The EXAIRSuper Air Knife is the most efficient compressed air knife on the market. We know this because we’ve tested them, and our competitors’ offerings, for performance, using the same instruments, controls, and procedures. We’re not going to publish data that we can’t back up, and that’s a fact.
EXAIR Super Air Knife removing moisture after a rinse on anodized parts.
They’re also ideally suited to a wide variety of applications – they come in lengths from 3 inches to 9 feet long (and can actually be coupled together for uninterrupted air flows of even longer lengths,) a variety of materials for just about any environment. But the best thing about our Super Air Knives is how you can adjust the air pressure and flow to complete a wide variety of tasks. You can adjust them in two different ways, Replacing or adding Shims, or regulating the incoming air pressure.
Shims for the aluminum, 303 Stainless Steel, and 316 Stainless Steel Super Air Knives
Changing out your shim!
A larger shim gap will give you higher flow and force from your Air Knife. Honestly, the 0.002″ shim that comes pre-installed in all of our Air Knives is perfectly suitable for most blow off applications, and appropriate air supply conditions are the first thing you should check for before going with thicker shims, but if you do indeed need a boost, a thicker shim will indeed give you one…here’s a blog with the video to show you how it’s done:
Video Blog: How to Change a Shim in a Super Air KnifeRegulator and filter
Another advantage to having a Pressure Regulator at every point of use is the flexibility of making pressure adjustments to quickly change to varying production requirements. Not every application will require a strong blast sometimes a gentle breeze will accomplish the task. As an example one user of the EXAIR Super Air Knife employs it as an air curtain to prevent product contamination (strong blast) and another to dry different size parts (gentle breeze) coming down their conveyor. For Performance at different supply pressures see the chart below.
Super Air Knife Performance Table
EXAIR products are highly engineered and are so efficient that they can be operated at lower pressures and still provide exceptional performance! This save’s you money considering compressed air on the average cost’s .25 cents per 1000 SCFM.
If you’d like to discuss altering the performance of your Super Air Knife, give us a call.
A company was needing to dry vegetables after a washing system. They currently had three blower air knives (as shown in the photo above) to remove the water before packaging. The issues that they presented to me were in two parts. They were not able to generate enough force to remove enough water from larger products like cauliflower and broccoli. And, the heat from the blower system was affecting the appearance of the thinner vegetables like snow peas. They purchased the blower-style air knives under the belief that they would save money by not using compressed air. They found out quickly that it was not a true statement especially when it comes to the total cost of ownership.
Super Air Knife drying fruits and vegetables
When comparing the EXAIR Super Air Knife to a blower-type air knife, there are many features that should be reviewed. For the customer above, they used an 18” (457mm) wide conveying system to wash more than twenty different fruits and vegetables. So, they needed versatility to dry the different types of products. With the Super Air Knife, we have a simple way to adjust the force by changing the inlet air pressure. So, we can blow air at a light breeze for the snow peas to a very strong force to dry the cauliflower and broccoli. With the engineered design of the Super Air Knife, we can achieve a 40:1 amplification ratio. That means for every 1 part of compressed air, we are able to entrain 40 parts of ambient air. This unique feature allows for the Super Air Knife to be very efficient with your compressed air as well as keeping the blowing air at ambient temperatures. The design of a blower system allows the air to become hot, turbulent, and limited in force. As noted in the photo above, they had to use three blower knives to try to remove the liquid water. With the Super Air Knife, I recommended just one air knife to do the job. They decided to try an EXAIR model 110218SS 18″ Stainless Steel Super Air Knife Kit to see if their concept of “saving money” with the blower-type air knife was valid.
To better explain the concept, I divided the comparisons into different categories. You can decide if the Super Air Knife would be a better product than the blower-type air knife. It sure was for the customer above.
Initial Cost:
Blower System – They are an expensive product when you have to include a blower, ducting, and a knife. To have any flexibility, a control panel with a VFD will be needed. A capital expenditure is typical for a complete system.
Super Air Knife – It is a fraction of the cost. With their system above, we were roughly 1/10 the cost. A capital expense would not be required for ordering a Super Air Knife to remove the water.
Maintenance:
Blower System – The intake filter has to be changed periodically as well as the motor and belt has to be checked as a preventive maintenance. Being that the blower motor is a mechanical device, the bearings and belts will wear and have to be replaced. Without proper maintenance, things can break prematurely. Loss of production will cost you much money.
Super Air Knife – They do not have any moving parts to wear out. Only compressed air is needed to operate. The maintenance requirement is to change the compressed air filter once a year.
Compressed air usage:
Blower System – This device does not need any compressed air to work, but it does use an electric motor. For this customer, they had a 7.5KW blower motor. With the inherent design of blower-type air knives, they have a reduced blowing force and turbulent air flow. This combination required the maximum power output on the 7.5KW blower motor.
Super Air Knife –With their unique design, it has one of the highest efficiencies in the market place. It can entrain 40 parts of ambient “free” air with every 1 part of compressed air. With laminar flow and the power of compressed air, the Super Air Knives can be used at a much lower air pressure. To compare with the electric blower motor above, the Super Air Knives would use 10KW of compressor power to operate at the highest force rating. So, at lower air pressures, the blower motor and compressor requirement will be very similar.
Noise:
Blower System – With the turbulent air flow, the blower units are very loud. If operators are working near the system, they would need PPE for hearing protection, or elect to purchase (for even more money) a sound enclosure which some of the blower manufacturers offer.
Super Air Knife – These units are very quiet. Even at a higher pressure, the sound level is only 72 dBA at 100 PSIG (6.9 Bar). This level is well below the maximum noise exposure for hearing safety as marked in OSHA 29CFR 1910.95(a).
Installation:
Blower System –Just to begin, the installers will have to run electrical wires, controls, and ducting. The foot print is large and will need space to install. They will have to drill holes in the floor to hold the blower in place, and perhaps build an attenuation chamber. This can take days with no production to start operating. And time is money.
Super Air Knife –They are compact and do not take up much space. They mount easily into a system. You can run a plastic tube or rubber hose to the Super Air Knife from a compressed air source. If you use the Universal Mounting Kit, they will only need a 1/2″ hole for attaching. Even if a fabricator has to make a bracket to fit into their system, the timing is in hours not days.
Heat:
Blower System – Besides being quite loud, blower systems get very hot as a function of the operation. While this may be sold as a benefit for some applications, it is considered a significant drawback for drying fruits and vegetables. The air can reach a target temperature of 180°F (82°C).
Super Air Knife – The advantage for the Super Air Knife is the amplification ratio. The total volume of air that comes from it is 40 parts ambient and 1 part compressed air. So, the temperature of the airflow is going to be the same as the ambient environment surrounding the Super Air Knife.
The total cost of ownership is quite clear when you look at loss of output, loss of product, and breakdown of equipment. After reviewing the information above, it was easy for them to try the model 110218SS Stainless Steel Super Air Knife Kit. When they replaced the blower-type air knives, the customer did share some information with me.
First, they were amazed at the ease of installation and the compact design. The customer also mentioned the amount of force that could be created by the Super Air Knife. They were able to increase and decrease the required force to remove the liquid water from all the different fruits and vegetables. This gave them the flexibility that they were looking for in their process. And of course, the maintenance time and cost were eliminated.
Compressed air can be expensive, but if you use EXAIR products, you can use the compressed air very efficiently. You do not have to sacrifice other areas within the total cost of ownership. If you have a similar application, you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR. We will be happy to discuss the benefits of using the EXAIR Super Air Knives over a blower-type air knife.
If you’re a regular reader of the EXAIR blog, you’re likely familiar with our:
EXAIR Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System
This guideline is as comprehensive as you want it to be. It’s been applied, in small & large facilities, as the framework for a formal set of procedures, followed in order, with the goal of large scale reductions in the costs associated with the operation of compressed air systems…and it works like a charm. Others have “stepped” in and out, knowing already where some of their larger problems were – if you can actually hear or see evidence of leaks, your first step doesn’t necessarily have to be the installation of a Digital Flowmeter.
Here are some ways you may be able to “step” in and out to realize opportunities for savings on your use of compressed air:
Power: I’m not saying you need to run out & buy a new compressor, but if yours is
Recent advances have made significant improvements in efficiency.
aging, requires more frequent maintenance, doesn’t have any particular energy efficiency ratings, etc…you might need to run out & buy a new compressor. Or at least consult with a reputable air compressor dealer about power consumption. You might not need to replace the whole compressor system if it can be retrofitted with more efficient controls.
Pressure: Not every use of your compressed air requires full header pressure. In fact, sometimes it’s downright detrimental for the pressure to be too high. Depending on the layout of your compressed air supply lines, your header pressure may be set a little higher than the load with the highest required pressure, and that’s OK. If it’s significantly higher, intermediate storage (like EXAIR’s Model 9500-60 Receiver Tank, shown on the right) may be worth looking into. Keep in mind, every 2psi increase in your header pressure means a 1% increase (approximately) in electric cost for your compressor operation. Higher than needed pressures also increase wear and tear on pneumatic tools, and increase the chances of leaks developing.
Consumption: Much like newer technologies in compressor design contribute to higher efficiency & lower electric power consumption, engineered compressed air products will use much less air than other methods. A 1/4″ copper tube is more than capable of blowing chips & debris away from a machine tool chuck, but it’s going to use as much as 33 SCFM. A Model 1100 Super Air Nozzle (shown on the right) can do the same job and use only 14 SCFM. This one was installed directly on to the end of the copper tube, quickly and easily, with a compression fitting.
Leaks: These are part of your consumption, whether you like it or not. And you shouldn’t like it, because they’re not doing anything for you, AND they’re costing you money. Fix all the leaks you can…and you can fix them all. Our Model 9061 Ultrasonic Leak Detector (right) can be critical to your efforts in finding these leaks, wherever they may be.
Pressure, part 2: Not every use of your compressed air requires full header pressure (seems I’ve heard that before?) Controlling the pressure required for individual applications, at the point of use, keeps your header pressure where it needs to be. All EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product Kits come with a Pressure Regulator (like the one shown on the right) for this exact purpose.
All of our engineered Compressed Air Product Kits include a Filter Separator, like this one, for point-of-use removal of solid debris & moisture.
Air Quality: Dirty air isn’t good for anything. It’ll clog (and eventually foul) the inner workings of pneumatic valves, motors, and cylinders. It’s particularly detrimental to the operation of engineered compressed air products…it can obstruct the flow of Air Knives & Air Nozzles, hamper the cooling capacity of Vortex Tubes & Spot Cooling Products, and limit the vacuum (& vacuum flow) capacity of Vacuum Generators, Line Vacs, and Air Amplifiers.
Everyone here at EXAIR Corporation wants you to get the most out of your compressed air use. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.
Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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An Air Amplifier with a PTFE plug (left,) a curved Super Air Knife (center,) and a flanged Line Vac are just a few ways EXAIR has provided custom solutions.
Because EXAIR designs and manufactures our own products here in Cincinnati, we can take advantage of the speed, control, and flexibility that comes with full service manufacturing. If you need a customization of a current production product or if you would like to start a compressed air application from scratch, we can probably help. This is true throughout our entire product line, the following custom examples are of our Super Air Knife products.
Do you have an application that may not be best served by one of our stock Super Air Knife products? While we have quite a variety of both materials, sizes, and connection types sometimes a special application requires a special solution. For this reason, EXAIR manufactures special Super Air Knives suited EXACTLY for the type of application or environment that it’ll be operating in.
Unique applications are fairly common, and the Super Air Knifeprovides a great solution to many of them. Consider these situations:
A machine builder had to fit an air knife in a 43″ channel. We had it covered: we made them a custom (non-stock) 43″ 303SS Super Air Knife and shipped it in three days.
A user needed 15″ (and only 15″) of air flow. A Model 110018 18″ Aluminum Super Air Knife, off the shelf, would provide an “overflow” which would disturb product in the vicinity of the blow off. We had it covered…a custom shim can be made to provide 15″ (and only 15″) of air flow out of an 18″ Super Air Knife. It only takes a couple of days to get the special shim. We can make shims to center the airflow, keep it all on one side of the knife, have it come out two separate areas etc.
Our customer needed the lightweight of the aluminum air knife, but the ambient air temp was causing the stock plastic shim to melt and cause leaks. So we made a custom 4″ Super Air Knife and installed a Stainless Steel Shim.
If your application is more challenging than a custom shim, we’ve also made Air Knives with (left to right) curved radius, special material (glass filled PEEK shown here,) flat, double-sided, and even one with end-mount threaded holes.
We’ve also made a variety of special Air Knives, when more than just length is a consideration. So, even if your application is “Unique” it’s very likely that we still have you Covered. Give us a call and we can prove it to you!
