Category: Air Knife

Super Air Knife – Free Air Via a 40:1 Amplification Ratio

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Intelligent Use of Compressed Air – Most industrial facilities have at least one air compressor.  The compressor is used to power anything from pneumatic tools, air powered equipment, compressed air cylinders, blowoffs and many more types of operations.  Improper use of compressed air can lead to unnecessary energy costs, high noise levels and dangerous exposure of personnel to high pressure air.

The EXAIR Super Air Knife uses only 1/3 of the compressed air of typical blowoffs.

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Long Super Air Knife with Plumbing Kit Installed and using the model 9060 Universal Air Knife Mounting Kit to Blowoff Laser Cutting Debris

By taking advantage of the Super Air Knife’s highly efficient design and the action of air entertainment, the Super Air Knife draws in large amounts of surrounding free outside air into the air stream. The result is a strong powerful air flow made up of a small amount of compressed air and a large amount of ambient air.

Capture

  • Compressed air flows through an inlet (1) into the plenum chamber of the Super Air Knife. The flow is directed to a precise slotted orifice. As the primary airflow exits the thin slotted nozzle (2), it follows a flat surface that directs the airflow in a perfectly straight line.  This creates a uniform sheet of air across the entire length of the Super Air Knife. Velocity loss is minimized and force is maximized as room air (3) is entrained into the primary air stream at a ratio of 40:1.  The result is a well defined sheet of laminar airflow with hard-hitting force and minimal wind shear is delivered.

By using a Super Air Knife – and the advantage of the high amplification via air entertainment – for part blowoff, cooling, or drying you can reduce energy costs, reduce noise levels, and eliminate harmful dead end pressures. Other air knives typically entrain surrounding air at a ratio of 30:1 or less.

EXAIR offers the Super Air Knife with materials of construction of aluminum, Types 303 and 316 Stainless Steel, and PVDF to cover a wide variety of application temperatures and environments. Other materials may be possible, pending review by our Product Design Engineers. The Super Air Knives are offered as the knife only, as part of a full kit, which also includes a shim set, auto drain filter separator, and pressure regulator.  The Super Air Knife can be fitted with Plumbing Kits and/or Electronic Flow Control making installation easier and help to save on air usage.

If you have questions about Super Air Knives, or would like to talk about any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Product, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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EXAIR Super Air Knife Promotion Runs Through 12/31/17

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EXAIR will be giving away a free Soft Grip Safety Air Gun with the purchase of any EXAIR Super Air Knife from November 1st through December 31st, 2017.  This special promotion will apply to all Super Air Knife orders, whether aluminum, stainless steel, or PVDF.  Use the promotional model number during the promotional period and receive a free model 1210, a value of $81.00! The Soft Grip Safety Air Gun is a Top Pick, and provides the ideal combination of forceful flow, quiet noise level and low compressed air usage.  To get the special promotional item, use the special part numbers as detailed in the link below.

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The Super Air Knife is the latest generation of the EXAIR engineered air knives with dramatically reduced compressed air usage and noise compared to other types of blowoffs.  The Super Air Knife is truly a more efficient tool for cleaning, drying or cooling parts, webs, or conveyors.  The air flow is a uniform sheet of laminar air across the entire length with a hard-hitting force.

Replacing a noisy blowoff with a Super Air Knife results is a significant reduction in sound.  Operation at a high pressure of 80 PSIG (5.5 Bar) leads to a sound level of just 69 dBA for most applications. Air amplification ratios (entrained air to compressed air) of 40:1 is produced. It also meets OSHA maximum dead-end pressure and noise requirements, for safe operation in the vicinity of plant personnel.

Typical applications for use include-

  • Post wash part drying
  • Sheet cleaning in strip mills
  • Conveyor cleaning
  • Part or component cooling
  • Web drying or cleaning
  • Environmental separation (air curtain)
  • Pre-paint blowoff and cleaning
  • Bag opening/filling operations
  • Scrap removal on converting operations

Take advantage of the Promotional Offering by clicking on the link at the top of the page.  Qualified orders receive the free model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Guns as shown below.

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FREE! EXAIR Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun

If you have questions about Super Air Knives, Safety Air Guns, or would like to talk about any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Product, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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Super Air Knife Makes EVERYTHING Better

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When we compare the EXAIR Super Air Knife to other methods of providing a curtain or sheet of air flow in terms of operating cost, efficiency, safety, and sound levels, the Super Air Knife is ALWAYS the clear choice.

The EXAIR Super Air Knife is the most efficient and quietest compressed air blow off product on the market today.

The Super Air Knives successfully replace these, and many other methods of providing a curtain or sheet of air flow all the time, while saving compressed air and decreasing noise.  The word “replace” oftentimes means “do the same job as.”

What you’re about to read is NOT one of those times.

A paper products manufacturer has a machine that treats a specialty product, and the process generates ozone (O3) at levels that would exceed personnel exposure limits, so they need to be contained.  They installed a long piece of drilled pipe to blow an air barrier, but they could only run the machine at about 65% of their desired capacity before the ozone level in the operators’ area exceeded their limits.

This company was familiar with several of our product lines already…they had several Cabinet Cooler Systems, a Reversible Drum Vac, and Super Air Knives in a variety of applications, so they knew how they worked.  Since the barrier needed to be 120″ long, though, this was going to be a much larger scale than they were used to.

Not only was the drilled pipe loud and inefficient, it was not particularly effective either.

Still, the installation of two Model 110060 60″ Aluminum Super Air Knives, coupled with our Model 110900 Air Knife Coupling Kit, was quick and easy.  Then came the good part: they found they were able to operate the machine at 100% capacity, while keeping the ozone at a safe level in the operators’ area.

EXAIR Super Air Knives provided a total solution: quiet, efficient, and most of all, EFFECTIVE.

Then came the better part:  The machine was pretty loud (we couldn’t do anything about that,) at 93dBA when it was running.  With the drilled pipe in operation, it was 94.5dBA.  When they took that out and installed the Super Air Knives, there was no net increase in noise level…it remained at 93dBA.

THEN came the even better part: Compressed air consumption was reduced to about 30% of what the drilled pipe was using.  Right in line with our table above.  Just another validation of the trustworthiness of our published data.  As EXAIR’s President is fond of saying, “Claims are easy, proof is hard.”

If you’re looking for a quiet, efficient – and effective – solution for a compressed air product application, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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Super Air Knife Plumbing Kit Allows Installation In Tight Quarters

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I recently had the pleasure of helping a long-time user of our Super Air Knives with a challenging application. They already use quite a few of our Model 110012SS 12″ Stainless Steel Super Air Knives to clean & dry their nonwoven material as it’s being rolled for packaging. They like them because they’re quiet and efficient, but also because they’re durable…this particular product off-gasses a mildly corrosive vapor, which used to corrode other equipment in the area. Not only does the Stainless Steel Super Air Knife resist corrosion itself, the air flow keeps these vapors contained. Two birds, one stone.

They have a new product…same kind of material, but much wider…that needed to be blown off, and the identified the Model 110060SS 60″ Stainless Steel Super Air Knife as a “no-brainer” solution. Thing is, it had to be a pretty even air flow across the length, and a 60″ Super Air Knife has to get air to four ports across its length for optimal performance. And, they wanted to install it at a point where it would serve not only as a blow off, but as a vapor barrier, just like the 12″ Super Air Knives they’re already so fond of. The space was a little limited, though, so they opted for the Model 110060SSPKI 60″ Stainless Steel Super Air Knife with Plumbing Kit Installed, which allowed them to simply run an air supply line to both ends.

EXAIR SS Super Air Knives can be ordered with a Plumbing Kit installed, or you can easily install a Plumbing Kit on your existing Super Air Knife.

If you want to find out more about an engineered solution for your compressed air application – cleaning, drying, vapor barrier, or all of the above – give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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