Cardinal Air Design teamed up with O.E. Meyer (a local gas supplier) to help design a new fume collection system for a Northeast Ohio manufacturer of aluminum and steel storage tanks to address issues with their weld smoke problem. They were moving into a brand-new location and the existing fume collector was not getting the job done, resulting in walls covered in black film.
Their process is extremely labor intensive. The tanks range in size and can be six (6) feet long.
The dust being processed is NOT combustible.
Problems
- Their existing system was undersized.
Solution
Weld smoke can be handled in many ways.
- Source capture guns. The welding wire is fed through a special gun that has air suction. The smoke is pulled into a fume collector and filtered. This requires an extra hose attached to the gun. Workers find this to be a hindrance, and they did not choose this option.
- Fume arms. This can be an effective solution if the part being welded is small, and the fume arm would not have to be manipulated. Again, the customer took a pass on this concept.
- Central ambient air collection. Ductwork is run overhead in the facility, pulling ambient air that is sent to a collector where the particulate is separated from the air stream. The customer liked this concept but wanted a more thorough result.
- Fume hoods. Special hoods were constructed and placed over the workstations. This is the option our client selected.
A new IMPERIAL SYSTEMS cartridge collector with a top mounted 75 HP Chicago Blower was provided.
The hoods were designed and constructed with integrated spark traps.
We also added powerful dust tight lighting.
A winter/summer damper was added. In the winter months, warm plant air is recycled back into the facility. In the summer months, plant air is sent outside to help produce a draft in the building.
The CHICAGO BLOWER CORPORATION fan was put on a VFD to save energy and control the conveying velocity.
The system has been up and running for almost an entire year. The walls in the building are still bright white, and the employees are very satisfied.
This was another extremely successful turnkey installation that contributed to the improvement of the company and its employees in some very meaningful ways.
If you have dust issues, we can help!
