to create a low pressure area which draws in surrounding air to efficiently deliver a high volume of air to a target. Using a small amount of compressed air as their source, Air Amplifiers are among the most efficient products within EXAIR’s entire product line. EXAIR Air Amplifiers will create output flows up to 25 times their air consumption rate and deliver it at a high velocity. The entrainment of outside air amplifies the total volume of air at the output, which also increases force, cooling ability and circulation.

Air Amplifiers use the Coanda Effect to generate high flow with low consumption.

EXAIR’s Air Amplifiers have no moving parts, assuring maintenance-free operation. Fine-tuning flow, vacuum and velocity are easily controlled by regulating the input pressure. For gross adjustment of air flow and vacuum an internal shim is used to increase or decrease the internal “air gap” that the compressed air flows through. Both the vacuum and discharge ends of the Air Amplifier can be ducted, making them ideal for drawing fresh air from another location, or moving smoke and fumes away from an application.

Pressure Boosters

When folks first call in about Air Amplifiers, they generally have in their mind the concept of a pressure booster. Pressure boosters, by comparison, are completely different and are typically more complex systems involving motors or air cylinders in conjunction with feedback and operation controls. Their main job is to increase a baseline pressure in a system to keep low pressure situations from occurring within high value systems or for an unusual case of a pneumatic application that requires pressure higher than the facility, system pressure. For example, in robotic spray booths, the robots and valves require 50 PSIG but if they drop below 20 PSIG, the system can damage itself. A pressure booster can be installed to keep lower pressure systems maintained at a higher pressure for application needs. The systems on which pressure boosters are used tend to be more “closed loop” where a static pressure can be maintained. If a dynamic (moving) higher pressure is required for an application, a booster air compressor intended only for that application may be used to keep the entire facility pressure from having to be raised only to accommodate the one application.

It is my genuine hope that the above explanation regarding EXAIR Air Amplifiers versus air pressure amplifiers (Boosters) is helpful. If you have questions regarding EXAIR Intelligent Air Products please contact myself or one of our Application Engineers as we are always ready to help.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer


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Why doesn’t my “XYZ” work?

Published on by bdwagesLeave a comment
Pic by PoseMuse licensed by Pixabay

You’ve probably been there. You install a new Super Air Knife, or an EasySwitch Wet-Dry Vac (or any other product), and it doesn’t work as we promised. Or it works great for 2-3 years, and now it’s faltering. You have trouble shot everything you know to do. You’ve changed the filters, checked for leaks on the product, checked the connections, but still it is not performing as it was, or how it is supposed to. This is usually when I get the call, and more times than not, the issue is related to the air supply.

Whether this new item isn’t performing, or an older product has been working for 2 weeks, months, or years and stops, we first need to confirm the pressure. First, we need to make sure there is a T and pressure gauge at the point of use. Although psig is only one factor of the air flow, if it is too low (or too high in some cases) that is a definite problem. Without the proper psig, our tools will not function properly. If the psig is sufficient, and our product is not operating as claimed, the next thing we check is the SCFM.

There are a few ways of finding the SCFM…one is very easy and reliable, and the other can get you close enough to realize if there is a problem or not. The easy way is by installing a Digital Flow Meter near the point of use. Although the most reliable, it is not always feasible or cost-effective to have these near every air application in your system.

Without the Flow Meter, we need to start looking for reasons why the SCFM is not there. Whether a new install or an existing one, we need to evaluate the air flow by starting with the basics. Let’s start by identifying how much air your application requires. For instance, a Super Air Knife consumes 2.9 SCFM per inch, so a 48″ Super Air Knife will use 139.2 SCFM (at standard operation), that is equivalent to a 35 HP compressor dedicated solely to this 1 product. Assuming your compressor is large enough to flow this amount of air, we need to see what other products are being utilized in the system as well. Does your overall system have enough air to run each product?

So your compressor is large enough, the next step is to look at your line size. To run 139.2 SCFM, you will need a 3/4″ line and that is if you are within 20 ft of the source (compressor). If you are 150 feet away, you will need 1 1/4″ lines, and so on. This is an issue that pops up often.

The next thing we look for is any type of restrictions on the line. Are your filter and oil separators sized properly? Were there new products / stations added to the line. Is the product itself being maintained properly? Is your Air clean and dry? Are there any other line restrictions that could be interfering with the flow?

If all of these things check out, our last course of action is to get the product back for evaluation. We will tear it apart, many times needing to destroy it to find the cause. But proudly, I must say that we rarely find a manufacturing defect, but we look hard just in case, because we want to know as well. We can usually show you the issue, and find the root cause. Our reputation and quality is the highest in the industry, and it is not something we take lightly. We want to find a defect if it exists, so that we can immediately address them, and head off any future issues.

If you have one of our products that isn’t functioning as you hoped, or just purchased one that isn’t up to par, please look at some of the items mentioned above. And as always, reach out to us and let us help f we can.

Thank you for stopping by,

Brian Wages

Application Engineer

EXAIR Corporation
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Cover photo by gerralt / 25503 and licensed by Pixabay

EXAIR Air Amplifiers Blow Fans out of the Water!

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

EXAIR’s product line contains many products that can be used for cooling. The focus of this blog will be Super Air Amplifiers. These often times get placed in a head-to-head competition with an electric fan. The best part, they easily come out on top.

When looking at the benefits other than performance and rate of cooling due to air entrainment, many customers prefer the Super Air Amplifier due to the fact there are no moving parts. This comes into play when cooling within in a hard-to-reach area or within a harsh process is needed.  Placing an electric motor with a blade held on by fasteners may not be desirable from a maintenance standpoint. The Super Air Amplifiers do not require electricity and there is not a motor or bearings that would need to be replaced or inspected.

Another benefit is the small footprint of the Super Air Amplifier. This can also be seen within the video below where the Air Amplifier is shown is able to produce 341 SCFM (9,650 SLPM) in amplified airflow. Compared to the fan in the video, the amplifier is less than a 1/4 of the size but outperforms the fan in cooling the metal block! This allows users to place a small unit inside a tight area or chamber that requires large volumes of air.  For instance, a rotomolded part that has a large chamber, and it needs surfaces to be cooled in order for the part to hold its shape from the mold rather than warp.  This can also be coupled with the fact that a Super Air Amplifier can be ducted on either the suction or discharge side in order to retrieve cool air or move the warm air out of the area.

Speaking of warm, the Super Air Amplifiers are also manufactured to withstand up to 275 °F (135 °C) from stock.  Stainless Steel and High-temperature models go well beyond that temp, up to 700 °F (374 °C). Custom-designed (flanges and different materials are common) versions are also available with short lead-times.

If you would like to discuss the benefits to a Super Air Amplifier further, feel free to contact us.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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