The below video shows how to calculate the air consumption when operating at any pressure.
If you want to discuss efficient compressed air use or any of EXAIR’s engineered compressed air products, give us a call or email. We would enjoy hearing from you!
Steve Harrison
Application Engineer
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This video blog showcases just why engineering even the small details of a compressed air product can have a large impact on compressed air savings, safety, and efficiency. This is why it is critical to know whether the company you are dealing with originally designed the product you purchased or if it is merely a copy.
Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com @EXAIR_BF
Using EXAIRS Universal Air Knife Mounting System greatly ease’s the installation of all Air Knives (Except PVDF). It will save you the time and expense of designing and fabricating your own mounting system which will maximize your uptime and keep your staff focused on key plant tasks!
Please note the table below that highlights the recommended number of the Universal Air Knife Mounting System to use for the various length of Air Knives.
| Length Of Air Knife | Number of UAKMS |
| 3″ – 18″ | 1 |
| 24″ – 54″ | 2 |
| 60″ | 3 |
| 72″ – 95″ | 4 |
| 96″ – 108″ | 5 |
If you would like to discuss Universal Air Knife Mounting System, Air Knives or any EXAIR compressed air product, I would enjoy hearing from you…give me a call.
Steve Harrison
Application Engineer
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Many times when we provide the air consumption of an EXAIR product, we get a response like…. “I’ve got plenty of pressure, we run at around 100 PSIG”. While having the correct pressure available is important, it doesn’t make up for the volume requirement or SCFM (Standard Cubic Feet per Minute) needed to maintain that pressure. We commonly reference trying to supply water to a fire hose with a garden hose, it is the same principle, in regards to compressed air.
When looking to maintain an efficient compressed air system, it’s important that you use properly sized supply lines and fittings to support the air demand (SCFM) of the point-of-use device. The smaller the ID and the longer the length of run, it becomes more difficult for the air to travel through the system. Undersized supply lines or piping can sometimes be the biggest culprit in a compressed air system as they can lead to severe pressure drops or the loss of pressure from the compressor to the end use product.
Take for example our 18″ Super Air Knife. A 18″ Super Air Knife will consume 52.2 SCFM at 80 PSIG. We recommend using 1/2″ Schedule 40 pipe up to 10′ or 3/4″ pipe up to 50′. The reason you need to increase the pipe size after 10′ of run is that 1/2″ pipe can flow close to 100 SCFM up to 10′ but for a 50′ length it can only flow 42 SCFM. On the other hand, 3/4″ pipe is able to flow 100 SCFM up to 50′ so this will allow you to carry the volume needed to the inlet of the knife, without losing pressure through the line.
We also explain how performance can be negatively affected by improper plumbing in the following short video:
Another problem area is using restrictive fittings, like quick disconnects. While this may be useful with common everyday pneumatic tools, like an impact wrench or nail gun, they can severely limit the volumetric flow to a device requiring more air , like a longer length air knife.
For example, looking at the above 1/4″ quick disconnect, the ID of the fitting is much smaller than the NPT connection size. In this case, it is measuring close to .192″. If you were using a device like our Super Air Knife that features 1/4″ FNPT inlets, even though you are providing the correct thread size, the small inside diameter of the quick disconnect causes too much of a restriction for the volume (SCFM) required to properly support the knife, resulting in a pressure drop through the line, reducing the overall performance.
If you have any questions about compressed air applications or supply lines, please contact one of our application engineers for assistance.
Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN
