Air chucks are essential tools in various industries, particularly in automotive, manufacturing, construction, and agriculture. They serve the purpose of connecting air hoses to tyres or pneumatic systems, allowing for the efficient inflation or deflation of these components. When it comes to air chucks, there are two primary designs: open flow and closed flow. In this blog post, we will delve into the differences between these two designs, their advantages, and when each type is most suitable.
Open Flow Air Chuck
An Open Flow Air Chuck allows for a free flow of air through the air chuck at all times, while connected and disconnected from the tyre valve.
Application for Open Flow Air Chucks
Open Flow Air Chucks are generally used with automatic tyre inflators, manual tyre inflators and portable inflator gauges. In all these applications it is necessary for the air line between the inflator unit and the air chuck to be vented back to atmospheric pressure once disconnected from the tyre valve.
Digital auto tyre inflators in particularly need to “vent’ back to ambient pressure after disconnection which signals the unit to reset and be ready for the next tyre to be inflated. The inability to vent the line will force the inflator into an error mode.
Closed Flow Air Chuck
Closed Flow Air Chucks only allow air to flow through the air chuck when attached to the tyre valve, once disconnected from the tyre valve the flow of air is shutoff by means of a poppet valve mechanism within the air chuck.
Application for Closed Flow Air Chucks
Closed Flow Air Chucks are generally used for direct coupling to a regulated air supply as air flows through the air chuck only when attached to the tyre valve. This allows the air chuck to be connected directly to a pressurised airline without the use of a control valve. As the air chuck is connected to the tyre valve the internal poppet valve mechanism is opened and the bi-directional flow of air is allowed between the airline and the tyre. When the air chuck is disconnected from the tyre valve the flow of air from the airline is immediately shutoff.
Users should be cautioned in this application that the pressure in the airline must be regulated to the desired inflation pressure of the tyre to avoid over inflation.
Choosing the Right Air Chuck
The choice between an open and closed flow air chuck largely depends on the specific application:
Open Flow: Used with automatic tyre inflators, manual tyre inflators and portable inflator gauges.
Closed Flow: Used for direct coupling to a regulated air supply as air flows through the air chuck only when attached to the tyre valve.
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