Here at EXAIR, Coandă is a household name that can be heard on any given day multiple times throughout the day. The Coandă effect is fairly easy to visualize with a ligthweight ball and some high velocity airflow. Take the video below for example. This 2″ Super Air Amplifier on a stand powered at 40 psig at the inlet easily lifts this hollow plastic ball and then suspends the ball due to the Coandă effect.
If you were able to see the airflow, you would see it impacting the surface of the sphere at all different points then following the profile of the sphere until it colides with itself and is forced to separate off the surface. The turbulent flow on the top is creating a downward pressure as well. The science behind this was all found and showcased by Henri Coandă. He showcased this with a propulsion device which used a domed hood with airflow to follow the curvature of the dome then exit off the sharp edge or where the separate air streams began to recombine causing a turbulent / low pressure area depending on the angle.
This stream of air following a surface begins to pull in all surrounding and impacted air molecules from around the stream which is called entrainment. This is a key factor for EXAIR products and one reason the Coandă profiles are a key characteristic to obtaining the peak performance and efficiency out of a compressed air product.
Many EXAIR products utilize the Coandă principle to improve their efficiencies and performance. Below you can see the EXAIR product families containing Coandă profiles within their design which increases the ambient air entrainment resulting in an amplified air blowoff.
If you would like to discuss how the Coandă profile and EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products® can help your process, please give us a call.
Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF