Dust Collecting Systems

IQS Newsroom Articles on Dust Collecting Systems

Dust Collecting Systems

Dust collecting systems minimize air particle contamination in workshops, plants and manufacturing facilities. Particles are released from material processing in nearly every fabrication industry, from large wood shaving or metal shaving particles to fine, respirable chemicals and smoke particles. Air particles released during manufacturing processes are hazardous to both worker and equipment health, quickly leading to a number of problems if particles are not captured and filtered from facility air. Dust collecting systems address this problem by drawing contaminated air through a filter, trapping harmful particles and releasing clean air back onto the work floor. Dust collecting systems are used in various applications such as dust capturing, separating and filtering explosive media, metalworking chips or fluid, toxic media, product recovery, scrap metal recycling, chemical processing and steel sintering. Industries that utilize dust collecting systems include coal handling, cement fabrication, metal fabrication, mining, chemical processing, woodworking, recycling and agricultural industries, among many others.

A dust collecting system is a central unit formed through dust collectors that are connected through dust collecting equipment such as overhead ductwork, capture arms and suction hoods which hang over the workspaces where dust is formed. Dust collecting systems can employ either only one type of dust collector or multiple different types of dust collectors. There are several types of dust collectors, including baghouses, jet dust collectors and cyclone dust collectors, which can be incorporated into dust collecting systems. As the most common dust collecting equipment design and often the most efficient, baghouses draw dirty air in through ducts to a hopper-shaped baghouse containing fabric filters. The air is pulled through the fabric bags by a vacuum-creating fan, leaving behind dust, smoke and particles; clean air exits through the fan at the outlet, while dust particles settle into an airlock at the bottom of the hopper. Jet dust collectors are baghouses which use jets of reversed air to shake the dust-caked fabric bag filters free of dirt. Cyclone dust collectors are inertial separators which use centrifugal, or cyclonic, air movement within a hopper-shaped chamber to separate particles from the air; the particles, being heavier than air molecules, are thrown against the outer wall of the hopper and fall to the bottom, where they are collected.

Portable dust collectors can potentially be a part of dust collecting systems by means of an attachment that would allow them to connect to an intake arm or ductwork. Portable dust collectors are moved around to various workstations for localized dust collection. A unique type of dust collector, downdraft tables are work tables used for stationary dust collection in a particular workspace; processes such as welding and wood sawing are performed over this table, which captures dust particles in the constant stream of air which is pulled down through the table's filtering body. However, downdraft tables can also be a part of larger dust collecting systems through duct attachments mounted at the bottom of the tables. Although dust collecting systems can take up a lot space and are not easy to reconfigure once designed, the benefits of employing effective, efficient dust collecting systems in one's facility can be seen in equipment longevity and worker health, saving companies significant maintenance and worker compensation costs.

Dust Collecting System Image Provided by J.D.B. Dense Flow Inc.	Dust Collecting System Image Provided by Bisco Enterprise

Dust Collecting System Image Provided by Dustex Corporation