Charlotte, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/28/2014 -- Air jets, air curtains, or precision drying systems are all used to describe a device which uses air to blow a substance from a substance. These are known to be called as air knives.

An air knife, a tool used to blow off liquid or debris from products as they travel on conveyors, is normally used as the first part in a recursive recycling process of manufacturing. This knife functions to separate lighter or smaller particles from other components for use in later or subsequent steps, post manufacturing parts drying and conveyor cleaning, part of component cleaning. Uniform sheets, high intensity of laminar airflow, or known as streamline flow are what the knife consists of.

How does it work?

Compressed air flows through an inlet at the end of a port and into a plenum or housing chamber in an air knife. The compressed air leaves the air knife from the plenum chamber while the surrounding air is sucked into the airflow, adding to the amplification ratio of 30:1 at 6 inches. This ratio adheres to the Coanda effect. Then, going down the front down of the air knife, the airflow travels by turning 90 degrees. The combined and now amplified air flow turns into a laminar sheet of air. This uniform sheet of air is converted into reduced energy use, which cools off an application.

What else?

Aside from its use to manufacturing, air knives can be also used as air volume amplifiers. Unique knife shape causes adhering of airstream to the knife surface using the so-called Coanda effect. Coanda effect causes suction of surrounding air increase the total capacity of air flow. It also provides an integrity downstream in a bigger usable range.

The air flow can simply be regulated and thereby is the use of the knife in the application. The different thickness of knives would determinate the thickness of a knife’s slot. Thus, this has an effect on dynamic air pressure and its quantity.

What are the types and applications of air knives?

Usually, air knives are used to contain or remove free-standing materials, be it liquids or solids from the surface of the material. The applications involve drying bottles and cans after rinsing and filling, printed circuit boards, metal castings after automatic machining, and many more. They can also transfer heated or cooled air to the surface, or create an invisible air barrier to separate heated or cooled environments from one another in industrial applications.

In many different industries, environments and applications, air knives have a variety of uses. Because of the invisible high velocity, air streams can be discharged by air knife designs of numerous shapes and sizes.

Meanwhile, using air knives would fasten, require less space, and dry oddly shaped parts completely as well as removed solid debris.

About StreamTek
StreamTek has over 15 years of experience in compressed air-operated products. All of their products are manufactured in-house. They pride ourselves on keeping costs low and eliminating the middle man in order to pass the savings onto our customers. They offer outstanding product which are of quality, exceptional customer service, and safe/secure business transactions.

STREAMTEK Guarantees its catalogued product for 30 days. If a customer is not completely satisfied for any reason with that time, the product can be returned for a full credit with NO restocking fee!