Tag: window

Super Ion Air Knife Removes Debris In Vinyl Window And Door Manufacturing

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

I recently worked with a vinyl window and door manufacturer on a static issue they were experiencing during the manufacturing process. After the aluminum frames are cut to length they are placed into a holding fixture where the vinyl seals are placed in a channel inside the frame and clamped together. A machining tool then travels around the parts to trim and machine the excess material, creating dust and some small chips. They tried to vacuum the debris away but were still seeing some residual material cling to the surface due to static, which resulted in manual rework of the parts, slowing down the production cycle.

Vinyl window – similar to the window being produced by the customer

The customer was able to send a drawing of the holding fixture for reference and after reviewing the information, I recommended they use our 18″ Super Ion Air Knife Kit in this application. The Super Ion Air Knife provides a high velocity, laminar sheet of ionized air across the length of the knife. As the positive and negative ions neutralize the surface charge, the airflow is able to clean the part of the unwanted material so it can be more easily vacuumed away. Using the regulator included in the kit, they can reduce the supply pressure to control the outlet flow and velocity to an acceptable level that doesn’t disrupt the current process.

Super Ion Air Knives are available in standard lengths from 3″ up to 108″ and ship from stock.

If you have an application you would like to discuss or are considering an EXAIR product for your process, please contact an application engineer for assistance.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

Vinyl Slider Window with Grid image courtesy of Steve Anderson via Creative Commons License

 

Cooling with an Adjustable Spot Cooler

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

A window manufacturer contacted me about a cooling application. The company made double pane windows, and the process was assembling two panes of glass separated by a seal that is glued in place.  The adhesive is very similar to hot melt glue.  It is sticky and very hot.  The heat from the adhesive was causing the seals, which were precut to the length of the window, to become flexible and stretchy.  As the laborers were laying the seal, they would have extra material, which would have to be cut.  The excessive heat also made it difficult for the seal to lay flat between the windows.  This would cause a visual defect as well as additional labor time for each window.  They were looking at a way to cool the glue enough to allow the laborers to assemble the window as soon as it came out of the adhesive machine without any issues.

The adhesive was laid in a groove with a raised section just above the surface of the window frame. This was to ensure contact with the seal.  The parts were moving roughly 1 foot/second (30cm/second).  When the product came out, the adhesive was at 260 deg. F (127 deg. C).  For this type of cooling application, I suggested the Adjustable Spot Cooler, model 3825.

Adjustable Spot Cooler
Adjustable Spot Cooler

 

The reason for the Adjustable Spot Cooler was because of the need for change in cooling capacity. Cooling is relative, and it depends on the difference in temperature as well as flow rate.  So, if the ambient temperature is cool as during the winter time or very hot during the summer times, the cooling rate will need to change.  The Adjustable Spot Cooler has the ability to change the cooling temperature with a turn of a knob.  With the addition of two generators that come with this kit, generators provide control of the incoming air volume and can be switched out to provide more or less cooling capacity. It also has a magnetic base to make mounting easy by placing the unit on the adhesive machine at the required location.

The window manufacturer was able to adapt the Adjustable Spot Cooler to his application and solved both of their issues. Productivity increased and the defects decreased.  Another problem solved by EXAIR products.  If you run into issues with productivity or defects in your application, you can discuss them with one of our Application Engineers.

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