We all remember the box with different shapes that toddlers play with to eventually learn shape names. Well, this also teaches some other things like fine motor skills and for some, how to work around the challenge altogether. Here at EXAIR, we like to use our products to help build skills and enable our customers to navigate the challenges at hand. Sometimes, that means fitting a square peg in a round hole.
That’s right, while we all like to think of the Super Air Wipe as a product that is only used with round wire, cable, bar, tubing, or extrusion that is round, that is not the case. Now, I know what you might be thinking, that’s a waste or how can you fit that shape. Well, the Super Air Wipes from EXAIR are offered in 11 sizes from stock in aluminum construction and 5 in stock from stainless steel. (In stock for us means they ship same day on orders received by 2:00 PM ET.) The reason we don’t only use these for round objects is the fact that once the air hits a surface it follows that surface.
The Super Air Wipes have a converging airflow and as long as the profile being passed through fits through the inner diameter and does not have undercuts then the air should attach to the surface and travel upstream of the SAW location and blow off the moisture, debris, or cool the material being fed through. This pattern of air will converge 360° to the wipe. So if the extrusion being passed through is a square shape, then the air will hit each flat, and where the corners are that air will simply combine and continue upstream.
Throughout the years I have even helped customers to use only half of a Super Air Wipe to cool or clean a part as it rides down a conveyor and use half of the wipe as a gate for the part to pass through. Another common application is to use the Super Air Wipe to protect lenses for things like measurement systems or cameras. This can be done by installing the Super Air Wipe in front of the camera or lens and blowing the air stream out away from the lens. Again, the converging flow helps to provide an air barrier to shield the lens from foreign debris or moisture.
If you would like to see what kind of irregular shape we can help fit through a Super Air Wipe to cool down or clean it off as it is fed down a process line, contact an Application Engineer today.
Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF