The Case For Adjustable Air Amplifiers

Published on by Russ Bowman

EXAIR Air Amplifiers come in two designs:

  • Super Air Amplifiers come in sizes from 3/4″ to 8″ output flow, and have:
    • A 2-bolt mounting flange that is integral to the body (except the 8″ which has a cast-in handle and feet instead).
    • Replaceable shims to set the compressed air flow and hence, consistent performance.
    • Rugged, aluminum construction.
  • Adjustable Air Amplifiers come in sizes from 3/4″ to 4″ output flow and have:
    • Aluminum or 303SS construction.
    • Quick adjustment by turning the exhaust end into or out of the body to infinitely set compressed air flow and hence, performance.
Super Air Amplifiers (left) can be easily installed using the 2-bolt mounting flange. Adjustable Air Amplifiers are compact & light enough to be supported by supply piping, even using a Swivel Fitting if you like.

Strictly considering air flow performance, there aren’t really any applications where one design will work, and the other won’t. Once the right size is determined, selection comes down to material of construction, how it’ll be installed, where it’ll be installed, and whether it’ll need to be quickly adjusted for flow & force on the device, instead of by regulating the compressed air supply.

I had the pleasure of talking to a caller just this morning about a “textbook” application for an Air Amplifier: welding smoke ventilation.

Maybe instead of a “textbook”, I should call it a “catalog” application because it’s literally the first image you see when you get to the Air Amplifiers section of the EXAIR Catalog.

The caller had an existing 4″ ID hose to place at the point of suction and connect to the Air Amplifier. This narrowed the choices down to the two Air Amplifier products with a 4″ outside diameter on the inlet: Model 120024 4″ Super Air Amplifier, and Model 6043 (or 6033) 3″ Aluminum (or Stainless Steel) Adjustable Air Amplifier. It was to be used in a typical shop environment, so the higher temperature rating (400F or 204C) or superior corrosion resistance of the Stainless Steel construction wasn’t needed. They intended to support it with the suction hose, hose-clamped onto the Air Amplifier itself, so the Super Air Amplifier’s 2-bolt mounting flange wasn’t necessary…in fact, they thought it might even get in the way. So, the Model 6043 3″ Aluminum Adjustable Air Amplifier made it to the top of the list pretty quickly.

Another important consideration for the caller was maximizing the exhaust flow. Looking at the performance data for the 4″ Super Air Amplifier and the 3″ Adjustable Air Amplifier, the latter generates just a little higher total air volume at the outlet, which, when you subtract the compressed air consumption from it, gives you the total flow rate of entrained air (and welding smoke, in this case):

The 730 SCFM Air Volume at Outlet, minus the air consumption of 29.2 SCFM, means that it’s drawing in ~700 SCFM.
Which is not bad.
The 774 SCFM Air Volume at Outlet, minus the air consumption of 29.2 SCFM, means that it’s drawing in ~740 SCFM.
Which is even better.

In addition to ventilation/exhaust applications, Air Amplifiers can be used – just like our engineered Air Knives and Air Nozzles – in blow off, drying, cleaning, and cooling applications. If you’ve got questions about them (or any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products), give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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