A Secomak air knife kit has been sold to Corus for use in a cold Steel Rolling Mill 800mm wide. The air knife removes coolant and moisture from the surface of steel. The coil is rolled thinner by the rolling mill, and that adds heat to the steel. Coolant in the form of a soluble oil is used to keep the temperature down. If left on the surface the oil will cause problems. This is further compounded by the fact that the steel is immediately wound up in a large coil, and the pressure of the winding actions squeezes any moisture to the edge of the coil where it can corrode in storage.

The drying system fits into the treatment line after the rolling mill before a laser inspection and before a winding mechanism.

The rolling machines have been established for a long time, and are big heavy items which cannot be altered too much. Therefore Secomak had to find a solution within a limited space. We make a special small section air knife which was the only possible solution.

Alternative drying techniques considered? Corus had a pinch roller before Secomak's system to get the worst off, which can only be used on certain coil thicknesses. They previously used compressed air. It might be good to play up this point as there would have very considerable compressed air savings at the time, though this was not the prime reason for change.