Tag: non-contact wiping

EXAIR Super Air Knife Helps Bakery Protect Sheet Pan Coating

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

A bakery had a process where they cleaned baking sheets after they made cakes, breads, and donuts.  The system consisted of scraping the pans with brushes prior to running them through a washing system.   The excess crust material had to be removed as it could cause problems with the washing machine.  The baking sheets had a non-stick coating to help in the baking process.  The issue that they were having was that the brushes would start to remove the non-stick coating over time, causing the pans to rust.  If you needed more iron in your diet, this would not be the proper way.  The baking sheet was 18” (457mm) wide by 36” (914mm) long.  They contacted EXAIR to see if we had a better way to clean these sheets without damaging the coating. 

EXAIR has been supplying powerful non-contact ways to clean, dry, and cool products.  For this application, I recommend the model 110218SS Super Air Knife Kit.    The kit includes an 18” (457 mm) 303SS Super Air Knife, a filter, a regulator, and a shim set.  The stainless-steel construction would protect against the harsh detergents that are used in the process.  If additional protection is required, EXAIR also provides 316SS material.  The unique feature of the Super Air Knife is that it entrains ambient air at a rate of 40:1 to deliver a hard-hitting force with a small amount of compressed air.  In addition, the filter would capture any contamination from the compressed air line to keep the surface clean.  The regulator and shim set would be used to control the amount of force required to remove the debris. 

The Super Air Knife was placed just before the washing system to remove the baked contamination.  The brush system was removed.  As a bonus, they realized that they did not need to replace the brushes quarterly, which added replacement costs and maintenance time.  Sometimes these savings are overlooked.  The setup was really easy, as they only had to run compressed air to the Super Air Knife and mount anywhere from 3” (76mm) to 12” (305mm) from the sheet instead of having to periodically adjust the brushes due to the bristles shortening.

After the installation, they were amazed at the power of the Super Air Knife.  And with the non-contact cleaning, the non-stick surface was able to last much longer without having to replace the pans.  Currently, the baking sheets are lasting twice as long as they were before they started using our product.  If you have an application, where you would like to protect the surface, EXAIR has a variety of products that can create a non-contact way to clean, dry, and cool.  An Application Engineer can assist you. This customer above could now have their cake and eat it, too.

John Ball
Application Engineer


Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Drying Small Diameter Wires

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

An overseas company contacted me about an issue with drying copper wires.  Their production process utilized fourteen wire drawing machines in their facility.  They could make very fine wire in the range of diameters from 0.2mm to 2.6mm.  Some of their drawing machines were able to make a maximum of sixteen wires at the same time.

Each wire is made by a process of drawing and annealing.  The machine will draw a thicker copper wire through dies that will get progressively smaller in diameter.  Before the material goes through the dies, the copper is annealed to make it ductile and workable.  Annealing is a process of heating to make the material softer.

In this application, once the wire was to the correct diameter, it would go through a coolant bath to cool and harden.  To remove the coolant from the wires, it would travel over a set of drying cloths.  From there, the wire would travel out of the drawing machine and into a spooler.

The spooler places the wire onto a spool for packaging and shipping.  The reason that they contacted EXAIR was because the wires were not properly dried before it went to the spooler.  If any coolant was left on the surface, it would corrode the wires in that area.  They needed a better way to dry the wires because they started to receive complaints from their customers.

Site for Super Air Knife on exit of Wire Drawing Machine

When the company first contacted me, they had an interest in the Super Air Wipes.  The Air Wipes are designed to blow air in a 360 deg. pattern around the wire to dry the entire surface.  But, after getting more details about their process, the sixteen wires were coming out of the drawing machine at 1.75cm apart.

With the gap between the wires being so small, the Super Air Wipes would not be able to fit around each wire.  As another engineered solution, I recommended the Super Air Knives Kit, model 110212.  The Super Air Knives are 12” long (30.5cm) to span across all sixteen wires.  The kit includes a filter, regulator, and shim kit to accommodate different forces for different wire speeds.

The Super Air Knife can blow a laminar flow of air consistently across the entire width.  Air, as a fluid, likes to “hug” the surface.  Since the air stream isn’t turbulent, the contact time along the surface of the wire will be much longer; making it very effective at removing liquid.

I had the customer mount one Super Air Knife above and one Super Air Knife underneath, spanning across the entire row of wires.  They were positioned at a 45 deg. angle to blow in the opposite direction the wires were traveling.

Being compact, the Air Knives could be placed at a close distance near the drawing machine to blow the excess coolant back into the machine.  This would keep the floor clean and safe from coolant collecting on the ground.  So, no matter the diameter of wires being drawn through the machine, the Super Air Knives would be a non-contact way of drying the surface without having to use the drying cloths which were inconsistent and had to be replaced often.

Super Air Knife Drying Wires

If you require a non-contact way of keeping your product clean and dry, EXAIR has many products to tackle this.  No matter how large or small of a profile, we can efficiently and effectively accomplish this. You won’t have to replace items that wear or cause damage to your product by improper contact.  EXAIR has the ability to use compressed air to create a strong force without scraping or scratching your material.

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

Non-Contact Wiping with the Super Air Knife

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

A glove manufacturer needed to decrease the reject rate with their natural rubber gloves. They were seeing brush marks in the rubber material which was a visual defect.  Their operation used a ceramic hand that was used to form the size of the glove.  After the rubber material was applied, it was dipped into water to set the material.  It would come out of the water tank, and a mechanism on the conveyor would rotate the hands to “shake” off the excess water.  It would then go over brushes to wipe the water from in between the fingers.  Much of the water had to be removed before it entered into the coagulation tank because it would affect the stretching ability of the glove.  With their current operation, they were seeing the scuff marks from the brushes which was a visual defect.  This cost them down time and product rejects.  So, they contacted EXAIR to see if we could help.

Brushes used to wipe the gloves
Brushes used to wipe the gloves

In looking at their process, they had two conveyors running side by side with each other. This made it a bit more difficult as we could only work on one side.  Being that the ceramic hand rotated around twice in 36” before hitting the brushes, I could focus in this area.  When it comes to wiping products without touching it, air is required.  And EXAIR knows how to use compressed air very efficiently, safely, and effectively.  For this application, I suggested our model 110236 Super Air Knife kit.  It has an overall length of 36” which could span the target area.  It comes with a filter, regulator, and shim set to clean and control the air flow.  It would be able to “wipe” the water off the hands like a non-contact squeegee.  The air flow from the Super Air Knife will hug the exterior portion of the hand; removing the water from the surface and in between the fingers.  They removed the brushes and did not have to worry about brush marks on the glove.

EXAIR Super Air Knife
EXAIR Super Air Knife

If you require a non-contact wiping in your application, use EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Products to accomplish this. You will not have to keep replacing items that wear or use items that cause damage to your product. EXAIR has the ability to use compressed air to create a strong force without scraping or scratching your material.

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