Standard Air Knife™

Hard hitting curtain of air for web, sheet and part blowoff.

What Is The Standard Air Knife?
Back to Top

A quiet, energy efficient way to clean, dry or cool parts, webs or conveyors. The Standard Air Knife utilizes the coanda effect (wall attachment of a high velocity fluid) to create air motion in its surroundings. Using a small amount of compressed air as a power source, the Standard Air Knife pulls in large volumes of surrounding air to produce a high flow, high velocity curtain of air for blowoff.

Specials are available. Please contact your distributor.

(3) Model 2012 12" (305mm) Standard Air Knives
perform the drying cycle in this parts washer.

Why the Standard Air Knife?
Back to Top

Amplification ratios (entrained air to compressed air) of 30:1 are achieved with the Standard Air Knife, compared to 3:1 for drilled or slotted pipe. Air savings of 40% to 90% are possible when replacing these "homemade" blowoff devices. Pay-back is normally measured in weeks, not months or years.

The Standard Air Knife dramatically reduces "wind shear" by gradually introducing the entrained air to the ejected compressed air. Noise level is typically cut in half. The result is a high velocity, high volume sheet of air with reduced noise level and air consumption.

Drilled pipe or open jets, by contrast, provide minimal air amplification. They also produce unacceptably high noise levels as the compressed air shears into the still air.

How the Standard Air Knife Works
Back to Top

Compressed air flows through the inlet (1) into a plenum chamber. It is then throttled through a thin nozzle (2) extending the length of the Standard Air Knife. This primary airstream adheres to the coanda profile (3), which turns it 90° and directs the flow down the face of the unit. The primary stream immediately begins to entrain surrounding air (4), for an amplification ratio of 30;1 at 6" (152mm) away.

Performance
Back to Top

Standard Air Knife Performance with .002" (0.05mm) shim installed

Shims Sets
Back to Top

A Standard Air Knife has a .002" (0.05mm) gap setting. This gap is set with a shim positioned between the cap and body of the Standard Air Knife. Force and flow through the Standard Air Knife may be easily increased by adding shims to open the gap. Standard Air Knife Kits include a shim set (three additional shims). Shim sets for aluminum Standard Air Knives include a .001" (0.03mm), .003" (0.08mm) and .004" (0.10mm) thick plastic shim. Shim sets for stainless steel Standard Air Knives include (3) .002" (0.05mm) thick stainless steel shims.

Electronic Flow Control (EFC)

EXAIR's EFC is an electronic flow control that dramatically reduces compressed air costs by turning off the compressed air when no part is present. This minimizes compressed air use for blow off, drying, cooling, conveying and static elimination operations. The EFC combines a photoelectric sensor with a timing control that limits compressed air use by turning it off when no part is present. Visit the EFC page for more information.

Installation and Maintenance Sheets
Back To Top

These files are in the Adobe .PDF format.
The viewer is free and is available at
www.adobe.com.