Air knives can effectively reduce compressed air consumption

November 2006 Pneumatics & Hydraulics

The economical use of compressed air in blowoff, drying and cooling applications is a problem that energy conscious plants face. When the cost of electricity soars and the compressor is running at maximum capacity, many companies look for ways to spend less money by cutting air consumption.

Some may consider a blower to be an energy saving alternative. However, in reality a blower has some inherent problems:

* It is an expensive capital expenditure.

* Bearings typically wear out in a year and are not field replaceable.

* Maintenance is frequent and expensive.

* Most do not get the parts dry or clean on the first pass.

The installation of Super Air Knives is an effective way of reducing the consumption of compressed air. A practical example is a tile manufacturer who had two 610 mm drilled pipes blowing water and dust off the tiles; one blowing the tile clean from the top and another mounted on the bottom. The pipes have 1,6 mm diameter holes on 14 mm centres and consumed 373 SCFM of air. Replacing the pipes with Super Air Knives brought the air consumption down to 139 SCFM (eliminating about 37,3 kW of compressed air). For this application, there was an annual saving of R49 500.

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