EXAIR manufactures a variety of different air knives in several different materials of construction. For the purposes of this blog, I’ll be discussing the Standard Air Knife. EXAIR’s Standard Air Knife was the first rendition of the Air Knife family. The Standard Air Knife utilizes what’s known as the Coanda Effect, or the propensity of a fluid to adhere to a curved surface. The airflow from the Standard Air Knife exits the nozzle outlet and ends up perpendicular to the outlet. This air motion that is created also allows the knife to entrain ambient air at a rate of 30:1, 30 parts ambient air to one part compressed air, which maximizes the force while minimizing compressed air consumption.
Due to this air entrainment, air savings of 40%-90% are possible when replacing homemade blowoff devices such as drilled or slotted pipe. Return on your investment is seen typically within weeks rather than months or years.
In addition to significant air savings, the Standard Air Knife also dramatically reduces “wind shear” by gradually introducing the entrained air into the primary airstream. The exiting air is also laminar, not turbulent. These two features help cut noise levels in HALF! With drilled pipes or open tube jets, there’s little to no air amplification and the sound levels are extremely high. These sound levels typically will be far outside of OSHA’s acceptable level of noise for operators. Fines can be handed out by OSHA under directive 29 CFR 1910.95.
The Standard Air Knife is available in lengths from 3”-48” in both aluminum and Type 303SS. They’re an excellent choice for applications such as blowing or removing debris, drying or cooling parts, or environmental separation. ¼ NPT female ports are located at either end of the knife and the force and flow through the knife is adjustable. For gross adjustments to the airflow, we offer shim sets that contain a .001”, .003”, and .004” shim for aluminum or (3) .002” shims for the stainless steel knives. Shims can be stacked together to create even more flow, or in the case of the aluminum knives the .001” shim can be installed to cut the flow and force in half. In addition to offering the shim sets, a pressure regulator can be installed right at the point of use to “dial in” the exact pressure that you need for the application.
If you have drilled or slotted pipe blowoffs in your facility, you’re simply leaving money on the table through high energy costs. Take advantage of the unconditional 30 day guarantee for all stock products and see just how much you can save with EXAIR’s Standard Air Knife.
Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD