AIR KNIFE SYSTEMS
Superior Technology For Most Effective-Efficient-Energy
Saving Solutions For Drying-Cleaning-Blow
OFF -Wiping-Many more Applications.-
AIR KNIFE SYSTEMS
Superior Technology For Most Effective-Efficient-Energy
Saving Solutions For Drying-Cleaning-Blow
OFF -Wiping-Many more Applications.
Food and Beverage Applications
APPLICATION
Tubes up to max 32mm Dia. needed to be dried, so as it can be packed for transportation. Installed system of Ring type Air wipe working on compressed air did not meet improved quality standards. Production speed of Tube was restricted. Energy cost of running air compressor was an issue. Maintenance cost of Air Compressors was high. Compressor downtime created delays in production schedules. Max Production speed of tube was 120M/Min.
Solution
| “BEFORE” | “AFTER” (INTRODUCTION OF RING BLOWER ASSISTED AIR KNIFE SYSTEM) |
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SET UP |
System consisted of A Ring type Air wipe of 2” size. This was connected to compressed Air System of plant. If a dedicated Compressor were to be used for operating the system, it would require 25kw Air Compressor. |
System consisted of 4 Air Knifes of 50mm length connected to 1.3kw Ring Blower. Necessary mounting system and connecting accessories completed the system. |
SET UP COST |
Air Wipe Compressor Filter Drying Rs. 12,000/- + 1,35,000/- = Rs. 1,47,000/- |
Rs. 70,000/- |
ENERGY COST PER ANNUM |
25 kw x 24 Hr x 365 days x Rs 7/- per Kw Hr = Rs. 15,33,000/- |
1.3 kw x 24 Hr x 365 days x Rs 7/- per Kw Hr = Rs.79,716/- |
BENEFITS WITH “AFTER” SYSTEM (RING BLOWER ASSISTED AIR KNIFE SYSTEM) |
Blower assisted Air Knife completely dried tube around the periphery resulting in increased production speeds. |
|
SAVINGS IN ENERGY COST PER ANNUM |
Rs. 15,33,000/- - Rs. 79,716/- = Rs. 14,53,284/- |
|
SAVINGS IN OTHER COSTS PER ANNUM |
With lesser capital investment, faster production meant better profits. |
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PAYBCK
|
Total cost of new system costing Rs. 70,000/- is recovered within about 18days of working. Further on, energy saving costs cuts down production cost to a great extent increasing profitability. |
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APPLICATION
2m wide steel plates needed to be dried after it goes through pickling & washing process. Existing thermal drying was not efficient and was subject to frequent breakdown. After drying, hot plates needed to cool down for manual handling. This caused longer & slower production lines.
Solution
| “BEFORE” | “AFTER” (INTRODUCTION OF RING BLOWER ASSISTED AIR KNIFE SYSTEM) |
|
SET UP |
System consisted of continuous blowing of heated air on top of moving plates. Nearly 33kw of heating element were installed. Production speed was restricted to ensure full drying & later cooling to allow safe manual handling |
One 2m Air Knife with two 4 KW blowers were installed on top of conveyor with help of mounting accessories. |
SET UP COST |
Approx Rs.1,00,000/- |
Rs. 1,80,000/- |
ENERGY COST PER ANNUM |
33 KW x 24 HR x 365 days x Rs. 7/- per KW HR = Rs.20,23,560/- |
1.3 kw x 24 Hr x 365 days x Rs 7/- per Kw Hr = Rs.79,716/- |
BENEFITS WITH “AFTER” SYSTEM (RING BLOWER ASSISTED AIR KNIFE SYSTEM) |
Blower assisted Air Knife completely dried the steel plate without raising its temperature. Cooler plates were ready for manual handling immediately after drying. This made production lines shorter & faster. |
|
SAVINGS IN ENERGY COST PER ANNUM |
Rs.20,23,560/- - Rs.4,90,560/- = Rs.15,33,000/- |
|
SAVINGS IN OTHER COSTS PER ANNUM |
Faster production lines mean more production without adding installed capacity. Shorter production lines mean more available space for other uses. |
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PAYBCK
|
Total cost of new system of Rs. 1, 80,000/- were recovered within approx. 43 working days, after which company made huge savings in energy costs, and added more profit by running faster production lines. Extra available space was useful for other operations. |
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APPLICATION
For production of large welded pipes, both edge of steel plates needed to be bevelled by milling operation. Milling operation produced metal chips, which needed to be blown off the plate to ensure that it does not get into pipe forming rolls & damage the surface.
Solution
| “BEFORE” | “AFTER” (INTRODUCTION OF RING BLOWER ASSISTED AIR KNIFE SYSTEM) |
|
SET UP |
No system was in place except manually blowing of chips by compressed air blow gun. Neglecting to blow away metal chips caused damage to forming rolls & huge production losses. |
System consisted of 2000mm Air Knife assisted only 2 nos of 4 kw blowers and other mounting & connecting accessories. |
SET UP COST |
- |
Rs. 1,80,000/- |
ENERGY COST PER ANNUM |
- |
2 x 4.0KW x 24 x 365 x 7/- = Rs.4,90,500/- |
BENEFITS WITH “AFTER” SYSTEM (RING BLOWER ASSISTED AIR KNIFE SYSTEM) |
On line continuous removal of metal chips from steel plates, reduced downtimes and saved forming rollers from damage. Major cost savings was affected by avoiding downtimes. Production speed was increased and improved manufacturing quality was noticed. |
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SAVINGS IN ENERGY COST PER ANNUM |
N.A |
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SAVINGS IN OTHER COSTS PER ANNUM |
N.A |
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PAYBCK
|
N.A |
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APPLICATION
Steel strips were dried with help of compressed air delivered through several nozzles. Huge compressor of 350 kw served to supply compressed air to these nozzles. Performance of system was poor.
Solution
| “BEFORE” | “AFTER” (INTRODUCTION OF RING BLOWER ASSISTED AIR KNIFE SYSTEM) |
|
SET UP |
System consisted of several air nozzles spread over the span and connected to air compressor with pipeline. |
One Air Knife as either side of strips were mounted with help of mounting accessories. Each Air Knife was connected to two blowers of 7.5 kw capacity. |
SET UP COST |
Approx. 50,00,000/- |
Rs. 3,50,000/- |
ENERGY COST PER ANNUM |
350 kw x 24 Hr x 365 days x Rs. 7/- per Kw Hr = Rs.2,14,62,000/- |
4 x 7.5 kw x 24 Hr x 365 days x Rs.7/- per Kw Hr = Rs.18,39,600/- |
BENEFITS WITH “AFTER” SYSTEM (RING BLOWER ASSISTED AIR KNIFE SYSTEM) |
Blower assisted Air Knife produced better removal or residual water at unbelievable cost savings. The company’s balance sheet show significant energy cost savings. | |
SAVINGS IN ENERGY COST PER ANNUM |
Rs.2,14,62,000/- - Rs.18,39,600/- = Rs.1,96,22,400/- |
|
SAVINGS IN OTHER COSTS PER ANNUM |
N.A. |
|
PAYBCK |
Rs.3, 50,000/- cost of Ring Blower assisted Air Knife system was recovered within nearly 7 working days. Management was very pleased with such huge energy savings cost. |
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Rubber extrusion used in the manufacture of door and window seals is passed through a salt potassium nitrate bath to cure it and produce a gloss finish. Crystals of this salt, adheres to the strip, spoiling the appearance of the product and causing maintenance problems when it sticks to conveyor rollers. It is also loss of costly raw material. In addition, topping up the salt bath is a hazardous operation, and needs to be kept to a minimum for safety reasons. Ring Blower assisted Air knives can be mounted above the conveyor to blow the salt laden water out of the extrusion in a much shorter time allowing production to continue quickly.
After filling, aerosol cans are passed through a hot water bath to test for leaks. These cans then need to be dried, particularly the tops which can contain pools of water, which would be trapped, once the cap had been applied. This trapped water causes rusting of the can during transit and storage, and which causes customer complaints. Ring Blower assisted Air Knifes can be mounted on either side of the conveyor, to dry the sides of the cans, and a longer air knife mounted across the top, angled from one side of the conveyor to the other side, dries the top. Additional small air knives/nozzles may be needed to dry particularly difficult cans as required.
Metal parts travelling on a wire mesh conveyor leaves lot of debris, once parts are transferred to their work stations. These remaining debris needs to be removed from the belt, otherwise it builds up, until a conveyor failure occurs. A Ring Blower assisted air knife is placed across the conveyor, to blow the debris off, and keeps the wire mesh belt clean. The waste is then collected and recycled.
Reusable Plastic Crates and Trays are essential part of today’s effective and cost saving goods movement. Most application requires these reusable Crates and Trays to be washed for handling, safety, health and hygiene related issues. These Crates and trays once washed, needs to be dried from outside and from inside. Plastics cannot tolerate very high temperatures for drying. Manual drying is neither quick enough nor cost effective. Drying with compressed air requires huge compressors, leading to fat energy bills. The blower assisted Air Knife System answers the prayer with the quickest, most effective, and energy efficient solution.
A reputed wire and cable manufacturer makes standard range of wires and cables. One of the main problems during the production is the removal of the residual moisture film from water-cooled insulated cable. The removal of this moisture film from extruded products, proved inherently difficult to achieve with the help of compressed air nozzles. This set up was inefficient at drying the wire/cables and also very costly to run. Ring Blower Air Knife System for drying cable has solved this problem whilst at the same time achieving significant savings in energy costs. Compared to the original compressed air systems, it is estimated blower-powered wire/cable drying system can give up to a 10-fold reduction in energy cost savings, which potentially pays off system cost within few days of its installation.
A manufacturer of mineral wool insulation, when producing insulation material, which is wool-like filament, transfers product on to conveyor belt. Previously dirty wet factory compressed air was used to remove surface water from the metal conveyor belt system. New cleaning system with Blower Assisted Air Knifes has resulted in energy and maintenance cost savings. Moreover the drying and cleaning is done much faster and it is far superior compared to earlier system.
Plastic sheet manufacturer used compressed air to dry and also cool during manufacturing of plastic sheet. Drying was not very effective and cooling was not uniform throughout the width of the sheet. This presented problem as after the sheet was cut to required size, due to uneven cooling, cut sheets did not maintain the size. Ring Blower assisted Air Knife solved this problem by maintaining uniform cooling rate throughout the width and also drying very efficiently.
After circuits have been etched onto the board, it passes through various chemical baths, and it is then washed and rinsed. Natural air drying by storing in racks to let it dry, is both wasteful of time and space, and hinders productivity. Two Ring Blower assisted air knives placed on top and bottom on a mesh conveyor, strips off water lodged in the channels and holes.
The raw materials like steel beams, rods, and pipes are stored outside in an open warehouse, and transferred onto a conveyor for processing and surface coating, as and when required. During the open storage, these products can get wet, covered in leaves and other deposits, and these need to be removed before it can be further processed. A Ring Blower assisted air knife placed on each side of a conveyor removes surface moisture and cleans surface of beams, rods and pipes deposits as it travels along the conveyor. This improves product finish after processing and reduces labour costs.
Large manufacturing units like cement factory, steel mills, have dusty working environments. Many machines and appliance tend to malfunction, if dust settles in critical working areas, like guide ways, bearings, electrical control panels etc of the machines. Continuous air stream from Ring Blower assisted Air Knife, works miracles in these areas, by not allowing the dust to settle in such areas. The cost of energy for operating these blowers is only a small fraction of cost, involved in servicing and downtime of these machines. Besides it enhances the machine life.
During the manufacture of abrasive paper, the abrasive material is fed from a hopper onto the paper and adhesive. Prior to this operation, there is an electronic sensor, which is part of the line control process. It is necessary to keep the abrasive material away from this sensor, to prevent damage and maintain accurate operation. Ring Blower assisted Air Knifes placed over the conveyor, in between the hopper and the sensor, acts as an air curtain, and acts as a barrier to prevent the abrasive material from reaching and damaging the sensor.
Marbles slabs, Natural stones, Tiles requires to be cut for proper sizing. During this cutting process, lot of water is used to cool and lubricate the cutter. In the process, cut surface, is left with residual water along with cut powder, which needs to be removed and dried, once the cutting is over. When Blower assisted Air Knife System is installed in line, after the cutting process, water is very effectively and conveniently dried and powder is blown away, leaving cut surfaces dry and clean.
Aluminum billets when machined create a lot of metal chips. Options considered to remove the swarf, included a vacuum blower technique. This proved to be highly expensive and difficult engineering challenge. The blower assisted Air Knife System, turned out to be much simpler and effective solution, at the fraction of the cost of other options. Several Air Knifes, of different lengths, are mounted near machining centers, which blows away machined chips. This turned out to be best and effective solution.
During the processing of carpet, it is passed through a bath of hot molten rubber at high temperature, to provide a rubber backing, which improves wear and comfort. Natural air cooled the rubber, before being wound onto a roll, for transport and storage. When processed carpet was stored or transported, it was noticed that some of rubber backing had not cooled enough, causing adhesion between layers. This caused rejection /waste of few feet of carpet on each roll. By using Ring Blower assisted Air Knifes, blowing onto the rubber back of the carpet enhanced cooling, setting the rubber backing which prevented the layers from sticking together.
Used Aluminium cans to be recycled come along with lots of other waste articles. These articles need to be separated before, aluminium cans are sent for recycling on conveyor belts. Separating of recyclable aluminium, from other rubbish is done by using a blower assisted air knife at a correct angle and position, just below the conveyor belt, near the end of conveyor belt, so that aluminium scrap is separated and collected separately, while other rubbish is blown away into waste bin.