In this blog, I would like to turn your attention to our accessories that support our Intelligent Compressed Air® Products; the Filter Separator and the Oil Removing Filter. EXAIR products use compressed air to coat, conserve, cool, convey and clean. So, to keep our products running properly and efficiently, we need to supply them with clean, pressurized air. If we look at the two types of filters that we offer, we can see how they can play an important part in your compressed air system.
Filter separators are used to remove bulk liquid and contamination from the compressed air stream. They have a 5-micron filter and work very well if you get a slug of liquid in your compressed air system. They use mechanical separation to remove the large particles of dirt and water from the air stream.
Most facilities use some type of compressed air dryer in their system to dry and condition the compressed air. But, if a system failure occurs, then water, oil, and dirt can be pushed into the compressed air lines and perhaps into your EXAIR products.
Even if you have good quality air, it is still important to keep your products protected. I would consider the Filter Separator as a minimum level of protection that should be used.
The Oil Removal Filters are used to keep the compressed air even cleaner yet. They work great at removing very small particles of dirt and oil. The 0.03-micron media of the Oil Removal Filter is designed to “coalesce” the fine liquid particles into large droplets.
Thus, allowing gravity to remove it from the compressed air stream. Some common issues allow for dirt and oil particles to collect in “dead” zones within the air lines. As it piles up and grows, portions can break off and get into the air stream affecting pneumatic devices.
The Oil Removal Filter will be able to help eliminate this long-term problem in your compressed air system. As a note, Oil Removal Filters are not great for bulk separation. If you have a system with lots of water, you should use a Filter Separator in front of the Oil Removal Filter to optimize the filtration.
Now that we went through each type, how do we use them together to get the best supply of compressed air? We always want them to be installed upstream of a Regulator. This is because the velocity is lower at higher pressures.
Lower velocities mean lower pressure drops which is great for supplying the proper amount of compressed air to EXAIR products. If you are using a combination of both filters, the Filter Separator will be upstream of the Oil Removal Filter. The Filter Separator will knock down the large particles and liquid slugs allowing the Oil Removal Filter to remove the smaller droplets and particles.
EXAIR offers a range of sizes to help support our products. They range from ¼” NPT ports up to 1 ½” NPT ports. The size of the ports determines the flow rating for each unit. EXAIR also has Mounting Brackets to mount the filters to walls or frames.
To support each type of filter, we have replacement elements and bowl kits. Since the function of the filter is to remove debris, we recommend to change the filter element once a year or when it reaches 10 PSID pressure drop; whichever comes first.
If we can analyze the compressed air systems, I would like to categorize it into a good and premium quality. For the good quality of compressed air, you can have the compressed air run through the Filter Separator. For the premium quality of compressed air, you can have your compressed air run through the Filter Separator and then through the Oil Removal Filter.
With clean quality air, your EXAIR products will provide you with effective, long-lasting performance without maintenance downtime.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb