In today’s market, the cost of consumable products are on the rise; especially with paints, oils, and yes, even the cost of water. You can help alleviate some of that cost by being more efficient when spraying. The EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles are designed to accomplish this objective of saving fluid. With the help of compressed air, the liquid can be sheared into smaller micron-sized droplets. For reference, if the radius of a particle is reduced by one-half, this will increase the number of droplets by eight. With smaller diameter particles, the surface area and coverage will increase; thus, reducing the liquid requirement in your application. EXAIR manufactures three families of Atomizing Nozzles; Internal Mix, External Mix, and the Siphon Fed in three different body sizes to accommodate for the different liquid flow rates. In this blog, I will be discussing the Internal Mix Atomizing Nozzles with two specific spray patterns; the Deflected Flat Fan and the 360o Hollow Circular Pattern.
To start, the Internal Mix Atomizing Nozzles are designed; like the name suggests, to atomize the liquid inside the nozzle. The pressurized liquid and compressed air are separated until they get into the “mixing” chamber. The mixing chamber is created by two types of caps; a liquid cap and an air cap. The liquid cap is designed to create a high velocity air stream to “break” up a small liquid droplet. The air cap is then used to create the spray pattern for applying the liquid material more effectively. The Deflected Flat Fan and the 360o Hollow Circular Pattern are the air caps.
The model AD1010SS, deflected flat fan atomizing spray nozzle, sprays small micron-sized particles at a right angle. This type of air cap works very well to direct the atomized fluid like paints and coasting onto surfaces. These nozzles are also useful for spraying liquids in close quarters like inside ductwork or enclosures. The viscosity of the pressurized liquid has to be under 300 CPS, and it can spray as much as 6.9 GPH (26 LPH) of fluid. The model AD1010SS has ¼” NPT inlets and has a manual liquid valve to precisely control the amount of fluid being sprayed to eliminate any runs. EXAIR also offers a No-Drip option with this Atomizing Nozzle; model AD2010SS. This option will not allow the liquid to drip from the nozzle when not in use. This is a great option for reducing liquid waste from drips and for intermittent spraying. If a right-angle spray pattern is required, both models will work well to accomplish this.
The 360o Hollow Circular Pattern Internal Mix Atomizing Nozzle sprays the atomized liquid outward in all directions. This works well for applications where wide areas are needed to be covered. It can also be used inside pipes and ductwork that needs to be covered around the circumference. With liquid water applications, they are the primary atomizing nozzles for humidification and dust suppression. The small particles of water can be sprayed in the ambient air to increase the relative humidity as well as “clinging” to dust particles to weigh them down. This type of atomizing nozzle is manufactured in two types of body styles; the AT1010SS, ¼” NPT inlets, and the AT5010SS, ½” NPT inlets. The AT1010SS has a maximum spray volume of 14.7 GPH (55.7 LPH) while the AT5010SS has a maximum spray volume of 150 GPH (568 LPH). The unique design of the air cap creates a very wide spray diameter up to 53” (135 cm) for the AT1010SS and 156” (396 cm) for the AT5010SS. As with the Deflected Flat Fan, these atomizing nozzles are available with the No-Drip option; AT2010SS and AT6010SS respectively.
If you need to maximize your liquid dispersion and minimize liquid consumption, the EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles are the products to use. With the Deflected Flat Fan and 360o Hollow Circular Pattern, we can direct the spray patterns to better suite your application. If you require any additional information on these nozzles or any of the other EXAIR Atomizing Nozzles, an Application Engineer will be happy to help you.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb