I spoke with a customer from a bottling facility that was using blower-type air knives. They were trying to cool and remove condensation from the labels. Their production rate was slow, and they were seeing issues in the labeling process. Their operation consisted of an applicator that would place the label around the bottle prior to going into a steam oven to shrink the labels. After this, a blow-off station was used to cool and set the label around the bottle and remove any condensation. They determined that the bottles were not getting dry enough and the shrink rate was too long. They were using a blower system, and they were having difficulty when they tried to reach the required bottle rate.
With blower systems, they blow warm air which affects the cooling results. Besides the maintenance and loud noises, the turbulent air causes erratic drying patterns. EXAIR products use the power of the compressed air system to give a wide range of blowing forces for drying, cooling, or moving products. With our Super Air Knives, we have a 40:1 amplification ratio, which means for every 1 part of compressed air, we bring in 40 parts of ambient air. This adds mass to the airstream to make our Super Air Knives very efficient and effective. With a laminar air flow, it creates a consistent force while moving the air in one direction. This was important to push the condensation to the bottom of the bottles.
So, I recommended two units of the model 110224SS Super Air Knife kits. The kit includes the Super Air Knife, a filter, a regulator, and a shim set. They mounted one knife on each side of the bottles to blow off and remove the liquid after the steam cycle. Even at the increased bottle speeds, the EXAIR Super Air Knives had no issues with keeping the bottles dry and providing enough cooling to set the label. With the regulator and shim set, it was easy for them to dial in the correct amount of force without using too much compressed air. The labels remained attached, and the bottling process ran smoothly.
In using compressed air, the EXAIR Super Air Knives are engineered to be very efficient and effective. Now, they were able to dry the bottles to allow for a strong adhesion of the labels. If you wish to speak to an Application Engineer about your cleaning, drying, blowing or cooling applications, we will be happy to hear from you.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb