Goodyear Tire Plants Convert from Old Drying Technology to Paxton’s Centrifugal Blowers.

The world’s largest tire manufacturing facility, rolling out tires 24 x 7, requires the most efficient and up-to-date equipment. That’s why the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s production facilities at Lawton, OK converted to use Paxton Products’ AT-1200 20 hp centrifugal blowers.

Goodyear’s Lawton plant employs over 2,300 workers in a 1.9 million square foot facility. A key part of the tire manufacturing process involves cooling extruded rubber strips with water over a 200 – 300 foot section of the production line. Following the cooling process, the tires must then be rendered 100% moisture free before moving down the line. With a line speed of 60 – 100 feet per minute, the moisture removal system must deliver superior performance and reliability in order to keep the line moving.

Prior to Goodyear’s discovery of the Paxton centrifugal blowers, the plant was experiencing issues with older drying technology slowing down the production line. “Goodyear’s old squirrel cage blowers simply weren’t delivering the necessary power, speed and efficiency in drying the rubber strips,” says Rick Immell, National Sales Manager for Paxton Products. “The old 60 hp fan type blowers generated a lot of air but the air lacked the necessary propulsion and force. Essentially the old style of blowers simply promoted evaporation rather than delivering a blast of air to shear the surface clean of moisture.”

Rapid return on investment was a key factor in the decision of the plant managers to make the switch to Paxton. Immell explains that “The efficiency of our blowers means that Goodyear, like our other customers, achieves significant savings in kilowatts per hour. The old squirrel cage style blowers not only fail to deliver dryness, they also use a lot of electricity.”

Paxton’s superior drying technology

Immell explains that Paxton’s centrifugal blowers are so much more performance- and energy-efficient than common blowers many times their size because they are designed to spin the blower head at 4 to 5 times the motor speed for higher, more efficient air velocity. Typical blowers with their fan or impeller mounted on the end of the motor shaft only spin at the motor’s rpm, failing to take full advantage of the motor’s rated horsepower. Paxton’s centrifugal blowers produce clean, dry and oil-free air flows to 1,200 cfm, pressures to 100” H2O and vacuum to 100” H2O (g) for true peak performance. Immell says that to achieve comparable output, less efficient blowers require 10 - 25% higher rpm which translates to substantially higher wear, maintenance, energy consumption, noise and overall operating cost.

“Our centrifugal blowers also are compact, lightweight (less than 30 lbs. without motor) and they come with an industry-best 3-year warranty as well as our Paxton Performance Guarantee,” says Immell. “If the systems we’ve quoted don’t perform as specified, we will upgrade the system at our expense until it meets or exceeds our customer’s requirements.”

Happy customers = repeat customers

After an initial installation of Paxton’s products in just one portion of the Lawton plant, Goodyear managers rapidly saw the improved drying efficiency and the electrical savings delivered by Paxton’s blowers. Within three months, the company converted the entire Lawton facility to use Paxton’s superior drying technology. Goodyear’s plants in Topeka, KS and Fayetteville, AR soon followed suit.

“At Topeka, Goodyear replaced a 100 psi compressed air drying configuration that was using about 60 fan nozzles and one 36” pipe,” says Immell. “Our centrifugal blower system enhanced their 24 x 7 operations. Although compressed air is relatively inexpensive to install, it is very costly to operate continuously. Compressed air consumes even more electricity than the squirrel cage blowers.”

The Paxton Advantage

Paxton AT-Series Centrifugal Blowers feature top-grade bearings, precision alignment and a proven automatic belt tension system. The state-of-the-art impeller profile allows every Paxton blower to achieve the specified performance level at lower operating speed to reduce energy consumption.

To ensure lower maintenance and longer service life, Paxton blowers have passed stringent, 8,000-hour durability tests required by the U.S. Navy for its nuclear submarine fleet. Every Paxton unit undergoes full performance testing before shipping. Paxton AT- and XT-series blowers are backed by a best-in-class 3-year warranty and Paxton’s unique Performance Guarantee.

Cincinnati-based Paxton Products is a division of the Fortune 200 corporation Illinois Tool Works (ITW). Paxton introduced the first compact centrifugal blowers for industrial applications in the mid-1970s. For over 50 years, Paxton Products has provided superior products, unmatched engineering expertise and an industry-best warranty with a 100% performance guarantee.