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Aerospace Manufacturer Takes Dust Control to New Heights

Case Study | AAF OptiFlo® Upgrade

The precision machining of high-temperature alloy blades, vanes and other components for the aerospace industry produces large amounts of heavy particulate. In addition to the numerous potential health risks these processes present to workers, the particulate also poses environmental and safety hazards.

A metalworking facility that specializes in the precision grinding of metal and alloy materials for aerospace applications was in need of an upgrade to their existing dust collection equipment. The existing bag filter housing was not effectively releasing dust during the pulse cycle and required too much maintenance effort.

In addition, they did not like that maintenance staff had to enter the dirty side of the bag house when changing filter bags.

Challenge

Through the movement and transfer of materials, the plumes of hazardous particles were generated where workers were present.

In pharmaceutical processes, it is highly important to collect and contain particulates as they may be hazardous. It is crucial to provide the customer a solution that answers the primary concern without causing the pharmaceutical manufacturer additional maintenance requirements or steps in their process.

Solution

Using a well designed hood with over 4,000 fpm (20 m/s) carrying velocity in the inlet ductwork, AAF provided essential proper ventilation to the manufacturing process to capture any nuisance particulates. A high efficient REDClean® N, a nanofiber layered filter rated initially at MERV 15+ (F9), ensured that even sub-micron particles were cleaned from the airstream.

AAF supplied these filters in an OptiFlo® cartridge collector with Bag-In/Bag-Out (BIBO) design. The BIBO arrangement ensured workers would be kept safe from harmful contaminants that are captured by the collector as the BIBO procedure allows filters and barrel changes without exposure to dirty air.

Benefits

The full containment of the pharmaceutical particles is extremely critical in a production process. The dust collector system should have a high efficiency filter, but also maintain a complete barrier from workers when doing any maintenance, such as replacing filters and removing the collected dust from the unit. With the OptiFlo®’s BIBO design, AAF provided a complete solution to fulfill the pharmaceutical customer’s needs.

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