In business, visual cues play a key role in creating customer delight and facilitating purchase decisions. While performance & utility of the product is important on one end, aesthetics can in fact make or break your product’s future.  

One such method of “selling an aesthetic experience” to customers is Spray Painting- making it the most prevalent paint application technique due to its versatility and economic viability.  

Compressed air plays a vital role in spray painting and there are multiple methods involved in the spray painting process including Air-atomized applicators, Airless spray, and High-volume, low-pressure (HVLP) spraying.  

Let’s take a look at each of these methods: 

• Air-atomized applicators are highly flexible and can be used on almost any kind of substrate, as the equipment can be adjusted and customized to suit the needs of the operator. Air-atomized applicator consists of a traditional spray gun that combines compressed air with liquid paint to create a pressurized mist that coats the surface.  
• Airless spray propels paint particles at a lower velocity than conventional air-atomized equipment, so there is less loss of paint through overspray. In this method, rather than mixing liquid paint with compressed air, airless application equipment simply forces the liquid coating through a narrow opening to create pressure.  
• In High-volume, Low-pressure (HVLP) technique the paint is released at a lower velocity, yielding less overspray and blowback than conventional air-atomized equipment. The HVLP spray equipment utilizes spray gun atomization technology that propels large quantities of low-pressure air to the gun applicator.  
  

While there are clear visible benefits in Airless and HVLP spraying, they require advanced skill on the part of the operator, making Air-atomized spraying technique the widely preferred one. 

Design of a spray gun 

Paint applied by a spray gun must be even and should not drip, hence the nozzles of spray guns are designed for handling expanding, non-turbulent volume flow with high exit speed.  
Spray guns can also have flat, broad or round spray nozzles to suit different applications.  

Types of spray guns & the compressed air requirement 

Type of spray, consistency and quantity of paint to be applied determines the operating pressure and the nozzle diameter of the spray gun which in turn determines the compressed air requirement. Typically, spray guns require compressed air in the pressure range of 2 to 6 bar with an average air consumption ranging between 10 to 20 cfm.  

Factors to be considered when sizing your compressor: 

A reliable compressor is key to achieving high quality paint finish consistently.  

1. When it comes to sizing air compressors for painting, operating pressure and flow offered by the compressor, are the critical factors to be considered. 
2. The next critical factor to consider is the compressed air quality that the painting application demands. Quality of air is defined based on accepted levels of contaminants such as water, particles and oil. The air produced by any compressor, contains the same substances as the ambient air. This means that apart from dust particles, the RH factor in the ambient air contributes to water vapor and the oil used in the compressor for lubrication purpose also gets carried along with the compressed air. 

It is recommended that the humidity is reduced by drying the compressed air with a refrigerant dryer, and particulate filters are installed, to reduce the amount of dust particles present in the compressed air.  

An activated carbon filter can also be used to ensure there is no oil in the compressed air system. When supplementing other filters with an activated carbon filter, one achieves a quality called “technically oil-free” compressed air. 

ELGi offers a wide range of oil lubricated and oil free Reciprocating and to choose from, along with the downstream equipment to suit vast range of applications. Our extensive network of authorized channel partners across the world can help to choose the best compressor model suiting your painting applications. 

Get in touch with a compressed air expert for your needs here: https://www.elgi.com/in/contact-us/

There are several parameters to keep in mind while buying an air compressor. Apart from deciding the size, rating expressed in CFM (for airflow), and bar (for air pressure), you also have to choose between an oil-free and oil-lubricated system.

The choice depends on the kind of applications where you intend to operate your air compressor. This is why, it is good to understand how these compressed air systems work and the applications that they’re used for.

Compressed air is needed at almost every stage of the manufacturing process, especially in cotton textile industries and the polyester yarn industries. Right from jet weaving to texturizing, winding and dyeing non-woven textiles, wastewater treatment and other processes, air is needed everywhere.

Contact with oil (from the air compressors) can leave grease stains on fabric causing it to darken. Using oil-free compressors not only reduces the chances of rejection but also optimises production with less idle time and extended intervals between servicing.

With a mission of ‘Creating Industrial Energy Savings Through Compressed Air’, the CABP magazine aggregates and presents content on methods to optimize compressed air usage, industry news, and application profiles. The conference aimed to bridge the gap between the suppliers and users of compressed air by introducing the users to best practices. The organizers hosted a fair with multiple vendor stalls and expert breakout sessions.

ELGi displayed its products with site experts engaging customers and distributors. Breakout sessions focused on customer case studies and expert recommendations. Leslie Marshall of General Mills, a large food manufacturer, spoke about the challenges of raising awareness on the true cost of compressed air leaks within a factory.

Pneumatic transport systems offer the advantages of ease of handling and dust-free solutions. Any dry solid that does not tend to stick can be transported using a gas or air. The temperature hardly rises, maybe by 5 degrees Celsius, and so even sensitive materials such as food and medicines can be transported. Typically, the solid is transported as a ‘dilute phase’ at high air or gas speeds of 20 to 30 metres per second. In such an application, most of the energy is spent moving the air itself, which makes it not very energy efficient.

Following the invention of steam engines, they became a popular method to power air compressors. Subsequently, Internal Combustion (IC) engines began to be used as a power source for operating reciprocating air compressors. Later, as larger industries were established, they demanded more efficient compressors capable of running with minimal maintenance and for longer periods. A rotary air compressor was the answer. Both these types of compressors continued to evolve over time and today, they are both highly efficient and technologically well advanced. Conventional reciprocating air compressors though have certain innate limitations; most notable being that the oil used for lubrication is carried along with the compressed air. Filtering removes much of the oil but not all of it. For example; pre-filters, high efficiency coalescing filters and activated carbon filters remove trapped oil to a great extent.

The Past

Established in 1960 in Coimbatore, India, ELGi started off as an air compressor and a garage equipment manufacturing company. Over the years, with strategic collaborations and a relentless focus on research and development, ELGi has made remarkable progress from an importer of technology to a self-reliant manufacturer of compressed air systems.

Throwing some more light on ELGi’s growth story, Dr. Varadaraj stated: “We started like everyone else. Indian companies went to Europe or America and got licenses from top companies. When you get the license, you invariably get post-generational technology. No one will give you the latest one. They will give you the ‘know-how’, meaning they will give you a set of drawings and say this is how you assemble the machine. However they will never tell you ‘why’. As a result, you become a constant slave to imported technology. When we started out in 1994, India was just opening up. We knew that if we go the licensing way, we will reach nowhere. We therefore had to build our own technology. We chose the harder path. From 1994 onwards we have been investing in R&D and latest technology. We learnt the ‘know-why’. We have also learnt the shifts that are taking place. Additionally, we have also learnt the direction of the shift. If you understand the shift and only respond to it, you are a follower. It is only when you learn to preempt the direction of the shift that you become a leader. You can say that we are now at the cusp of being able to lead with the next generation of air compressors.”

The Present

ELGi’s ‘know-why’ attitude has led to the development of some of the most technologically evolved air compressors of our time. Global leadership seems like the logical next step. But before that, ELGi must jump through many proverbial hoops. Debunking myths and preconceived notions about ELGi remains one of the most formidable challenges for the company.

“We have enough evidence to prove that we are at par or better than the best, but that doesn’t mean we are close to what we intend to achieve. Remember the odds that were stacked up against us. For one, ELGi was a relatively unknown brand in international markets. Then there’s always this stigma of a “Made in India” label, which I feel is more of a perception than anything else. It is a perception though, which is gradually changing. So, with all these limitations, in order to be competitive in these markets, being marginally better is not good enough. So that’s really what we are driving at. Customers in these markets can be unforgiving. And if it is an Indian brand, then the forgiveness quotient is even less,” observed Dr. Varadaraj.

Specifically in the Indian market, there is a general view prevailing that the company’s thrust on the textile industry has not been aggressive enough. Competitors have been relatively more direct and assertive about their capabilities.