Electronics manufacturing uses significant amounts of compressed air and nitrogen. Buying these work gases is expensive, and liquid nitrogen isn’t ideal because the tanks are small and the nitrogen must continuously boil off. That’s why it’s important to find smart, cost-effective alternatives.
Compressed Air Production
At Z-AXIS, we produce our own compressed air with a 15-horsepower reciprocating compressor and a 30-horsepower screw compressor. They’re housed in a separate building and send compressed air through a 1-inch line that runs throughout our manufacturing facility.
The screw compressor is more powerful, but it’s also more versatile since it’s capable of variable speeds. It has a 10:1 modulation and can produce 3 to 30 horsepower, depending on demand. When the reciprocating compressor can’t keep up, the switchover to the screw compressor happens automatically.
At Z-AXIS, compressed air is needed for wave soldering, selective soldering, stencil printing, three-axis milling, and with radial insertion and hand tools. Compressed air is also used by our nitrogen generator, which removes the oxygen, moisture, and trace elements from air to produce nitrogen that’s 99.999% pure.
Generating High-Purity Nitrogen
High-purity nitrogen is critical for soldering because solder that oxidizes can cause dross, a form of waste. More importantly, dross would clog our selective solder nozzles and provide poor solder joints.
At Z-AXIS, our nitrogen generator has two tanks and a footprint that’s 6 ft. square and 10 ft. high. With dual tanks, we can draw off one and pressurize the other. Each tank contains resin beads and is pressurized to a high PSI. The beads are protected by oil filters and contain tiny pores that maximize the surface area for gas adsorption.
When the pressure inside the tank is reduced, the nitrogen remains and pure oxygen is vented into the plant. We need our nitrogen generator for selective soldering, and it’s extremely dependable since there aren’t any parts that can wear out other than valves that open and close.
When the nitrogen generator isn’t running, our 15-horsepower reciprocating compressor can keep up with demand and turns on infrequently. Even when it comes to making air, Z-AXIS finds ways to do things more efficiently.