Tag: exair air knife

Super Ion Air Knives Overview

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

Static buildup is a common problem in many manufacturing environments that can present itself in a number of ways, including shocking operators; causing materials to stick, tear or jam; or affecting sensitive electrical equipment. If you have encountered static issues in your facility, or in your own home perhaps, you may have noticed that it tends to be more prevalent in colder and dryer environments. This is due to a reduction in moisture in the air. The water vapor found in air helps to dissipate electrical charges, so when there is less moisture, there will be a higher electrical charge. This is why we are currently running a promotion for all of our Static Elimination products, now through March 31st, 2025.

One such product line that is included in this promotion is our Gen4 Super Ion Air Knives. They are engineered to remove static electricity from plastics, webs, sheet stock and other product surfaces by bathing them in a laminar sheet of air that sweeps surfaces clean of static, particulate, dust and dirt. This causes production speeds, product quality, and surface cleanliness to dramatically improve.

When the Gen4 Super Ion Air Knife floods an area or surface with static eliminating ions – up to 20 feet away, the force can be adjusted from a “blast” to a “breeze”. The Gen4 Super Ion Air Knife is shock-less, and has no moving parts. It also requires only 3.7 SCFM of compressed air per foot of length at 5 PSIG. The sound level is also surprisingly quiet at 50 dBA for most applications.

Compressed air flows through an inlet (1) into the plenum chamber of the GEN 4 Super Ion Air Knife. The flow is directed to a precise, slotted orifice. The primary air flow exits, it creates a uniform sheet of air across the entire length that immediately pulls in surrounding room air (2). An electrically powered GEN 4 Ionizing Bar (3) fills the curtain of air with positive and negative charge. The airstream delivers these static eliminating ions to the product surface (4) where it instantly neutralizes static and cleans dust and other particulates.

If you would like to discuss your static elimination application, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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Easily Adjustable Force and Flow with EXAIR’s Super Air Knife Shim Sets

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

EXAIR’s industry-leading Super Air Knife dramatically reduces compressed air usage and noise when compared to other blowoff methods. The Super Air Knife is available in lengths ranging from 3”-108” and in Aluminum, 303 Stainless Steel, 316 Stainless Steel, and PVDF for corrosive applications. Even at high pressures of 80 psig, the Super Air Knife is able to maintain a sound level of just 69 dBA for most applications! Air is entrained from the ambient environment at a rate of 40:1, maximizing the force and flow from the Super Air Knife. In addition, these knives meet or exceed OSHA maximum dead-end pressure and noise requirements.

Adjustability of both the force and flow from the Super Air Knife is infinitely adjustable. Right out of the box from the factory the Super Air Knife comes stock with a .002” thick shim installed. This sets the gap between the body and cap of the knife and determines how much compressed air can flow through the precise, slotted orifice. An accessory that EXAIR has available for the Super Air Knife is the shim set. For the aluminum knives, a .001”, .003”, and .004” plastic shims come in the shim set. To reduce the flow and force, a .001” can be used. If more force is required, a thicker shim can be installed. For the stainless steel and PVDF knives, (3) .002” shims are included in the set. Stainless steel shims for the stainless knives and a PTFE shim for the PVDF. These, as well as the plastic shims, can be stacked on top of one another to create an even larger gap. One thing that is important to keep in mind however, the larger the air gap the greater the air consumption. Installing a .004” shim in a Super Air Knife will double the force, flow, and consumption of the knife when compared to the stock .002” shim.

Installing a new shim in your Super Air Knife is very simple to do. Check out this quick video from Neal Raker that walks you through the steps:

While different shims are available for you to make gross adjustments to the force and flow of your Super Air Knife, there is one additional method. By using a pressure regulator, you can fine-tune the input pressure that is supplied to the Super Air Knife. This will also greatly impact the force and flow. At 40 psig, the Super Air Knife will consume 1.7 scfm/inch and provide 1.1 oz/inch of force. At 80 psig, it will consume 2.9 scfm/inch and provide 2.5 oz/inch of force. EXAIR offers pressure regulators in a variety of different sizes to accommodate any of our Super Air Knives from 3” all the way up to 108”.

If you’re wasting air in your facility using cheap nozzles, drilled pipes, or any other inefficient solution, give us a call. An Application Engineer will gladly investigate your application and help to design a better, safer, and more cost-effective solution!

All of EXAIR’s Super Air Knives (stock lengths 3-108″) are available to ship same-day with an order placed by 2:00 ET.

Tyler Daniel

Application Engineer

E-mail: TylerDaniel@exair.com

X: @EXAIR_TD

How Do You Mount An EXAIR Super Air Knife?

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

This is a fairly common question for the Application Engineering team. The quick (and fairly accurate) answer is: “Any way you want.”

Let’s unpack that a little, though. We’re obviously constrained by the laws of physics, so the method of mounting it has to be structurally sound enough to support the Super Air Knife’s weight, and the reaction force of the compressed air discharge. 3″ Super Air Knives can actually be mounted (and supplied with compressed air) using Stay Set Hoses, if you have an air line ‘drop’ nearby. If not, you can use a Magnetic Base to hold the Stay Set Hose and the Super Air Knife:

Compact, efficient and quiet, the EXAIR 3″ Super Air Knife is an ideal blow-off solution for a variety of applications. Installation is quick & easy with a Stay Set Hose and a Magnetic Base.

Longer Super Air Knives can be installed just about as easily with Universal Air Knife Mounting Systems. Air Knives up to 18″ long use one Model 9060 Mounting System. Longer Air Knives need multiple Mounting Systems for proper support.

The 72″ Super Air Knife w/ Plumbing Kit Installed shown here will use four Model 9060 Universal Air Knife Mounting Systems for proper support.

Because of their design, though, there are a number of other ways to mount a Super Air Knife. If you’re using hard pipe to supply compressed air, a shorter-length Super Air Knife will essentially be as well-supported as the pipe itself. I’ve talked to users who have successfully installed 6″ and 9″ Aluminum Super Air Knives in this manner. We wouldn’t recommend doing that with anything longer than that, due to concerns about overhung loading. The exception to that would be a Super Air Knife installed vertically…and even then, I’m unaware of anyone doing that with any Super Air Knife longer than 12″.

Curiously, though, you can use the supply piping for longer models. A Super Air Knife over 18″ in length will need to be supplied with compressed air to both ends. A properly supported pipe holding up either side offers a great deal of stability.

This Model 110054 54″ Aluminum Super Air Knife is well supported by its black iron supply pipe.

Super Air Knives also have 1/4-20 threaded holes along the bottom of the body. These are the ‘leftover’ threads below the cap screw ends that hold the cap to the body. Those cap screws can also be replaced with longer 1/4-20 hardware. That allows you to use a bracket of your choosing to mount it. We have customers who have gotten downright creative with those:

Yes, that’s a door hinge. No, it wasn’t my idea, but I kind of wish it was.

No matter which Super Air Knife you’re using, and what you’re using it for, there are always options for mounting. If you’d like help in determining which one(s) is best for you, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Amplification Ratio: Super Air Knives

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
Super Air Knife

Earlier, I wrote a blog about how entrainment works with EXAIR products by using two phenomena, Coanda Profile and the Venturi Effect.  You can find it here, “Entrainment: how it works and why EXAIR products use it.”  In this blog, I will cover the Super Air Knife specifically and how it uses the Venturi Effect to entrain the surrounding air. 

This Venturi Effect is named after Giovanni Venturi, who discovered that by increasing the velocity through an orifice, the surrounding fluid will move with it, generating a lower pressure.  The higher the velocity, the lower the pressure.  When you have a low pressure, the surrounding air will fill that void and move into the airstream.  The amount of ambient air that gets “pulled” into the airstream is the entrainment, and this amount as compared to the inlet flow is the Amplification Ratio. 

So, what does this mean?  The definition of a ratio is the relationship between two amounts showing the number of times one value is contained within the other.  For the Super Air Knife, it is a value that shows the amount of ambient air that is drawn in along with the primary, compressed air flow.  With an amplification ratio of 40:1, that means that there are 40 parts of ambient air for every 1 part of compressed air, which helps make them the most efficient compressed air operated Air Knives available on the market.  By adding mass, the Super Air Knife will give a hard-hitting force to do more “work”. 

Most people think that compressed air is free, but it is most certainly not.  Because of the amount of electricity required to produce compressed air, it is considered to be a fourth utility for manufacturing plants.  To save on utility costs, it is important to use compressed air as efficiently as possible.  So, the higher the amplification ratio, the more efficient the compressed air product.  Manufacturing plants that use open fittings, copper tubes, and drilled pipes for blowing are not efficient.  These types of products generally have a very low amplification ratio, somewhere between 2:1 to 5:1.  When EXAIR began manufacturing in 1983, we knew that there was a better way of saving compressed air by increasing the amplification ratios of our various air moving products.

I like to explain things in everyday terms.  For this analogy, we can use the amplification ratio as represented by gas mileage.  Like your car, you want to get the most distance from a gallon of gas.  With your compressed air system, you want to get the most utilization for the compressed air being expended.  With an EXAIR Super Air Knife, it has a 40:1 amplification ratio; or, in other words, you can get 40 MPG.  But, if you use drilled pipes, copper tubes, etc. for blowing, then you are only getting 2 to 5 MPG, so to say.  If you want to get the most “mileage” for the money you spend on creating compressed air, you want to check the “fuel efficiency” of your blow-off components.

EXAIR manufactures many blow-off items with high amplification ratios to save compressed air. EXAIR can help “tune up” your blow-off systems to make them efficient and safe by contacting an Application Engineer.  We will be happy to help you.  

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