At EXAIR we are proud of our ability to ship our stock and catalog products the same day or the next day on orders received before 2:00pm ET. If you need a replacement part, or a new solution altogether, we can likely get the product to you in no time at all. There are certain applications, however, where the solution is more specific, and our stock options are not going to work out best. There may be a need for a different material, or a specific geometry to get the results the customer is looking for. For instances like this, we work with our customers to create a special, non-stock option.
I was recently working with a customer that needed an Air Knife to cool their material coming out of a hot process. This is a common application for our Air Knives, but for this particular customer, the shape of the Air Knife wasn’t going to fit in their machine. After some discussion, we determined that a curved Air Knife was going to be the best fit (pun intended).
After the customer provided some initial specifications, we put a drawing together. With some back and forth, reviewing drawings, and signing off on final designs, we set to work, producing their specially designed product. Within a few weeks, we were able to provide the specific solution to meet their needs.
If you have an application that needs a more tailor-made solution, give us a call!
An overseas company had a cold rolling process where they would make metal sheets of different thicknesses and widths. They were having issues with their machine removing the excess coolant from the surface that was used in the process. Like with too many applications, they made their own home-made air knives. They found that they had reduced production rates, increased quality failures, and amplified noise levels. They contacted EXAIR to help resolve these issues.
To go into the details of the application, the cold rolling process uses work rolls to “squeeze” the metal to a thinner gauge. This squeezing creates heat up to 350oF (177oC). So, before each work roll, they would spray a coolant to help remove the heat. The amount of coolant is very important to get the proper cooling and metal gauge. After the work rolls, the coolant has to be removed before the next work roll operation. Their system was designed for 3,300 ft/min (1000 m/min), but they could only run it at half the speed as they could not remove enough coolant from the surface. For each work roll, they used three homemade compressed air knives that were made from 54” (1372mm) pipes with drilled holes. They laid one on top and one on bottom just after the work rolls. After the trial, they had to add another one on top to try and remove the remaining coolant that was missed by the first one. Each home-made knife used 440 SCFM (744 M3/hr) of compressed air at 100 PSIG (6.9 bar) during the cold rolling operation.
Super Air Knife
With similar solutions, EXAIR has a great product for non-contact wiping for flat surfaces, the Super Air Knives. They use compressed air to generate a force at varying degrees. With the engineered design, we are able to add free ambient air at a rate of 40:1. For every one part of compressed air, we can entrain 40 parts of ambient air. By adding this mass to the airstream, we can generate a hard-hitting force. Generally, with a drilled pipe, they have an entrainment near 4 to 5:1 which requires more compressed air to get that same force. Also, with the Super Air Knives, we can generate a laminar flow to give an even force across the entire length.
For this application, I was worried about the setup of their home-made air knives. With the position of being straight across, the coolant liquid could build up to a heavier amount in front of the knives, which could allow for some of the coolant to bypass. This would be the reason for the second drilled pipe on top. The bottom unit worked fine as gravity was helping to remove the coolant from the surface. But they were using a lot of compressed air with high noise levels. I was able to help them to create a more effective blow-off design and to save a lot of compressed air.
Chevron Style
In my discussion, I mentioned that with high-speed operations, the setup is important for great non-contact wiping. For this customer, I recommend the Chevron style which mounts two Super Air Knives as an inverted “V”. Now we can cut the amount of coolant in half. Half of the sheet means half of the weight of coolant. For the top, I recommend two pieces, model 110036 36” (914mm) Aluminum Super Air Knife, and a single piece, model 110054 54” (1,372mm) Aluminum Super Air Knife, for the bottom. We were able to solve their issues with their cold rolling process.
As they started their operation, they were able to increase the production rates, and removed the need for the extra air knife. With the Super Air Knives, we were able to save them 877 SCFM (1,490 M3/hr) of compressed air at 100 PSIG (6.9 bar), as compared to the total amount of 1,320 SCFM (2,232 M3/hr) for the three home-made air knives. With a 24-hour operation, the Super Air Knives saved them a lot of money. The Return on Investment, ROI, was less than 30 days. As a note, the Super Air Knife only has a noise level of 72 dBA at 100 PSIG.
If you are looking to improve your blow-off application to increase production rates, reduce waste and improve safety, the EXAIR Super Air Knives can provide that solution. With the customer above, the development happened immediately with a short ROI. If you have a similar application and want to discuss it with an Application Engineer at EXAIR, you can contact us directly. We’d be happy to help you.
In the pharmaceutical industry, it’s rather critical to ensure products are appropriately marked and labeled. This allows for proper tracing of the product throughout the manufacturing process and ensures the end customer has the necessary information they need on the container the products are packaged in.
For some processes in this industry, labeling applications present a few problems. While in many cases the problems are attributed to static electricity, I recently worked on an application for removing condensation prior to a labeling process. While this is a common application we help serve in the Food & Beverage Industry, this one was a first for me with regards to pharmaceuticals.
The manufacturer of a variety of different pharmaceutical products used for animals was having an issue with a few of their products they produce. They had a line that processes a variety of different styles of products, but with one particular type they were having this issue with the label application.
Some of their products must be held at relatively low temperatures. Throughout the filling process they are held within a refrigerated zone. The area in the facility where the labels are applied is also climate-controlled, but not completely refrigerated. The bottles are only in this location for the brief labeling process before being placed back into coolers, but it was not possible for them to relocate the labeling process elsewhere.
The issue they were having was occurring during the warmer, humid days of summer. As the bottles were placed into the labeling machine, condensation would form that prohibits the label from correctly adhering. This led to a lot of rework and manual label application, while also contributing to some waste as products were held outside of refrigeration for too long.
They began seeking out a solution for blowing off the residual condensation prior to labeling and contacted EXAIR for a solution. To combat this problem, we implemented a two-tiered blowoff solution. There was a rotating table where the product is initially held, (2) Model 110024SS-316 Stainless Steel Super Air Knives were used to provide an initial blowoff inside the contained area. This took care of some of that initial condensation, but left some bottles with still a bit of residual moisture that was still creating issues.
We added a Model 120020 ¾” Super Air Amplifier to blow on each individual bottle immediately prior to labeling to take care of any condensation that formed after the initial blowoff. With both of these solutions in place, the condensation is immediately stripped off the outside of the vials and allows for a clean label application each and every time.
EXAIR offers a wide range of products that can be used for blowoff. Options are available in 316 Stainless Steel from stock for a variety of applications in both the Food and Pharmaceutical Industries.
For help selecting the best products for your process, get in contact with one of EXAIR’s Application Engineers today.
Here at EXAIR we’re constantly looking to provide better tools for our customers. Lately, Augmented Reality has been increasingly common in a variety of industries and applications. By creating our very own Mobile Application, EXAIR products can now be viewed directly in your space without having to purchase anything! The EXAIR AR app is available for download now on both the Apple iOS and Google Play stores.
The mobile app is EXAIR’s next step towards offering the most advanced level of value to our customers. EXAIR AR allows you to select a product from the menus and place that product directly into the space you’re working in.
For some products, such as Atomizing Nozzles, Static Eliminators, and Air Knives, an animation is available to display the pattern and coverage you’ll achieve with that liquid/airflow:
The positioning and orientation of the product is easily controlled via the simple-to-use X, Y, and Z sliders available under the “transform” button. The vertical bar on the right-hand side then adjusts the height that the model will be placed from the scanned surface.
In addition to providing a model of our products, there’s also a handy calculator tool that can be used for the conversion of a variety of different units of measure. Check back often for updated features and, of course, feel free to get in contact with an Application Engineer if there’s anything we can do to help improve the results in any of your processes.
