Do you have a problem with industrial process dust?

There are several types of dust collector technologies known to this broad industry – three of the most popular are:

• Baghouse Dust Collectors
• Cartridge Dust Collectors
• Cyclone Dust Collectors
  

Containment Booths and Self-Contained Modules have been recently added to this post.  We will be discussing only these types for now, as there are many other topics to discuss, but we will touch base on those soon enough.

Baghouse Dust Collectors
Baghouse collectors are used for a variety of collection applications, such as wood dust, metalworking dust, and concrete dust, among others.  The advantage to using a baghouse is that it enables you to collect both large and small dust particles, as well as some of the more abrasive materials such as granite or marble with the use of special filtration media.  Baghouse dust collectors can be fitted with an array of filters to accommodate just about whatever you’re collecting.  Although the filter bags need to be replaced after time, they can be routinely cleaned a number of ways; mechanical shaking, manual shaking, and jet pulse, wherin compressed air is blown into the filter from the inside to blast out the entrained dust particles into a collection bin of some sort.  Baghouse pulse-cleaning can be similar to cartridge cleaning.

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Many of the dust collection applications with which I deal involve some sort of abrasive dust, whether it is granite, metal grinding, or marble collection; for these jobs, I’ve found a friend in cartridges. Unlike cyclone dust collectors, cartridge systems don’t usually require supplemental filtration, as they are rated to handle the finer particles that cyclones are not capable of capturing. A wise man once told me that a cyclone is "a high efficiency golf ball collector…" such is not the case with the almighty cartridge.

One of the most beneficial aspects of a cartridge dust collector is the fact that most have a (semi) self-cleaning feature of some kind. In a reverse-pulse cleaning dust collector, a compressed air line is connected to an intake manifold on the collector. At certain intervals, that pressurized air is released into the filter, usually from the inside, blasting entrained dust out of the filter, allowing the newly released dust particles to settle into a collection bin or dust drawer… What a concept! Depending on the size and configuration of the collector, pulse controls can be manual or automatic. And, when standard pulsing isn’t enough, some filters are designed to be washable…we’ll touch base on that later.

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For industrial environments that deal with a lot of grinding, sanding, polishing, etc., having a dust collection system integrated into the facility is almost a necessity these days. As the concern for employee safety and shop air quality continues to grow, dust collection systems are becoming more important than ever.

There are benefits to using centralized systems, but there is also a minimal margin for error. Evaluating an application and designing a system to accommodate that application can take a turn for the worse if not carefully thought out; that means not only the equipment itself, but the ductwork layout must be precise, otherwise failure could result. Each type of machine or tool, whether it’s used for grinding metal gears or hogging wood shavings, will have its own airflow requirement. Once the total airflow requirement has been determined, the length and amount of ducting must be considered in order to properly calculate the pressure differential, to ensure that all of the tools are getting their assigned flow rate while overcoming the pressure drop through the duct.

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