Tag: wire wipe

EXAIR’s Super Air Wipes vs Homemade Solutions For 360° Blowoff

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

I recently had the pleasure of working with a customer who needed a more efficient and effective solution for drying pre-stressed concrete (PC) steel wire strands after coating with a rust inhibitor. They were using a homemade device in the current process. The homemade block consisted of two separate pieces to permit them to open it up and thread a new strand in without having to feed all the way through the device. Maintaining this ability was critical to them in their process. Fortunately, EXAIR’s Super Air Wipe utilizes a split design that easily unlatches to accommodate their request.

Simply open the two halves and clamp them around your product!! No threading needed!

The current solution was using far too much compressed air and causing pressure drops for their other processes. A review of their complete compressed air system identified these devices to be the highest consuming products that they had in the facility. The diameter of the strands ranged anywhere from 7mm-12mm, making our 1” ID Super Air Wipe an ideal fit for each size.

Customer’s homemade “block” style air wipe

After implementation of the Model 2401 Super Air Wipe, low pressure alarms in their other processes stopped and they were able to operate without any further issues. In addition to removing the periodic shutdowns, the sound level from the Super Air Wipe was significantly less than the homemade device, likely due to all of that unnecessary air!! While this wasn’t even a factor they’d considered, the operators are now able to operate without the need for hearing protection as the sound level had been reduced to 80 dBA, well within the safe standard for maximum allowable noise exposure as outlined by OSHA 1910.95(a). With the Super Air Wipe in place, they were able to save on compressed air, increase productivity due to the elimination of low-pressure alarms, and were able to improve the safety of the process for their operators. Not bad for a day’s work!

The Super Air Wipe provides a uniform 360° laminar airflow for blowing off, drying, cleaning, and cooling a wide variety of pipe, cable, extruded shapes, hose, and wire. Its split design allows it to be easily clamped around the surface of the material without having to “feed” the material through. If you’re processing any type of hose, wire, or extruded shapes that could benefit from installing a Super Air Wipe give us a call. With all sizes shipping from stock on an order received by 2:00 pm ET we can have one to you as early as tomorrow!

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

What’s So Super About EXAIR’s Super Air Wipe?

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

When you’re blowing something off with compressed air, one of the first things you want to consider is the size, and shape, of the air flow that’s going to be needed to get the job done. If you’re blowing off individual small parts, we’ve got a variety of Super Air Nozzles that will do the job quietly and efficiently. If it’s a flat plate, sheet, or film, the laminar flow from a Super Air Knife is particularly conducive to creating a stripping/sweeping flow of air, ideal from blowing moisture or debris from flat surfaces.

Let’s say you need to blow off an object from all sides…like a length of hose, tube or pipe, or even an extruded shape. You could position an array of Air Nozzles, Air Knives, or Air Amplifiers around it (there ARE times when that makes sense, but that’s a subject for another day)…or, you could pass it through an Air Wipe.

EXAIR Air Wipe products come in a range of sizes – 3/8″ to 11″ – all of which have a split design, which unlatches easily to eliminate the hassle of having to thread the product through them. Air Wipes up to the 4″ size come with a hose assembly that connects the two halves, so you just need to run one air line to them. If you want to make gross adjustments to the flow & force generated, we offer additional shims, which are easily installed to put the Air Wipe into a whole new range of performance.

These also come in two types: Super, and Standard, Air Wipes. Size for size, performance & dimensions are identical. The difference is all about the materials of construction and temperature ratings. Which one we specify will largely come down to the nature of the environment in which they’ll be installed. In the absence of high heat, or corrosive elements in the environment, the Standard Air Wipe is my recommendation all day, every day. If you need something that’ll stand up to a bit more aggressive conditions, the Super Air Wipes are certainly worth a look.

Additionally, the Super Air Wipes can be fitted with emitter points for static elimination…we call those Super Ion Air Wipes, and they come in 2″ and 4″ sizes.

360° blow off AND fast, efficient static dissipation: EXAIR Super Ion Air Wipe.

EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products are the best choice for quiet, safe, and efficient use of your compressed air. If you’ve got a blow off application you’d like to discuss, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Standard Air Wipes™ Clean Agriculture Drain Pipes

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
Standard Air Wipe Family

Being in Ohio, I have gone by many farmlands with rolls of black polyethylene tubes in the fields.   They use these tubes to place in the ground to create proper drainage in the fields. A manufacturer of these agricultural drain pipes sent me a video of their operation.  After the pipe was extruded, they would run it through a wash system to cool the pipe.  After the wash system, they needed to remove the water from a 4” (102mm) diameter pipe at a speed of 70 feet per minute (21 meters per minute).  They designed a home-made device that used a blower-system to blow the water off the pipe (reference photo below).  Since the pipe had ribs and the blower system is at a much lower force, the removal rate of water was only around 75%.  They needed a way to get the pipe dryer before packaging. 

This company made plastic pipe ranging from 4” (102mm) to 10” (254mm) in diameter.  When they searched for pipe and tube blow-off devices, they came across the Standard Air Wipes from EXAIR.  The design of the Standard Air Wipe blows compressed air at a 30-degree angle toward the center in a 360-degree air pattern, just like a cone.  It uses a Coanda profile to maximize the entrainment of ambient air into the compressed air stream to produce a strong force.  As a non-contact wiping device; the Standard Air Wipe is very efficient and very powerful. 

For this application, I recommended the model 2485 5” Standard Air Wipe Kit.  This kit includes our Standard Air Wipe, a Filter Separator, a Regulator, and a Shim Set.  With a ½” or 13mm clearance, it gave ample room to allow the 4” (102mm) pipe to travel through without touching and to allow for ambient air entrainment.  The Filter Separator will remove bulk liquids and debris from the compressed air to keep the unit performing optimally and to keep the pipe from getting dirty.  The Regulator is used to control the amount of force.  This helps to not over-use the amount of compressed air required for the cleaning.  With a Regulator, you can make fine adjustments to get the proper amount of air while the shims in the Shim Set will give you coarse adjustments.  With the Regulator and Shim Set together, you can “dial” in the correct amount of force required for the different speeds.  The Standard Air Wipe Kits will give you the most versatility in your system to optimize the 360-degree blow-off. 

As they removed their home-made unit and attached the Super Air Wipe, they noticed some great things.  The speed of production was increased by about 10% which matched the maximum speed of the machine.  The water removal from the surface was near 100% even in the rib area.  (Some acceptable “overlaps” in the extrusion process was cleared by QC).  They also noticed that the Standard Air Wipe was much quieter; near 82 dBA at 80 PSIG (5.5 bar).  The nearby operators were very happy with this choice as the blower-type system was very loud.  And, with no moving parts, the Air Wipe was able to remove the maintenance requirements for the blower system and used a much smaller footprint.  Also, we use a split design to mount the Standard Air Wipe around the outside of the pipe without cutting into the extruded lengths.

With the creation of the EXAIR Standard Air Wipes; uniform cleaning, cooling, and blowing around the outside of parts is a simple task.  You don’t have to worry about many nozzles to target the circumference, or a fabricated blow-off device that will waste time and money.  At EXAIR, we offer a 30-day unconditional guarantee for U.S. and Canadian customers.  This customer used the 30-day trial to try the Standard Air Wipe.  After the testing, they will now purchase the model 2491 11” Standard Air Wipe Kit for their largest pipe.  You can order them from our website at www.EXAIR.com or call us at 800-903-9247.  If you need help in selecting the proper size for your application, you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR for help. 

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

Custom 6″ Super Air Wipe Solves Moisture Problem for Food Packaging Manufacturer

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

At EXAIR, we will never shy away from an application just because we don’t have something on the shelf ready to go from stock. We pride ourselves in the ability to provide a custom solution for an application that requires it. Just because you don’t see something in the catalog doesn’t mean we can’t make it happen! This was the case recently with a customer that manufactures food vacuum packaging machines.

A piece of the bag material is extruded, washed, and then filled with product. After the material is extruded it enters a water-cooling bath just before being inflated. The customer needed a solution for blowing off this excess water before opening the bag and packaging the finished products.

They designed a series of nozzles in a ring to provide a flow of compressed air to remove the residual water after the cooling bath. This worked for the most part, but was not effective at completely removing all of the moisture. After searching online, they came across the EXAIR Super Air Wipe. The Super Air Wipe was the exact tool they were looking for, providing a 360° laminar airflow around the full exterior of the bag. The only problem was that space was severely limited. To allow it to fit in their machine, we manufactured a special 6” Super Air Wipe with a reduced overall footprint and countersunk bolts to fit perfectly. Since air consumption was a concern, we installed a .001” shim to cut the total volume of compressed air needed in half!

EXAIR offers a line of Super Air Wipes available to ship same day from stock as well. The Super Air Wipe is available in aluminum construction in sizes ranging from 3/8” – 11” in diameters. All Super Air Wipes come with stainless steel hardware and stainless steel shims. Sizes up to 4” include a brass tee that supplies one half of the Super Air Wipe while a stainless steel wire braided hose supplies the other side. Sizes over 4” should be piped directly to each ¼ NPT compressed air inlet. In addition to aluminum construction, the Super Air Wipe is also available in 303 stainless steel for corrosive or high temperature applications. The Stainless Steel Super Air Wipe can withstand temperatures up to 800°F and is available in sizes from ½”-4” from stock.

If you’re processing any type of hose, wire, or extruded shapes that could benefit from installing a Super Air Wipe give us a call. With all sizes shipping from stock on an order received by 2:00 pm EDT we can have one to you as early as tomorrow!

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD