
All About Air Cannons
By Joel W Hawbaker

All About Air CannonsFeb 07, 2023

Ep 6 - Young Heads and New Ideas with Connor Shelton
This episode's guest is Connor Shelton!
Connor Shelton is a graduate of Jacksonville State University with a degree in business management and his three-year career has been focused on air cannons. During this time he has one patent and one patent pending related to air cannons. He’s been involved in a countless number of different air cannon installations including the largest air cannon installation in power generation.

Ep 5 - A Quarter-century of Air Cannon Expertise, with Peter Klee
Today our guest is Peter Klee of IGS!
Peter spent 24 years as an Engineer for Martin Engineering in their European Headquarters in Germany. While there, air cannons were his focus, and he spent 5 years working on procurement and logistics and 15 years as a product manager for air cannons in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Russia where he worked with product development, procurement, customer complaints, project management and engineering, and support for various Martin branches and distributors.
He developed a patented automatic blast guard (or Thermo Safety Shield), developed the Martin Smart Nozzle design, and worked with project development for the largest air cannon order to date for Martin in 2011. Still based in Europe, Peter has been with IGS as an air cannon consultant since 2020, with a focus on product development and business development.

Episode 4 - Air Cannon Construction with Derrick McDaniel of DWS
Derreck McDaniel is an owner of DWS in Attalla, AL, and he has been building air cannons for eight years. Today he shared his experience and learning with us!
Keys to keeping them operating well:
1) Protect from the environment (especially heat and material getting back into the air cannons)
2) Regular maintenance

Ep 3 - Air Cannon Nozzles and Applications with Troy Langley
In this episode we interviewed Troy Langley, founder and Executive Director of Refcon Specialist Group.
In this episode, we discussed:
1. Various air cannon applications
2. The importance of matching the right nozzle to the right application
3. Why volume is a key consideration for each application
and more!
To find out more about Troy Langley and his work, check out his website at https://www.refconsg.com/ or contact him directly by emailing him at info@refconsg.com.

Ep 2 - Air Cannon and Nozzle Development with Chris Landers
In this episode, we interview Chris Landers, who currently works for IGS and also worked for Halcyon Technologies and Martin Engineering. He has sold air cannons in Canada, the US, and Mexico, and he has held a variety of patents for air cannon technology.
Because of his experience working with different air cannon companies, each of which has differing philosophies about how to use air cannons, Chris has a unique perspective on them.
Quotes from the episode:
"Just about all air cannons work well, if you apply them correctly and maintain them."
"Factor in the volume of the blast and the shape of the blast."
"Air cannons are often a necessity, but they are rarely treated as a priority."
"Find ways to make the air cannon accessible...and to apply them correctly, in order to minimize the number needed."
Integrated Global Services, IGS - Your Efficiency and Reliability Partner

Episode 1 - Air Cannon Basics with Jeff Shelton
In this episode, our guest expert is Jeff Shelton, president of Dracyon Corp and internationally recognized air cannon expert. In the past, Jeff has created and sold two companies, Halcyon Technologies and Drayton Corp, and he has also spent time working for IGS and Martin Engineering. He holds several patents for developing various pieces of air cannon technology, and he has sold air cannons in over 20 different countries and on every continent except Antarctica. He has been interviewed in multiple international publications about air cannon applications, and he is recognized all over the world for his expertise. Lastly, he is currently at work writing what will be the definitive book on air cannons and their various applications.
Show notes:
Find out more about Jeff and his company at www.dracyoncorp.com
Quotes:
Nozzles are the great equalizer.
You can't solve today's problems with technology from the 1970s and 80s.
3 Keys to Air Cannons:
1) It doesn't matter how reliable your air cannon is if it isn't cleaning.
2) It doesn't matter how powerful your air cannon is if it isn't working.
3) If it's worth purchasing an air cannon, make sure that you can perform maintenance on the air cannon.
The #1 factor in keeping an air cannon functioning well is protecting your air cannon from the harsh environment in which it is installed.