Category: Air Knife

Ease Installation Woes With The Super Air Knife Plumbing Kits

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

https://media.giphy.com/media/3tEFVAbfzzcwo/giphy.gif

When I am working on a project around my home, my wife often starts with a guess as to how many trips to the home improvement or plumbing supply store this project is going to take. (The Gif above is me trying to determine how many choice words will be used.) I try to foil her plans by either already having the first trip done before I start the project, or by buying a surplus of anything and everything I could possibly need on that first trip then returning what I don’t use.

In all actuality, the problem normally comes from working on a house that was built in 1951 and building codes were not the same back then. Whenever it is a new project, say installing a garden fence or building a trampoline platform, I can plan everything out and know all of the variables ahead of time. This results in a single trip to the store per project and more often than not a project that is on budget. That’s why we strive to help our customers here at EXAIR to be prepared for their upcoming projects.

When you are trying to implement a new Super Air Knife into your process, whether it be to cool, clean, or dry a process or product off, we don’t want you to have to go to another vendor, or even have to run back and forth to the tool crib 15 times just to get the knife hooked up to compressed air. To help simplify this, we offer Super Air Knives w/ Plumbing Kit Installed.  Whenever a Super Air Knife is 24″ or longer is installed, the compressed air should be supplied to both ends of the knife.  When lengths reach 48″ and higher even more ports will need to be plumbed along the length of the knife. This ensures even distribution of compressed air for the full length of the knife.  While EXAIR does offer all the information on supplying air to the proper inlets for every given length of Super Air Knife, we also offer to simplify it even further by offering an installed plumbing kit to further simplify installation in the field.

This feature leaves the installation team with minimal points to plumb compressed air  once the knife is in your facility. The  Aluminum Super Air Knife uses general duty air hose with brass fittings and the 303 and 316 Stainless Steel Super Air Knives use 316SS tube and fittings. An additional pressure gauge is included with longer lengths to install at halfway points in the plumbing kit to verify the operating pressure of the knife.

Model 9078 PKI Kit

Even when purchasing the Plumbing Kit Installed option we still offer detailed CAD models as well as PDF and 2D drawings of the knives to make it possible for an installation to be planned out and facilitate an easy, quick, and efficient installation.

If you would like to discuss what Super Air Knife w/ Plumbing Kit Installed would best suit your application, contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

 

1 – Calculate Figure It Out GIF – https://giphy.com/gifs/math-3tEFVAbfzzcwo

Order any Super Air Knife, Get a FREE Safety Air Gun!

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

EXAIR’s Super Air Knife is THE best solution for compressed air blowoff applications that need a wide sheet of compressed air. We’ve been manufacturing Air Knives for over 37 years, with the Super Air Knife making its first appearance back in 1997. Since then, the Super Air Knife has undergone a few enhancements over the years as we’re constantly trying to improve existing products while continuing to introduce new products. We’ve added new materials, longer single piece knives, as well as additional accessories. But, by and large, the basic design has remained the same. As the saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”.

The Super Air Knife utilizes a source of compressed air to create a laminar sheet of high velocity air. This supplied compressed air mixes with ambient air that is entrained into the primary airstream. The Super Air Knife entrains ambient air at a rate of 40:1, making it VERY effective in a variety of drying, cleaning, and cooling applications. Available in lengths ranging from 3”-108” and in a variety of different materials of construction, there’s a Super Air Knife available for just about any application. Any time you have product moving along a conveyor that needs to be cleaned, dried, or cooled off, a Super Air Knife is the ideal fit.

Now through the end of December, order any EXAIR Super Air Knife and receive a FREE 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun. This applies to all Super Air Knife orders whether aluminum, stainless steel, or PVDF. The Model 1210 is a top pick for many industrial applications. With the ideal combination of forceful air flow, quite noise level, and compressed air usage there’s not many applications that aren’t suited for this style of gun. All EXAIR’s Safety Air Guns are compliant with OSHA 1910.242 (b), relating to dead-end pressure, and can keep your personnel safe. 

EXAIR Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun

With all sizes and materials available from stock, we can get a knife (and your FREE Safety Air Gun) shipped out to you same day with a PO received by 3:00 ET. Get yours on order today and take advantage of this limited time promotion!

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

What is Laminar Flow and Turbulent Flow?

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

Super Air Knife

Fluid mechanics is the field that studies the properties of fluids in various states.  There are two areas, fluid statics and fluid dynamics.  Fluid dynamics studies the forces on a fluid, either as a liquid or a gas, during motion.  Osborne Reynolds, an Irish innovator, popularized this dynamic with a dimensionless number, Re. This number determines the state in which the fluid is moving; either laminar flow or turbulent flow.  Equation 1 shows the relationship between the inertial forces of the fluid as compared to the viscous forces.

Equation 1:  Re = V * Dh/u

Re – Reynolds Number (no dimensions)

V – Velocity (feet/sec or meters/sec)

Dh – hydraulic diameter (feet or meters)

u – Kinematic Viscosity (feet^2/sec or meter^2/sec)

The value of Re will mark the region in which the fluid (liquid or gas) is moving.  If the Reynolds number, Re, is below 2300, then it is considered to be laminar (streamline and predictable).  If Re is greater than 4000, then it is considered to be turbulent (chaotic and violent).  The area between these two numbers is the transitional area where you can have eddy currents and some non-linear velocities.  To better show the differences between each state, I have a picture below that shows water flowing from a drain pipe into a channel.  The water is loud and disorderly; traveling in different directions, even upstream.  With the high velocity of water coming out of the drain pipe, the inertial forces are greater than the viscosity of the water.  This indicates turbulent flow with a Reynolds number larger than 4000.  As the water flows into the mouth of the river after the channel, the waves transform from a disorderly mess into a more uniform stream.  This is the transitional region.  A bit further downstream, the stream becomes calm and quiet, flowing in the same direction.  This is laminar flow.  Air is also a fluid, and it will behave in a similar way depending on the Reynolds number.

Turbulent to Laminar Water

Why is this important to know?  In certain applications, one state may be better suited than the other.  For mixing, suspension and heat transfer; turbulent flows are better.  But, when it comes to effective blowing, lower pressure drops and reduced noise levels; laminar flows are better.  In many compressed air applications, the laminar region is the best method to generate a strong force efficiently and quietly.  EXAIR offers a large line of products, including the Super Air Knives and Super Air Nozzles that utilizes that laminar flow for compressed air applications.  If you would like to discuss further how laminar flows could benefit your process, an EXAIR Application Engineer will be happy to help you.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Doughnuts vs Donuts – Better Quality Thanks To A Super Air Knife

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

The two words, doughnut, and donut are synonymous with each other.  In research, the spelling donut is another Americanized word that didn’t catch on until the late 20th century. Either way, there are still multiple types of doughnuts. One of my favorites is shown below by one of the best donut manufacturers, NASCAR.

Maybe you are a little riskier and like some donuts that have a little less horsepower and a little more spice to them. Something like a ghost pepper doughnut that has a combination of spicy and sweet flavoring to satisfy your morning cravings for food. If so, you may be interested to know that an EXAIR Super Air Knife could have helped in the manufacturing process.

Animation Dreaming GIF by Matthew Butler - Find & Share on GIPHY

A regional bakery has opened up production and after months of determining their recipe and icing selection, they still needed some help on getting the glazing level correct on the finished doughnuts. The baked goodness would travel under a waterfall of glazing and several variables would lead to the amount of glazing that would build up/ remain on the doughnut. After testing these variables out the customer still wanted a better coating so they called EXAIR.

30″ 316 Stainless Steel Super Air Knife removing surplus glaze from doughnuts

The solution, a 30″ 316 Stainless Steel Super Air Knife to mount over the conveyor and blow down the surplus glazing into the catch pan for recirculation.  The variability in force from a gentle breeze up to a forceful, glaze stripping blast, was exactly what the baker ordered.  This setup has been in practice for months now and nothing but positive results have been tasted, I mean seen.

If you would like to discuss any point of use compressed air application, please contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – One Minute of Donuts with Joey Logano, Pennzoil, Jul 30, 2015 – Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFqjbmsUdIM&feature=emb_logo

2 – Donuts TV -Matthew Butler – retrieved from – https://giphy.com/gifs/animation-sweet-3oKIPCBcZs82sv9nsQ