EXAIR Super Air Knife Helps Bakery Protect Sheet Pan Coating

A bakery had a process where they cleaned baking sheets after they made cakes, breads, and donuts.  The system consisted of scraping the pans with brushes prior to running them through a washing system.   The excess crust material had to be removed as it could cause problems with the washing machine.  The baking sheets had a non-stick coating to help in the baking process.  The issue that they were having was that the brushes would start to remove the non-stick coating over time, causing the pans to rust.  If you needed more iron in your diet, this would not be the proper way.  The baking sheet was 18” (457mm) wide by 36” (914mm) long.  They contacted EXAIR to see if we had a better way to clean these sheets without damaging the coating. 

EXAIR has been supplying powerful non-contact ways to clean, dry, and cool products.  For this application, I recommend the model 110218SS Super Air Knife Kit.    The kit includes an 18” (457 mm) 303SS Super Air Knife, a filter, a regulator, and a shim set.  The stainless-steel construction would protect against the harsh detergents that are used in the process.  If additional protection is required, EXAIR also provides 316SS material.  The unique feature of the Super Air Knife is that it entrains ambient air at a rate of 40:1 to deliver a hard-hitting force with a small amount of compressed air.  In addition, the filter would capture any contamination from the compressed air line to keep the surface clean.  The regulator and shim set would be used to control the amount of force required to remove the debris. 

The Super Air Knife was placed just before the washing system to remove the baked contamination.  The brush system was removed.  As a bonus, they realized that they did not need to replace the brushes quarterly, which added replacement costs and maintenance time.  Sometimes these savings are overlooked.  The setup was really easy, as they only had to run compressed air to the Super Air Knife and mount anywhere from 3” (76mm) to 12” (305mm) from the sheet instead of having to periodically adjust the brushes due to the bristles shortening.

After the installation, they were amazed at the power of the Super Air Knife.  And with the non-contact cleaning, the non-stick surface was able to last much longer without having to replace the pans.  Currently, the baking sheets are lasting twice as long as they were before they started using our product.  If you have an application, where you would like to protect the surface, EXAIR has a variety of products that can create a non-contact way to clean, dry, and cool.  An Application Engineer can assist you. This customer above could now have their cake and eat it, too.

John Ball
Application Engineer

Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb