EXAIR uses the word entrainment a lot, all of our blowoff products use the principle to amplify the air stream and increase efficiency. But, what is entrainment and what causes the phenomenon? Entrainment can be defined as a fluid that is swept along into an existing moving fluid. This brings Bernoulli’s equation into the picture. When looking at specific situations and conditions Bernoulli’s equation can show some interesting significance with gases.
Bernoulli’s equation takes into account four main variables which are Pressure (P), Density (r), Velocity (v), and a height difference (z); along with a single constant for gravity. you can see the relationship between the velocity squared and the pressure from the equation above. Being that this relationship is a constant along the streamline; when the velocity increases; the pressure has to come down. Now we have to look at how fluids like to behave. Fluids within a system like to be at a constant pressure when at the same height and reach a state of equilibrium. This means that fluids will always flow towards a low pressure area, which means that if you create a constant low pressure area you can amplify the air stream. This is the same principle as to why airplanes can fly.
Since compressed air can be an expensive utility, it is good to minimize it and maximize the surrounding entrained air. Therefore we have designed our products to use this entrainment principle to amplify the air blast while using less compressed air and more entrained ambient air. Products like our Super Air Knife can see an amplification ratio (ambient air to compressed air) of up to 40:1; this means for every 1 SCFM of compressed air used we are entraining 40 SCFM of ambient air.
We use this principle for our Air Amplifiers, Air Knifes, Air Nozzles and Jets, Safety Air Guns, and our Gen4 Static Eliminators. Our goal is to save you money and give you better results in the process.
If you have questions about any of our engineered Intelligent Compressed Air® Products, feel free to contact EXAIR or any Application Engineer.
Cody Biehle
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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