Thermal testing has proven that natural convection cooling is not adequate for today’s smaller, high power density enclosures. Heat dissipation by forced convection (fan cooling) is the most frequently used method of cooling. Forced air-cooling systems can provide heat transfer rates that are ten times greater than those achievable with natural convection and radiation, but even this is not adequate to cool faster electronic components when they are located in hostile plant environments.

Corporate sustainability efforts are more important now than ever before. Being aware and proactive in reducing your environmental footprint can not only help the planet, but it can also improve your bottom line. As an industry, we must strive to continuously improve our energy consumption and the impact we have on the world around us.

Operating at maximum production efficiency is a goal many manufacturers strive for. Whether you are a new operation or you have been around for decades, you should always be on the lookout for new ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Below are five ways you can implement air solutions to improve your overall plant productivity.

All manufacturing facilities have downtime, the time when a machine or production line is not creating any output.  The goal is to minimize the unplanned downtime, while maximizing the efficiency of the planned downtime.  Let’s take a look at each type of downtime. 

Our applications engineers often field calls with woes of compressed air products not functioning to their fullest capacity. Many companies struggle with compressed air issues, and we're here to help you through it.

Have you noticed you're not getting the full effect of your compressed air products? Here are some of the first places to check when you are having trouble with air supply.

Air Filters are an important part of maintaining an efficient and effective compressed air system. I have often told customers, “The compressed air product is only as good as the compressed air going into it” in other words: “garbage in-garbage out”. Contaminants in the air can quickly clog up and ruin not only the compressed air device, but also your product that depends on it. Oils, vapors, dust, pollen and other particulates are often found in manufacturing facilities. These contaminants, along with moisture, pipe scale, and rust, can easily be produced or find their way into your compressed air distribution system. Therefore, it’s vital to ensure that you eliminate contaminants where the compressed air is being applied, to prevent problems. Most compressed air systems employ filtration at the outlet of the air compressor. This is essential, however filtration at the point of use is also critical. This ensures that additional moisture, rust, etc. is not present in the compressed air piping system before reaching the intended source/product.

Cold Air Guns and vortex tubes are popular spot cooling products that are used in a wide variety of applications, ranging from cooling cutting tools such as band saw and circular saw blades, router bits, lathe tools, HSS drills and milling cutters used for machining of metals, plastics, paper and wood. They are also commonly used to cool parts, dehumidify gas samples, cool sensors, test thermostats and many other applications where an instant and reliable supply of clean cold air is required. Vortex tubes and Cold Air Guns have no moving parts and use only a clean dry source of compressed air for creating cooling capacities up to 6000 btuh (1758 watts).