Which Fans Are Applied in Dust Filtration?
There is no doubt that implementing an efficient and well-built dust filtration system is crucial in maintaining a healthy and safe working environment. To be able to dedust and filter through airborne toxins, dirt, and dust, it requires special equipment that is premium, high-quality, and regularly maintained, ideally from a reputable source.
Dust filtration equipment finds itself installed among many industries around the world – from food processing, chemical, agricultural, water, construction, industrial factories, and more, to even private corporations – that it has become such an in-demand service. Because it’s so aggressively sought for, dust filtration has grown (and continues to grow) to become a huge, very important industry in itself.
What is dust filtration?
Dust filtration is basically the act of collecting dust, dirt, pollution, and other airborne particles from the atmosphere and filtering it through a specialized filter. This filter captures those unwanted particles from the “dirty air”, thus cleansing the “new air” from any toxins, irritants, and air pollutants. This new air is what is emitted more breathable and safer atmosphere; an efficient and reliable process usually accomplished in a short amount of a time.
The filter, one of the most important components of any dust filtration system, is a cleansing device that is designed to continuously remove impurities from the air. It then absorbs them safely for a certain amount of time until it needs to be replaced or thoroughly cleaned. A filter can either be reusable or disposable.
Some systems even make use of High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, which are built to remove the ultra-fine particles from the air. These include pet dander, mold, allergens, and pollen. An excellent HEPA filter is designed to remove at least 99.97% of these particles, measuring 0.3 micron diameter each. In short, a filter’s job is incredibly meticulous, and very important.
The importance of dust filtration
Improving any space’s quality of air and airflow is mainly what a dust filtration system is built for. More than for public or private locations, dust filtering is essential in warehouses or facilities that complete industrial and commercial processes daily. Most industrial and commercial processes are what produce and collect the most dust, impurities, and harmful particulates in the air. Thus, these industries are prone to having working environments that are very hazardous to the health of all employees involved (even for farmhouses’ harvest and livestock).
How Fans Are Applied in Dust Filtration
A complete dust filtration system, aside from the filter, will also need certain types of other equipment to help support its cleansing function, such as industrial-grade blowers and heavy-duty industrial fans. Together, these all work cohesively to take in the bad air, clean the air very quickly, and let out the good air through vents or passages also attached to the system.
The industrial fans used in dust filtration systems are used for its inflow and exhaust functions. These are built to bring in the dirty air swiftly, in large volumes, using the induced draft fans, and then to “exhaust”, or push the cleaner air out through a forced draft fan.
These are also called industrial dedusting fans, which are designed to control and eliminate massive particle loads from entering into any airstream, and then exhausting clean filtered air out of the system. These are mostly used in environments where sawdust, metal scraps, and welding smoke are present.
Dusty air first passes through a dust filtration system’s inertial separators, which are kinds of fans that change the direction of motion of the airflow, thus separating dust from the gas stream using different forces like centrifugal, gravitational, and inertial. This separated dust is then stored temporarily into a hopper. There are 3 kinds of inertial separators: settling chambers, baffle chambers, and centrifugal collectors.
Kinds of Fans Used in Dust Filtration
For a dust filtration system to work as efficiently as possible, there are certain types of industrial fans that are usually used within the system.
- Centrifugal Fans
A centrifugal fan is a mechanical piece of equipment that is in charge of moving air or gases in a certain direction, angle, and flow. They’re usually designed with a series of large blades, with the number depending on what they’re used for. They are mostly responsible for the suction of dusty air and its swift movement into the filter, and then out, already cleaned.
The blades are mounted around a hub and on a shaft, which is where the blades are turned from. The air enters from the fan wheel, which turns and accelerates due to the centrifugal force, and then flows over the blades, and then leaves the fan.
These kinds of fans can come in different types as well: the backward-curved centrifugal fan can handle the contaminants, making it a prime choice to clean air. There’s also the backward-inclined centrifugal fan, which can accommodate high volumes of air at a low pressure. On the other hand, high-pressure centrifugal fans are used for low air volume and high pressure.
These kinds of fans are usually utilized in specific industries, because of the contaminants and particles they often emit. Some examples include wood workshops (sawdust, wood chippings), textile (fibers, cloth), agricultural (grains, hay), and plastic (granules, trimmings).
- Industrial Exhausters
They exhaust the air from industrial environments. These are usually used to move fumes, vapors, dusts, and other materials and particles within the system, and then out.
These fans are also built differently, depending on the purposes they serve. Some are made of a straight wheel impeller, designed more to convey industrial gases like smoke and vapor, with just little dust in them.
However, there are other kinds of industrial exhausters, made with a radial impeller instead. This type is designed to convey actual matter, particles, heavy/wet dust, sawdust, shavings, fiber, paper trimmings, and pulp. The blades of this are usually made from stainless or alloy steels that can withstand corrosion or abrasion.
These are also usually of a high material transport velocity – a high velocity is crucial in avoiding the accumulation of deposit or material in the filtration system’s ducts.
- Wet Scrubbers
Wet scrubbers also belong within an efficient dust filtration system, and play an integral role at that. Wet scrubbers are specially designed to eradicate various pollutants and particles from the exhaust, gas, fumes and airstream. These gases must pass through the scrubber, which helps to filter any contaminated air and clean them of any toxins and even odors quickly and effectively, passing them onto the fan next.
Wet scrubbers are able to do this because the self-cleaning wet fan it carries, which is built to capture fine dust particles larger than one micron in huge volume, making it an efficient filtering device. The device also makes use of a special scrubbing liquid to help remove the particles from the air. The exhaust fumes are moved through a chamber, with the help of the scrubbing liquid, and then the liquid eventually turns into gas, too. This type of device is most common in industries and facilities where aerosol and dust are common, like the metals, processing, furnace, and chemical industries.
- Axial Fans
Axial fans are also a part of dust collector systems. Sometimes, it is also called an axial blower or air circulator, these use a propeller to draw air into the fan, and then discharge them in the same axial (around an axis) direction.
Axial fans are used also for exhausting dirty air, airborne toxins, or fumes, supplying better air, and keeping an environment cool and well-ventilated. They can handle large volumes of air at a low pressure and high flow rate, making them efficient machines that provide clean ventilation regularly. They also require low power input, making them efficient and affordable additions to a dust filtration system.
Axial fans are usually designed with a mounted propeller on the shaft, and made with mild steel, aluminum for heat resistance, or stainless steel for anti-corrosion reasons.
When choosing and installing your own dust filtration system, there are 4 main factors to consider before deciding: the system’s velocity of the air stream, the system power needed, the storage capacity for dust and particles, and the minimum particle size that can be filtered by the unit.
Choosing the right dust filter is also very crucial – one must take into consideration the temperature, moisture content, and combustion possibility of the dust. Filters must also be maintained regularly to check how dirty they are, because the dirtier they are, the more difficult it is to pass air through. Regular maintenance can also increase its life, and of the system’s as well.
As environmental concerns grow, and emission regulations are put into place, there is a growing need to ensure that your manufacturing facility is able to control dust and particles, to keep your works healthy and safe, and your business responsible and sustainable.
Do you need industrial fans? If yes, check out our fans here. You can also contact us for customized fans for many industries.