AirUser 2008 96+4pp 24/7/08 11:32 Page 28
Blowers applications
Rapid payback with blowers
A blower powered airknife system from ACI installed at Corus has achieved rapid
payback of just 21 weeks and is ensuring a more reliable quality of compressed air
W
ith ever increasing competition from by the Airknives also has the benefit of being heated by
around the world, manufacturing the blowers, as a result of air compression, making it a
companies are reviewing their more effective drying agent.
processes constantly to see if there
are ways of reducing costs. If the new systems The original compressed air moisture removal system
introduced also make a contribution to enhancing was also vulnerable to contamination by oil and
the production process then that is a valuable moisture. This had the potential to cause imperfections
bonus. On this basis, the new blower-powered in the tinplate. With the new Airknive system air is
Airknife moisture removal system installed on the filtered at the inlets of both the enclosure and blower so
five-stand mill at the Corus Trostre Works, Llanelli such problems are eliminated.
must be considered a genuine success because it
both saves money and helps to ensure quality. ACI’s Airknife moisture removal system comprises a pair
of stainless steel chevron-shaped aiknives covering a
width of 1240mm fed at all times by four of the
company’s 15kW EP10 blowers, which are housed in
pairs in acoustic enclosures. There are in fact six blowers
but two are on standby. Air from the blowers is
delivered to the Airknives, first via 200mm ducting and
then by two 150mm ducts.
The blowers are powered by inverter-controlled, high-
efficiency EFF1 motors. This permits the blowers to be
ramped up and down as required whereas the
compressed air system was either on/off and could be
left on between production runs.
“Low-volume and applications which require low to
medium-pressure are an inefficient use of compressed
Prior to the installation of the blower-powered Airknives, air”, said Paul Millett, senior development engineer,
compressed air delivered through 66 nozzles was used ”whereas air delivered in high-volume at low pressure,
to remove surface moisture (lubricant and coolant) from as supplied by the ACI blower-powered Airknives, is
steel strip as it exited the mill. This was both an ideal. In less than six months we have recouped our
expensive process and one of variable performance due investment and quality has also improved through the
to some inherent characteristics of compressed air that reduction of imperfections caused by contamination
impacted upon quality. during the moisture removal process.”
The 66 nozzles delivered a total of 1748 scfm at 5Bar. The metal strip passing through the tinplating mill varies
This equates to more than 7HP/5kW per nozzle making in width from 610mm to 1236mm and travels at speed
a total in excess of 345kW with an annual running cost up to 1524m/min.
for a 48 week/year of approximately £75,000.
ENTER 83419 airuser.com/enquiry
By comparison, the Airknife system, supplied by air
handling specialist Air Control Industries (ACI) of Chard,
uses just 60kW yet achieves more efficient moisture
removal. The result, payback was achieved in just 21
weeks.
In addition, while the compressed air supply was
vulnerable to demands for other operations within the
plant, resulting in inconsistent performance which
impacted upon quality, the blower-powered Airknives
deliver the required air output constantly. Air delivered
28 AirUser
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