Tag: welding smoke

Application Spotlight! – Adjustable Air Amplifier Helps in a Messy Situation.

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

Applications spotlights have become a great resource for our customers to “peak” behind the curtain. For this spotlight, let’s talk about Air Amplifiers and cellophane. Cellophane wrapping is a common mid-process way to protect products between steps in the manufacturing process. And even more often, to protect the final product.

When you unwrap the cellophane, it becomes pretty hard to dispose of, it can often be statically charged and not easily tossed in a garbage bin.

A recent customer came to us as they were removing thousands of products from their individual cellophane to bulk pack them for a big box store. This created a huge mess with mountains of trash as tall as the trash can and all over the floor.

Our suggestion was to use an Air Amplifier to carry the trash cellophane away from the unwrapping station to a trash bin with a filtered lid to trap the cellophane. We chose model 6043, 3″ Adjustable Air Amplifier. We chose this method as the Air Amplifier is designed to entrain a very large amount of air at its suction side, allowing the operator to simply get the cellophane near the suction point, and it would be pulled in with the surrounding air.

Mock up of how the station would look. The 6043 has a 3″ ID hose on the outlet that moves the blue cellophane 15 feet to a trash location. The operator in green would just have to get the plastic close and the Air Amplifier does the rest.

In addition to this application and ventilation/exhaust applications, Air Amplifiers can be used – just like our engineered Air Knives and Air Nozzles – as a useful solution for blow off, drying, cleaning, and cooling applications. If you’ve got questions about them (or any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products), give me a call.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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Cellophane wrapped Pastries courtesy of Anthony Easton via creative commons

The Case For Adjustable Air Amplifiers

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

EXAIR Air Amplifiers come in two designs:

  • Super Air Amplifiers come in sizes from 3/4″ to 8″ output flow, and have:
    • A 2-bolt mounting flange that is integral to the body (except the 8″ which has a cast-in handle and feet instead).
    • Replaceable shims to set the compressed air flow and hence, consistent performance.
    • Rugged, aluminum construction.
  • Adjustable Air Amplifiers come in sizes from 3/4″ to 4″ output flow and have:
    • Aluminum or 303SS construction.
    • Quick adjustment by turning the exhaust end into or out of the body to infinitely set compressed air flow and hence, performance.
Super Air Amplifiers (left) can be easily installed using the 2-bolt mounting flange. Adjustable Air Amplifiers are compact & light enough to be supported by supply piping, even using a Swivel Fitting if you like.

Strictly considering air flow performance, there aren’t really any applications where one design will work, and the other won’t. Once the right size is determined, selection comes down to material of construction, how it’ll be installed, where it’ll be installed, and whether it’ll need to be quickly adjusted for flow & force on the device, instead of by regulating the compressed air supply.

I had the pleasure of talking to a caller just this morning about a “textbook” application for an Air Amplifier: welding smoke ventilation.

Maybe instead of a “textbook”, I should call it a “catalog” application because it’s literally the first image you see when you get to the Air Amplifiers section of the EXAIR Catalog.

The caller had an existing 4″ ID hose to place at the point of suction and connect to the Air Amplifier. This narrowed the choices down to the two Air Amplifier products with a 4″ outside diameter on the inlet: Model 120024 4″ Super Air Amplifier, and Model 6043 (or 6033) 3″ Aluminum (or Stainless Steel) Adjustable Air Amplifier. It was to be used in a typical shop environment, so the higher temperature rating (400F or 204C) or superior corrosion resistance of the Stainless Steel construction wasn’t needed. They intended to support it with the suction hose, hose-clamped onto the Air Amplifier itself, so the Super Air Amplifier’s 2-bolt mounting flange wasn’t necessary…in fact, they thought it might even get in the way. So, the Model 6043 3″ Aluminum Adjustable Air Amplifier made it to the top of the list pretty quickly.

Another important consideration for the caller was maximizing the exhaust flow. Looking at the performance data for the 4″ Super Air Amplifier and the 3″ Adjustable Air Amplifier, the latter generates just a little higher total air volume at the outlet, which, when you subtract the compressed air consumption from it, gives you the total flow rate of entrained air (and welding smoke, in this case):

The 730 SCFM Air Volume at Outlet, minus the air consumption of 29.2 SCFM, means that it’s drawing in ~700 SCFM.
Which is not bad.
The 774 SCFM Air Volume at Outlet, minus the air consumption of 29.2 SCFM, means that it’s drawing in ~740 SCFM.
Which is even better.

In addition to ventilation/exhaust applications, Air Amplifiers can be used – just like our engineered Air Knives and Air Nozzles – in blow off, drying, cleaning, and cooling applications. If you’ve got questions about them (or any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products), give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Moving Day

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

This past Saturday morning, some friends and I were invited to a party…a moving party.  Most of us have had them, and most of us have likely hosted them.  In fact, it’s such a popular concept that it has its own bumper sticker:

Yes this is my Truck

Lucky for us (and our backs), there wasn’t anything appreciably heavy – a desk and a couple of dressers were really the worst of it.  As Moving Party Veterans, the relative ease of this move gave us plenty of chances to discuss the pros and cons of various equipment:

Friends’ trucks vs. Rental Truck: if the above bumper sticker doesn’t say enough about this, I’m not sure what will.  Unless you’re moving from your parents’ house to your first apartment, you shouldn’t even consider the former.  It’s not necessarily bad form, however, to ask your friend who shows up with a pickup truck to move, say, your lawn mower in it, so you don’t end up with gas, oil, or grass stains on your mattress.

Dolly vs. Lifting Straps: Appliance dollies are a MUST if you have a washer, dryer, chest freezer, refrigerator, etc., especially if any of those items are going up or down stairs.  They’re not very handy for moving something longer like a piano, though.  For that, nothing beats a good set of lifting straps.  Believe it or not, you don’t have to be a body builder…two able-bodied adults can lift (and carry) quite a bit of weight with them.

Back to the truck…Ramp vs. Lift Gate: The prime consideration here, to me anyway, is the number of heavy objects, and their individual weights.  Yes, a lift gate might be a little slower to run up and down all the time.  You have to leave the truck’s engine running.  There’s only so much you can put on the platform at a time.  But if you have a piano, a gun safe, a giant marble statue (I’ve never had the pleasure of moving one, but here’s an idea: if you can afford one, you can afford to HIRE SOMEONE to move it), then the lift gate is a must, again, to me anyway.

Almost every day at EXAIR, we come across an opportunity to compare and contrast different solutions to an application.  This morning, I had the pleasure of discussing a welding smoke ventilation application with a caller.  He’s currently using an electrically powered blower unit, and, while it’s doing an adequate job, it’s bulky, loud, and if he runs it continuously, it’s also prone to overheating and eventual bearing failure.  He’s testing out a 4” Super Air Amplifier because it addresses each of these concerns:  it’s lightweight and portable, quiet, and, with no moving parts, can run continuously with no ill effects.

Super Air Amplifier

If you have an application that involves moving air, an EXAIR Air Amplifier may be just what you’re looking for.  If you need help moving anything else, I’m busy that day…sorry!

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
(513)671-3322 local
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