At EXAIR, we will never shy away from an application just because we don’t have something on the shelf ready to go from stock. We pride ourselves in the ability to provide a custom solution for an application that requires it. Just because you don’t see something in the catalog doesn’t mean we can’t make it happen! This was the case recently with a customer that manufactures food vacuum packaging machines.
A piece of the bag material is extruded, washed, and then filled with product. After the material is extruded it enters a water-cooling bath just before being inflated. The customer needed a solution for blowing off this excess water before opening the bag and packaging the finished products.
They designed a series of nozzles in a ring to provide a flow of compressed air to remove the residual water after the cooling bath. This worked for the most part, but was not effective at completely removing all of the moisture. After searching online, they came across the EXAIR Super Air Wipe. The Super Air Wipe was the exact tool they were looking for, providing a 360° laminar airflow around the full exterior of the bag. The only problem was that space was severely limited. To allow it to fit in their machine, we manufactured a special 6” Super Air Wipe with a reduced overall footprint and countersunk bolts to fit perfectly. Since air consumption was a concern, we installed a .001” shim to cut the total volume of compressed air needed in half!
EXAIR offers a line of Super Air Wipes available to ship same day from stock as well. The Super Air Wipe is available in aluminum construction in sizes ranging from 3/8” – 11” in diameters. All Super Air Wipes come with stainless steel hardware and stainless steel shims. Sizes up to 4” include a brass tee that supplies one half of the Super Air Wipe while a stainless steel wire braided hose supplies the other side. Sizes over 4” should be piped directly to each ¼ NPT compressed air inlet. In addition to aluminum construction, the Super Air Wipe is also available in 303 stainless steel for corrosive or high temperature applications. The Stainless Steel Super Air Wipe can withstand temperatures up to 800°F and is available in sizes from ½”-4” from stock.
If you’re processing any type of hose, wire, or extruded shapes that could benefit from installing a Super Air Wipe give us a call. With all sizes shipping from stock on an order received by 2:00 pm EDT we can have one to you as early as tomorrow!
Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_TD