INFORMATION
Aluminium Air Knives
An ACI Aluminium Air Knife is a precision engineered plenum chamber. It is designed to produce an efficient, effective, clean, high velocity air curtain that has the ability to remove surface debris, dust, water and any other liquids that may form or pool during the manufacturing process.
Stainless Steel Air Knives
Fabricated from Stainless Steel 304 in many shapes and sizes, these air knives are well suited for harsh and corrosive environments, in particular the food and beverage industries where cleanliness is of paramount importance. We offer two options of Stainless Steel which include Fully Welded and Modular.
Shaped Air Knives
The multitude of air knife shapes, sizes and materials offered are a demonstration of ACI’s customised engineering and design capabilities. Designs such as chevron, ring, square and multi-bladed air knives are all designed to suit customers’ specific surface drying and cooling requirements.
ALUMINIUM
Features include:
- Anodised Aluminium Alloy AA25 with Stainless Steel Fittings (304)
- Two sizes available – 50mm (AK05) and 76mm (AK08)
- Available in 10mm increments, with a maximum length of 3.5 metres
- Various mounting options are available including studs/spigots and tapped holes
- Multiple inlets are required for longer airknives
- AK05 = 0.11kg, plus 2kg per metre / AK08 is 0.5Kg, plus 3Kg per metre.
| Air Knife Type | Recommended dia / max length for 1mm slot | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 inlet (mm) | 2 inlets (mm) | multiple inlets | |
| AK05 | Ø50mm, up to 450mm long | Ø50mm, up to 900mm long | Ø50mm, up to 3500mm long |
| AK08 | Ø76mm, up to 1200mm long | Ø76mm, up to 2400mm long | Ø76mm, up to 6000mm long |
| Air Knife lengths in increments of 10mm | |||
Drawings
AK08
AK05
STAINLESS STEEL – Fully Welded
Air Knives can be fabricated from stainless steel (ACI Ref: AKSS05/AKSS08) – a material that is perfectly suited for harsh or corrosive environments, in particular the food industry where cleanliness is of paramount importance.
Stainless Steel Air Knives can be readily adapted to suit specific individual customer needs.
Features include:
- Material Stainless Steel 304 S11 1-4307 BSI449. Fittings to the same specification
- Various mounting and inlet configurations can be supplied
- Air Knife lengths available in 10mm increments, upto a maximum of 4 metres
- Alternative positions for inlets
- A variety of shapes such as chevrons, squares and multiple angles available
- Option of Stainless Steel 316 can also be offered
- Lengths available up to a maximum of 4m in 10mm increments
Drawings
| Recommended dia / max length for 1mm slot | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Knife Type | A | B | C | D | E | 1 inlet (mm) | 2 inlets (mm) | Multiple inlets (mm) |
| AKSS05 | 50 | 36 | 66 | 103 | 74 | Ø50mm, up to 650mm long | Ø50mm, up to 1300mm long | Ø50mm, up to 2000mm long |
| AKSS08 | 76 | 40 | 88 | 142 | 109 | Ø76mm, up to 1200mm long | Ø76mm, up to 2400mm long | Ø76mm, up to 3000mm long |
| AKSS10 | 100 | 40 | 106 | 178 | 144 | Ø100mm, up to 2000mm long | Ø100mm, up to 4000mm long | Ø100mm, up to 4000mm long |
| Air Knife lengths in increments of 10mm | ||||||||
1. all drawing measurements are in millimetres (mm).
2. above technical specifications are subject to change.
STAINLESS STEEL – Modular
ACI’s Modular Air Knives (ACI Ref: AKSM08) are fabricated from Stainless Steel 314, but fitted with plastic modular end-plates and inlets. They have all the characteristics suited for harsh and corrosive environments, such as the food industry, but they are not fully welded.
Features include:
- Air Knife plenum material – stainless steel 304 S11 1-4307 BSI449. Fittings to the same specification
- Stocked lengths available – 600mm, 1200mm and 2000mm maximum. However customised lengths up to 2000mm can be supplied
- Inlets – both end and centre options available
- Mounting – stud or blank spigot options
- Fully adjustable slot width
- Plastic moulded inlets and end plates – FDA approved
Shaped Air Knives
RING AIR KNIVES
ACI ‘Ring’ Air Knives allow for circular and round product to be easily dried around their entire circumference. They are typically fabricated from Stainless Steel 304, and can be manufactured up to 750mm in diameter. They can also be produced in two separate halves when required, as this may be necessary for drying larger items such as cable and wire products where the loading process needs to be simplified. An example of where this may be particularly useful is drying continuous extrusion.
A further example is within the process of blown polymer film lines. Polymer is extruded, then passed through a water bath for cooling and then through a circular air knife to remove any remaining cooling water.
SQUARE AIR KNIVES
This format is useful for cooling and drying square/rectangular block shaped products that may need process drying on multiple sides.
ACI has the capability of supplying multi-bladed and square air knives to industry. Fabricated from Stainless Steel 304, these air delivery solutions are particularly useful for cooling and drying square-shaped products that need processing on more than one facing side.
An example of how these units are used is demonstrated in a recent blower-driven drying system supplied to a manufacturer of concrete railway sleepers. The square air knives are able to dry the blocks on all four sides simultaneously, thereby improving the bonding process where the sleepers are being attached to a protective plastic jacket for anti-vibration and easy replacement purposes.
CHEVRON AIR KNIVES
With high speed lines, chevron designs push surface water to the product edges more effectively than a straight air knife.
Within certain industrial drying processes, such as the drying of wide metal sheet or sheets with a lot of standing water present, ACI will supply Air Knives in a chevron style where they are proven to have some critical advantages over straight air knife designs.
For example the chevron has the effect of pushing the water to product edges far more effectively and in less time than a straight air knife which in some circumstances creates a ‘bow wave’. When this occurs the overall drying effect of the air knife is severely minimised and moisture will remain on the product surface.
Additionally the chevron shape prevents a tailing wet edge normally seen at the end of a sheet. For shorter width sheets such as PC boards, an air knife can be angled across the line to limit the wet trailing edge.
