Meech Air Technology
July 01st 2008

Meech Air Technology has developed a range of products that increase the efficiency of compressed air delivered to the point of application. The aim is to simultaneously reduce total energy consumption and increase operator comfort.

Almost 90% of UK manufacturing industry uses compressed air in some part of its production process. Often however it’s ignored by companies when looking to improve their energy efficiency. Businesses that fail to focus on their compressed air usage are letting a major cost go unchecked.

ENERGY SAVING

To take one example, replacing a 1/4” open air pipe with a Meech Energy Saving Nozzle will immediately reduce compressed air consumption. This could add up to a 70% saving and slash running costs from approximately £3,000 to £500 per year.

The energy saving achieved with Meech products is all based on natural forces of physics that in some cases not only reduce air consumption but increase output by up to 25 times.

COMPLETE RANGE

Meech offer a solution for practically any application that utilizes compressed air. The range is broken into 2 major product groups “air moving equipment” and “cooling equipment”. Both ranges run solely on compressed air, are fully adjustable, have no moving parts and offer significant noise reductions.

All Meech air moving products work on a similar principle, whereby ambient air is used to increase the flow of the compressed air. This is achieved by forcing the compressed air through small slots to create areas of low pressure from which ambient air is entrained and increases the outlet airflow.

The cooling products use a Vortex principle. Ultimately hot air is bled off at one end of the tube and cold air at the other. Controlling the air consumption into the tube allows control of the temperature. A Vortex Tube can produce air up to 50°C below the inlet air temperature.

AIR NOZZLE: “Product pushing/Part ejection”

Manufacturers use Meech Nozzles at inspection workstations to remove substandard items from the production process. By using a solenoid pulse and Air Nozzle the products can be blown off the line with minimal disruption.

AIR AMPLIFIERS: “Product Re-direction”

Pneumatic actuators are used to redirect crisp packets from a conveyor belt to a delivery chute. A high level of failures meant regular replacement of the actuators was necessary, resulting in high cost and machine downtime. Air Amplifiers positioned at the top of the delivery chute produced enough airflow to blow the crisp packets on to the chute. Air Amplifiers have no moving parts and are maintenance free.

AIR CURTAINS: “Product Cooling”

A plastic container manufacturer was suffering major problems when removing the flashing from moulded containers. Because of the heat retained in the containers from the previous moulding process the container walls collapsed when the guillotine was used.

This resulted in high reject rates, loss of profit and high customer dissatisfaction. Air Curtains deliver a high volume of compressed air sufficient to cool the containers. This has allowed the clean removal of the flashing whilst preventing the possibility of the container walls collapsing.

VORTEX TUBE (COLDSTREAM GUN): “Spot Cooling”

Re-cutting saw blades results in high temperatures being generated by friction between the tool and the teeth on the blade. This can result in a reduced lifespan of the cutting tool because of high damage rates and additional expense as the broken blade must be replaced.

A Cold Stream Air Gun positioned over the point of contact between the tool and blade will cool the blade sufficiently to prevent fracturing, snapping or burning.

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