Appropriate air curtains will ensure proper work and production environment conditions being maintained by the HVAC system in spite of open doorways.  Food manufacturing and processing facilities will witness a decline in quality of the final product if the production set up has poor temperature control or humidity control or storage conditions due to open doorways. Inappropriate production or storage conditions may trigger growth of microorganisms. Appropriate air curtains at doorways will help maintain these HVAC system design conditions of the set-up, over and above keep a check on operational costs of the plant by reducing the conditioned air losses through these doorways.

At Acme Air Curtains, we work diligently to address these ongoing concerns of some renowned brands by helping maintain safe work environments that prevent entry of various contaminants, including dust, odor and insects apart from keeping the ideal processing environment. 

Food processing industry, has two broad areas of air curtain usage:

Production, Processing & Packaging Areas

Usually, facilities comprising of raw material receipt, cleaning, segregating, processing, packaging, warehousing activities, waste disposal areas, change rooms etc., make up for areas where air curtain installations are recommended. Air curtain installation in such areas is essential for:

• To prevent dust and insects from entering into production, packaging or storage areas
• To help maintain hygienic work environment
• To keep insects, obnoxious odors and fumes away from waste and garbage disposal area from entering production or packaging areas

Cold-room Openings

• To prevent cold air losses
• To prevent warm and humid air ingression into cold rooms
• To prevent frosting on cooling coils of AHUs which in turn saves power
• Lower frosting on cooling coils will help elongate the duration required for defrosting; this enables companies to store goods in cold-room for longer duration.
• Reduction in ice formation on the floor of cold-rooms leads to lower rate of encountering accidents on the work-floor

Insect barrier air curtains are natural air barriers that do not hinder any man or material movement in the food manufacturing and processing areas while protecting the insides from outsides. Moreover, air curtains do not diminish visibility in workspaces. Air curtains are the most efficient way to prevent entry of insects and other contaminants.

Most of the existing solutions in the market attempt only aggravate the issue by allowing to insects to enter in the first place. These solutions attempt to deal with presence of insects once they already enter the processing or manufacturing area.  Common examples include, UV lamps, fly papers, insect spray or strips. Not only are these solutions harmful for the environment but do not deal with the primary problem i.e. entry of insects into the premises.

Acme Air Curtain’s objective is to prevent the entry of insects, dust and other contaminants in the first place. Effective air curtains create a strong air draft of high speed, high cfm which is uniformly flowing from top to bottom of the opening without any gaps or weak spots, resulting into successful prevention of insects, including flying insects, from entering the food manufacturing, processing and storage area of the premises.

To create an effective air barrier, it is important to understand that installed air curtain needs to cover the entire width of the opening and needs to generate a powerful air draft. To create a powerful insect and dust barrier, it is essential to have optimum air draft velocity (speed) as well as air draft cfm (quantity) at source and at the floor level. For providing the right air curtain at any opening, width will determine the length of unit(s) while the height of the opening and prevalent insides as well as outsides environment conditions will play a vital role in determining the air speeds to generate the desired insect repellent 6+ m/sec air speeds at floor level. This air draft must be largely uniform across any horizontal point with minimum variation in velocity across the width of the opening. A cross flow suction air curtain unit is an ideal unit to deliver the right air draft parameters.

Standard ambience control air curtains [commercial air curtains] are not effective to prevent entry of insects, as high velocity + cfm air curtains are needed to repel entry of insects.

For companies in food industry, Acme Air Curtains offers a wide range of customized air curtains to create powerful dust and insect barriers. Insect barrier air curtains prevent the entry of insects and bugs into the manufacturing and processing areas and thereby provide hygienic work environment.

Acme Air Curtains is a leading manufacturer and exporter of industrial and commercial air curtains.  Acme Air Curtains are custom-made to suit a variety of client requirements. Over the past 30+ years, Acme Air Curtains has been creating pristine and comfortable work environments for its customers across geographies.

For specialized requirements or to get a quote, get in touch with us.

Author bio: At Acme Environmental Control Systems, We are a leading manufacturer, supplier & exporter of industrial and commercial air curtains. We are also dealing in customized air curtains through rigorous R&D and a thorough understanding of clients’ site conditions

Commercial Air Curtains help maintain clean and hygienic indoor environment at various commercial establishments such as retail outlets, grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals, universities and transport terminals.

Difference between Commercial and Industrial Air Curtains & Utility of Commercial Air Curtain

Commercial air curtains are relatively smaller in overall size as compared to the industrial equipments. To meet the requirements of commercial openings, these air curtains are engineered to offer relatively lower air velocities with lower cfm of air draft, generated by its flow fans.

These are largely used for lesser height doors [ideal till 2.4m] at a variety of retail outlets, where higher air draft efficiencies may not be needed. Commercial air curtains are not required to operate under severe industrial conditions: dusty, hot, humid, cold, explosive or insect infested environments all through the day (24×7) or high intermittent actuations during work hours.

Cost of a Commercial Air Curtain

Price of a commercial air curtain is based on the size of the air curtain and the opening height, which the equipment needs to cover with an effective and efficient air draft. The air draft velocity and cfm also play a role in defining the price of air curtain.

Challenges faced by Commercial Outlets

• Repeated opening of the doors and/or windows to facilitate man and material movement

• Exposure to environmental contaminants, includes dirt and dust, odor as well as flying pests and insects

• Loss of air conditioned air

• Risk of higher utility bills

• Maintaining climatic comfort for the comfort of guests and higher productivity of the staff

Openings at commercial outlets where air curtains are usually required

• Main entrances to prevent conditioned air losses
• Washroom entrances
• F&B area entrances

Factors to keep in mind when selecting an air curtain

• Air curtain unit’s length should never be shorter than door width
• Purpose of an air curtain installation should be clearly defined; based on which the air draft parameters are designed / selected.
• Optimum air draft velocity (speed), air draft cfm (quantity) at source and floor level velocities are some vital parameters for creating an efficient air barrier
• For any conventionally installed air curtain to be effective:
  • Its air draft has to be largely uniform across any horizontal point with minimum variation in velocity across width of any opening
  • Depending on end use of the equipment, its air draft has to reach floor level with required speeds. Hence, it is advisable to factor in height of every proposed opening, as well as prevalent internal and external environment conditions which units’ air draft may have to withstand while selecting air curtain specifications.

We are here to help

• Acme Air Curtains maintain the inside temperature and ambient conditions and thereby allows the HVAC systems and cooling compressors to run less. This reduces higher spend on the energy bills.

• Acme Air Curtains keep internal areas free from contaminants and helps maintain sanitized indoor environment

Acme Advantage

Acme Air Curtains’ commercial air curtains are built in the same manner as industrial air curtains with a key difference in the specifications of air draft. Acme Air Curtains are easy to install and extremely durable.

All Acme Air Curtains and it’s spares are fully ‘Made in India’ with the desire to make India ‘Atmanirbhar’ in the field of air curtains. Acme Air Curtains are made to order to suit specific client requirements.

Checklist for Purchasing Commercial Air Curtains

1. Checkout opening heights [ideal max height not to exceed 2.4m]

2. Purpose of installation [other than insect barrier for door heights between 2.0m to 2.5m] 

3. Verify operating environment conditions on both sides of the proposed opening.

Author bio: At Acme Environmental Control Systems, We are a leading manufacturer, supplier & exporter of industrial and commercial air curtains. We are also dealing in customized air curtains through rigorous R&D and a thorough understanding of clients’ site conditions.