Blower-Powered Airknife Drying System Achieves Rapid Payback For Corus
19th March 2008
Source:
Air Control Industries
With ever increasing competition from around the world, manufacturing companies are reviewing their processes constantly to see if there are ways of reducing costs. If the new systems introduced also make a contribution to enhancing the production process then that is a valuable bonus. On this basis, the new blower-powered Airknife moisture removal system installed on the five-stand mill at the Corus Trostre Works, Llanelli must be considered a genuine success because it both saves money and helps to ensure quality.
Prior to the installation of the blower-powered Airknives, compressed air delivered through 66 nozzles was used to remove surface moisture (lubricant and coolant) from steel strip as it exited the mill. This was both an expensive process and one of variable performance due to some inherent characteristics of compressed air that impacted upon quality.
The 66 nozzles delivered a total of 1748 scfm at 5Bar. This equates to more than 7HP/5kW per nozzle making a total in excess of 345kW with an annual running cost for a 48 week/year of approximately £75,000.
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, whilst 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 by the Airknives also has the benefit of being heated by the blowers, as a result of air compression, making it a more effective drying agent.
The original compressed air moisture removal system was also vulnerable to contamination by oil and moisture. This had the potential to cause imperfections in the tinplate. With the new Airknive system air is filtered at the inlets of both the enclosure and blower so such problems are eliminated.
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 air”, said Paul Millett, Senior Development Engineer, ”whereas air delivered in high-volume at low pressure, as supplied by the ACI blower-powered Airknives, is ideal. In less than six months we have recouped our investment and quality has also improved through the reduction of imperfections caused by contamination during the moisture removal process.”
The metal strip passing through the tinplating mill varies in width from 610mm to 1236mm and travels at speed up to 1524m/min.
The 66 nozzles delivered a total of 1748 scfm at 5Bar. This equates to more than 7HP/5kW per nozzle making a total in excess of 345kW with an annual running cost for a 48 week/year of approximately £75,000.
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, whilst 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 by the Airknives also has the benefit of being heated by the blowers, as a result of air compression, making it a more effective drying agent.
The original compressed air moisture removal system was also vulnerable to contamination by oil and moisture. This had the potential to cause imperfections in the tinplate. With the new Airknive system air is filtered at the inlets of both the enclosure and blower so such problems are eliminated.
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 air”, said Paul Millett, Senior Development Engineer, ”whereas air delivered in high-volume at low pressure, as supplied by the ACI blower-powered Airknives, is ideal. In less than six months we have recouped our investment and quality has also improved through the reduction of imperfections caused by contamination during the moisture removal process.”
The metal strip passing through the tinplating mill varies in width from 610mm to 1236mm and travels at speed up to 1524m/min.
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