Air Knives-Nozzles

Blower & Vacuum Best Practices interviewed Republic Manufacturing VP of Sales & Marketing, Rich Leong.

Our line of regenerative blowers, also known as side channel blowers, are for vacuum or compressed air applications in both horizontal and vertical mounted positions. Airflow capabilities range from 50 to 776 CFM, vacuum capabilities from 47" to 236" of water (1.7 psi to 8.53 psi) and pressure capabilities up from 47" to 307" of water (1.7 psi to 11.09). TEFC electric motors are cUL and CE certified and come in single and three-phase, dual frequency and multi-voltage versions for worldwide applications. Horsepower ranges from 1/2 to 40 HP (from 0.4 to 30kW).

A metal producer, in the Midwest, spends an estimated $2.4 million annually on electricity to operate their compressed air system.  The current average electric rate, at this plant, is 5.5 cents per kWh, and the compressed air system operates 8,760 hours per year. This system assessment recommended a group of “near-term” compressed air demand reduction projects and then a group of separate “longer-term” projects focused on optimizing the air compressors, the controls and the heated desiccant compressed air dryers. The near term demand-reduction projects...

At Scholle IPN, Valley Packline’s engineering experience and JetAir’s drying expertise came together to deliver an automated, energy efficient solution. Ultimately, the new system eliminated 120 man-hours each week dedicated entirely to erecting and washing. The new system can be manned by just one employee as it pulls bins directly off delivery trucks, re-erects, washes, and dries them, and feeds them into the facility for refilling. Throughput at Scholle was improved by the system, while energy costs were kept to a minimum.

Many manufacturing processes are like offensive linemen. When everything is running smoothly, nobody tends to notice. But, when an application starts creating a hazardous work environment (think too many blindsided sacks), or the products start spoiling (think shutout or a losing season), you best believe someone will start paying attention.

This item is designed to be used with our Vortron single stage centrifugal blower. Industrial water removal processes are presently being accomplished with several types of systems using 40 PSIG regulated pressures from the 100-125 PSIG plant compressed air supply. We can match and improve the process, usually with required operating pressures below 3 PSIG. This creates a huge reduction in process utility costs. This fixture provides a 360° converging point air impact pattern.

This food & beverage plant is a large (500,000 sq ft) meat processing plant with twenty packaging lines and nine palletizers. The compressed air system is supplied from three separate rooms with seven individual lubricant-cooled, single and two-stage rotary screw compressors. The plant has four blower purge desiccant dryers designed to deliver a - 40°F pressure dewpoint.

Bottling companies and breweries, in California, are benefiting from a three-step system assessment process aimed at reducing the electrical consumption of their compressed air systems. The three-step process reduces compressed air demand in bottling lines by focusing on open blowing and idle equipment, and then improves the specic power (reducing the energy consumption) of the air compressors.

Many times, the hierarchy of making improvements in your compressed air system will begin with the larger equipment. If your compressor is outdated, inefficient or sized improperly for your plant, the cost of replacing it may scare you away from proceeding down the efficiency path. It is also typical to first concentrate on updating the controls of a compressor to best match peak demands and lulls in the need for air and, while this is a very good step to take in your overall plan of attack, it can also burden your budget.

“Sandblasting” is one of the oldest and most used methods of metal treatment. Various abrasive materials may be loaded manually or by a vacuum system pulling the “grit” from a storage tank. A control valve then operates with the compressed air (bypassing the vacuum pump), being forced into the tank pressurizing the receiver. When the high pressure compressed air goes out the discharge line, it pulls the appropriate amount of grit with it to effectively impinge against the targeted metal surface.

Assessing payback on engineered air nozzle and blower upgrades

There are a variety of means factories can use to remove or “blowoff” moisture from a package. Open tubes or drilled pipe are often viewed as simple low-cost methods. However, there are considerable drawbacks to these approaches, most notably – increased operating expense. While they may be convenient and inexpensive in the short term, these approaches often cost 5-7 times more to operate than preferred alternatives.