Airknives or Compressed Air?
Of all applications with compressed air, drying is the least efficient. Apart from the energy consumption and the cost of filtering oil and condensate the maintenance costs for a continuous operating compressor can increase considerably.
An optimized system should guarantee an efficient blowing capacity at a minimal cost and with a minimal environmental effect. Choosing an ACI system will allow you to:
- Reduce your costs
- Increase your productivity and reliability
- Improve the efficiency of your production process
You will be able to work more competitively with fewer production stops and a higher efficiency.
Advantages of an airknife system compared to a compressed air system
A comparison between an airknife drying system and a compressed air system can be summarized as follows:
Airknife Drying System | Compressed Air |
Low energy consumption | High energy consumption |
Clean, oil-free and dry air | Pollution risk of components due to oil in the compressed air |
Safe: pressure lower than 0.25 bar | May be dangerous due to the high pressure |
Limited noise level | High noise level |
Little maintenance necessary | Extensive maintenance |
Efficient for large pieces | Inefficient for large pieces |
Production of large air volumes | Insufficient for the production of large air volumes |
Cost comparison between an airknife system and a compressed air system
A comparison between an airknife drying system and a comparable compressed air system shows that the airknife systems will produce considerable savings on an annual basis.
Airknife Drying System | Compressed Air |
4 airknives of 200 mm | 16 compressed air nozzles of 48 mm, together 800 mm |
1 blower with an installed capacity of 7.5 kW - 6 kW absorbed capacity | Alimentation 5 bar |
16 nozzles at 5 bar = 660 m³/h | |
Cost / hour 0.087 € (1) x 6 = 0.522 € | Cost / hour = 9.90 € |
Cost / week (40 h) = 20.88 € | Cost / week (40 h) = 396 € |
Cost / year (48 weeks) = 1002 € | Cost / year (48 weeks) = 19008 € |
Annual savings = 18006 € | |
(1) - Electricity price per kWh
(2) - Estimated production cost of compressed air, taking into account the consumption, maintenance, etc.