What Is An Air Knife Used For?

In modern industrial production, efficiency and product quality are important indicators of a company's competitiveness. In many production processes, product surface treatment, liquid removal, cleaning, and cooling often affect the smooth progress of subsequent procedures. As a high-efficiency, non-contact industrial airflow device, the Air Knife can solve these problems, improve production efficiency, ensure product quality, and is an indispensable auxiliary equipment for modern manufacturing enterprises.

What Is An Air Knife?

An air knife is an industrial airflow device that uses compressed air to create a high-speed, uniform, and continuous airflow for non-contact surface treatment of products. It can perform multiple functions such as drying, cleaning, cooling, static elimination, and coating control, and is suitable for various industries including food, electronics, printing, metal processing, and plastics processing. An air knife typically consists of a body, compressed air inlet, nozzles, and a support frame. Its core advantage lies in its ability to efficiently treat surfaces without contact with the product, improving production speed and product quality.

• Non-contact processing: Will not damage product surfaces, suitable for precision parts and fragile items.

• High efficiency and energy saving: Compared to traditional hot air drying or manual cleaning, the airflow is faster and more energy-efficient.

• Adjustable air volume and speed: Precisely adjustable according to product size, weight, and surface characteristics.

• Multifunctional applications: Can be used for various processes such as drying, cleaning, cooling, static elimination, and coating control.

• High adaptability: Can be installed on different production lines or in various industrial environments.

• Easy maintenance: Simple structure; long-term stable operation can be maintained simply by periodically cleaning the compressed air inlet and nozzles.

Drying and Removing Liquids

In the food processing, electronic component manufacturing, printing, and packaging industries, product surfaces often retain moisture, oil, or other liquids. These liquids can affect subsequent processes and even reduce product quality. Air Knife can rapidly dry these liquids using high-pressure, uniform airflow, reducing the time spent on traditional drying or desiccation processes while also lowering energy consumption.

• Food Industry: After washing vegetables and fruits, Air Knife can quickly dry surface moisture, reducing humidity before packaging and improving freshness.

• Beverage Bottle Production: After filling, residual water droplets on the bottle surface can be thoroughly dried by Air Knife before labeling, ensuring labels adhere firmly and preventing wrinkles or peeling.

• Electronic Component Manufacturing: After cleaning, residual moisture on PCB boards can cause short circuits or soldering defects. Air Knife can quickly dry these boards before assembly, improving product yield.

Cleaning and Dusting

During production, tiny particles, dust, or processing residues can easily adhere to product surfaces, affecting aesthetics, precision, and even functionality. Air Knife uses high-speed airflow to blow these impurities away from the product surface, achieving efficient, non-contact cleaning.

• Metal Processing: Tiny iron filings or oil stains may remain on the surface of metal parts after cutting or stamping. Air Knife can thoroughly clean the surface before packaging, reducing the difficulty of subsequent polishing and painting.

• Plastic Product Manufacturing: During injection molding, particles and residues easily adhere to plastic surfaces. Air Knife ensures a smooth and even finish, improving the appearance quality.

• Electronic Assembly: In SMT (Surface Mount Technology) placement and soldering processes, tiny solder slag and dust on PCB boards can affect performance. Air Knife effectively removes these, ensuring the reliability of electronic products.

Cooling and Temperature Control

During high-temperature processing, overheating of the product surface can lead to deformation, cracking, or damage. Air Knife can be used for localized or overall cooling, rapidly reducing temperature through high-speed airflow to protect product dimensional stability and process precision.

• Glass Manufacturing: Before annealing, Air Knife can uniformly cool the glass surface, preventing cracking caused by thermal stress.

• Plastic Injection Molding: After demolding, Air Knife helps to rapidly cool the surface of plastic products, increasing production cycle time and preventing warping or deformation.

• Metal Heat Treatment: In welding, forging, or heat treatment processes, Air Knife can control the localized cooling rate, ensuring that metal hardness and surface finish meet standard requirements.

Furthermore, Air Knife can be combined with liquid cooling or air cooling in temperature control to achieve more precise temperature management and improve process stability.

Coating and Liquid Control

In spraying, coating, printing, or liquid distribution processes, Air Knife controls the thickness and uniformity of liquid layers, preventing liquid accumulation, dripping, or sagging, and ensuring a smooth and consistent product surface.

• Coating Production: Air Knife assists in the uniform distribution of coatings on sheet or pipe surfaces, improving coating smoothness and adhesion.

• Printing Industry: In paper or film printing, Air Knife blows away excess moisture or ink, improving printing accuracy and color consistency.

• Food Coating: In sugar coating or chocolate coating processing, Air Knife blows away excess liquid, resulting in a uniform coating thickness and ensuring product appearance and taste.

Furthermore, Air Knife can be integrated with automated spraying equipment to achieve continuous and precise liquid handling, improving production automation levels.

More industrial applications

Beyond drying, cleaning, cooling, and coating control, Air Knife has wide applications in several specialized industrial processes:

• Static Electricity Removal: In the production of electronic components, plastic sheets, and textiles, Air Knife, combined with an ion generator, neutralizes static electricity, preventing dust adsorption or electrostatic damage.

• Material Separation: In powder or granular conveying processes, Air Knife acts as an airflow barrier, enabling material stratification, guidance, or uniform distribution.

• Packaging Assistance: On packaging lines for soft materials or bagged products, Air Knife disperses air or adjusts product positioning to ensure neat packaging.

• Precision Process Assistance: In semiconductor, optical lens, or medical device manufacturing, Air Knife assists in removing fine particles, ensuring workpiece cleanliness and precision requirements.

By appropriately combining the number of air knives, airflow, and installation angle, Air Knife can meet the precision processing needs of various industrial environments.

Selection and Usage Recommendations

Air Knife, as a highly efficient and energy-saving industrial device, plays a vital role in drying, cleaning, cooling, coating control, and precision processes. To fully leverage the effectiveness of Air Knife, companies should pay attention to the following points when selecting and using it:

• Airflow and velocity matching: Select appropriate airflow and velocity based on product size, weight, and surface characteristics to ensure sufficient airflow without damaging the product.

• Installation position and angle: The air knife should maintain a reasonable distance and angle from the product surface to avoid airflow loss or eddy currents.

• Noise control: High-speed airflow may generate noise; silencers or sound insulation measures should be used when necessary.

• Maintenance: Regularly clean the internal pipes and filters of the Air Knife to ensure stable airflow and extend the equipment's lifespan.

If you wish to introduce a highly efficient and customized Air Knife solution to your production line to improve process efficiency and ensure product quality, please contact Xinhou. We offer a variety of air knife models and installation solutions to help you achieve a perfect combination of production automation, energy saving, and high efficiency.