Airknives Achieve High-volume Swarf Removal for Airbus

When machining aluminium billets down to 5% of their original mass, it creates a lot of swarf. Apply the same scenario to Airbus components, with some items being reduced from 3.2 tonnes down to 250kg, then the amount of swarf is truly significant!

Options considered to remove the swarf included a vacuum process and a combination vacuum/blower technique. Both proved to be highly expensive and difficult engineering challenges.

The solution, in engineering terms, turned out to be much simpler: Airknives powered by a single inverter controlled 110kW radial blower (4000 CFM) housed in an acoustic chamber supplied by ACI.

Mounted in the throat of the moving gantry that houses the machining heads are 30 Airknives ranging in length from 150 to 1520mm which blow the debris towards the edges of the work bed into collecting gullies.

“To achieve efficient and accurate machining, a lot of fine adjustment was required during set up”, commented Peter Jarvis, Project Manger, Airbus UK. “ACI has been flexible and accommodating to help us accomplish our operating objectives with regard to finding the correct air delivery patterns, volumes and velocities – all to good effect”.