When no off-the-shelf system fits the application, Sonic's engineering team builds one that does
When no off-the-shelf system fits the application, Sonic's engineering team builds one that does
Some manufacturing challenges don't fit neatly into a standard product category. A spherical product might need gentle drying and conveying handled by the same system. A packaging line might need to catch and separate defective product mid-process, without stopping the line. A manual wash-and-dry step might need to be automated entirely, on equipment that doesn't exist yet in catalog form. These are the problems Sonic's custom engineering group takes on.
Sonic's drafting department, mechanical design team, application engineering team, and electrical control integration group work together to develop turnkey systems for applications where no other solution exists, backed by four decades of engineering experience.
Custom engineering
Sonic's High-Velocity Ball Dryer & Pneumatic Conveyor System has been drying and air conveying golf balls at every Acushnet/Titleist factory since 1997, handling both polymer cores and jacketed balls. Sonic is the only blower and air knife company drying golf balls while also air conveying them to the next process, all at 80 dBA.
A custom air nozzle and eductor system built for Nestle replaced a 75 HP compressed air nozzle system with a 15 HP Sonic blower, while separating non-conforming candy wrappers mid-line so product could be reconstituted into the batch instead of scrapped.
A portable sanitary air knife automated sugar sanding drum washing and drying for a confectionery producer, handling up to four drums an hour and delivering ROI within a few months.
Sonic's custom engineering group covers drafting, mechanical design, application engineering, and electrical control integration in-house, and Sonic provides a written performance guarantee on systems with defined performance targets.
Round products create problems standard air knives aren't built to solve, since there's no flat surface to run a laminar air curtain across. Titleist, the golf equipment and ball manufacturer owned by Acushnet Company, has relied on Sonic's High-Velocity Ball Dryer & Pneumatic Conveyor System since 1997 to dry both inner cores after centerless grinding and jacketed balls after final rinsing, at temperatures up to 120°F, without scuffing the surface before clear coat is applied. The system holds a continuous single-file throughput of up to 200 balls per minute at under 80 dBA, and the same blower doubles as a pneumatic conveyor, moving finished balls up to 100 feet through 2" piping in place of belt conveyors or manual handling.
Nestle needed a way to catch candies with non-compliant wrapper registration during final packaging, separate the wrapper from the product, and send the candy back for reprocessing instead of scrapping it, all without stopping the line. Sonic worked with Nestle's conveyor vendor to build an enclosed conveyor system with cleated dividers, then engineered a high-speed blower and air nozzle system to create a high-velocity cyclonic motion inside each pocket, blowing the wrapper loose. An air eductor powered by the same blower pulled the loosened wrappers through a dedicated port and out through a scrap ejector pipe, while the product continued on for reprocessing. The Sonic Air Nozzle System, fitted with an in-line HEPA filter for hygienic compliance, replaced a 75 HP compressed air nozzle system with a 15 HP Sonic blower, cutting energy use while improving separation accuracy.
A confectionery producer needed a faster, safer way to wash and dry sugar sanding drums between production runs, a job that had been done manually with compressed air. Sonic's portable sanitary air knife automated the drying step entirely, handling up to four drums an hour. The switch delivered ROI within a few months from labor savings and lower compressed air energy use, along with a safer, quieter process with less manual handling than the compressed air method it replaced.
Titleist manufactures and ships over 850 million golf balls annually and needed a drying solution built specifically for spherical objects moving on a continuous line. Sonic designed the High-Velocity Ball Dryer & Pneumatic Conveyor System, drying inner cores after centerless grinding and jacketed balls after final rinsing at up to 120°F, at a throughput of up to 200 balls per minute and under 80 dBA. Sonic also integrated a pneumatic conveying feature into the same dryer cabinet, powered by the same blower, moving balls through 2" piping to a delivery point up to 100 feet away in place of belt conveyors or manual transfer. Titleist has used the system since 1997, and it remains integral to their production process worldwide. Full details are in Sonic's published case study, High-Velocity Golf Ball Dryer for the World's Leading Golf Equipment Manufacturer.
Nestle needed to replace an energy-intensive compressed air nozzle system while improving how a small percentage of candies with non-compliant wrapper registration were separated from good product during final packaging. Sonic collaborated with Nestle's conveyor vendor on an enclosed conveyor with cleated dividers, then engineered a high-speed blower and air nozzle system to create high-velocity cyclonic motion for wrapper blow-off, paired with an air eductor to pull loosened wrappers out through a dedicated scrap port. The Sonic Air Nozzle System, fitted with an in-line HEPA filter for hygienic compliance, replaced a 75 HP compressed air nozzle system with a 15 HP Sonic blower, delivering a 75% energy reduction while improving packaging quality and letting non-conforming candies be reprocessed instead of scrapped. Full details are in Sonic's published case study, Driving Quality and Sustainability with Air Nozzle Systems for Nestle's Candy Packaging.
A confectionery producer needed a faster, safer way to wash and dry sugar sanding drums between production runs than their existing manual and compressed air methods allowed. Sonic's portable sanitary air knife automated the drum drying step, handling up to four drums per hour. The switch delivered ROI within a few months through labor savings and lower compressed air energy use, along with a safer, quieter process overall. Full details are in Sonic's published case study, Sonic's Rotary Drum Dryer Transforms the Drying Process for Sugar Sanding Drum in Food Production.
Tell us the product, the process, and what's not working about your current approach, and our engineering team will help design a system that fits.
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