2x
Production Speed
Pets Choice MultiPack Drying
Pets Choice Ltd, based in Blackburn, dried its pet food trays with compressed air that was ineffective and energy-intensive, holding back plans to increase production speeds…
Food
DAREGAL achieves multi-product drying efficiency with SolvAir's custom-engineered Air Knife solution.
SolvAir delivers multi-product drying solutions, optimising production efficiency for food manufacturers worldwide.
DAREGAL is a leading international culinary herb producer, and it needed to dry bottles and bulk bags on one production line. Separate lines would have meant significant financial investment and extra space, so SolvAir supplied a custom “3in1” Air Knife System with a 5.5kW Paxton Blower that changes between products in one minute.
01
The Problem
Different products on one line
DAREGAL needed to process different products on the same production line, and the challenge was managing diverse product sizes, from 400mm x 560mm x 60mm bulk bags to bottles ranging from 146mm to 290mm in height. The three products are a 0.24L PET bottle, a 1.0L PET bottle and a 10L bag.
02
The Implication
Separate lines and lost flexibility
A conveyor belt for bottles is normally different in design to one for a bulk bag, so using separate production lines with distinct Air Knife Systems would result in significant financial investment, increased space requirements and operational inefficiencies. This approach would limit DAREGAL’s flexibility and potentially impact their competitiveness in the market.
03
The Solution
A 3in1 system with one minute changeover
SolvAir designed a custom “3in1” Air Knife System in close liaison with DAREGAL’s team, built around a 5.5kW Paxton Blower and strategically positioned 304 Stainless Steel Air Knives. Two 500mm Air Knives dry the bottles from the sides, while the bulk bags pass between a 494mm Air Knife above and another below, the lower one installed into the conveyor so that its air passes through the belt.
The solution featured a wire mesh conveyor and adjustable components, allowing quick one minute transitions between drying bottles and bulk bags on the same line. The wire mesh belt has a large free area that gives the least resistance to the air and lets water drain freely, and the changeover itself is a simple set of step by step adjustments requiring no tools.
Kit & applications in this project
Results
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3in1One Line
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1 minChangeover
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50%Lower Capex
This system presented a unique design challenge - we needed to come up with something new, something that could successfully manage a mixture of different bottles and bags without lengthy downtime or modifications. Our 3-in-1 successfully achieved this, culminating in an effective drying system with an operator-friendly easy changeover feature.
Chris Davies Managing Director
Could this work on your line? Talk it through with a SolvAir engineer.
Trusted by food manufacturers across the globe, SolvAir's Air Knife Systems are proven across the world's most demanding production lines.
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