Experimental verification of the feasibility of the CFD approach in an air-knife

Air knives with very different nominal values are used for various purposes

in the industry. The uses of air knives include the painting and coating

stages of automobile semi-finished products, as well as many stages related

to food production. One of the important sectors among these is the

continuous hot-dip galvanizing process, which is a coating technique in the

steel industry. In addition, the chemical coating process on paper as a

very thin layer is another research topic. The most critical process needed

in these sectors is to ensure a homogeneous air-flow at the expected air

speed of the air-knife. These determine whether the coating on the steel or

the chemical layer on the paper is homogeneous at the desired thickness. In

this study, it is aimed that the air-knife can reach the expected values

(speed and homogeneous distribution) with the expected tolerances, the

shortest time, cost, and the least production process error. First, a design

has been made so that this knife can blow air at the desired speed and

homogeneously. For this, the most appropriate modeling and design values

were created and analyzed with the CFD. The analysis and evaluations of the

design were confirmed as a result of the measurements made on the prototype.

This study shows that the inclusion of this type of modeling and analysis in

the rapid product development process has an important role in minimizing

cost and time.