ALC - Aerodyne

Cyclone maintenance can often be challenging and time-consuming. Traditional vertical cyclones are typically very tall and feature long, sloping hoppers, which makes accessing internal components for inspection, cleaning, or repairs difficult and sometimes unsafe. In many installations, the confined workspace around the cyclone further complicates maintenance, often necessitating the use of specialized tools or hardware to reach and clean areas that are otherwise inaccessible.

Dust collectors can have issues with material bridging in the hopper.

Dust collection systems require the proper airflow to operate correctly.  Without the correct air flow, dust will not be removed from collection points and the collection equipment (baghouse, cartridge collectors, cyclones, etc.) will not operate with maximum efficiency. However, if too much air is being pulled through the system, a variety of issues might ensue, such as product being lost, removal efficiency lowered, utility usage increased.

The key function of a collector is to remove the maximum volume of dust from the airstream.  Additionally, an important part of the process is keeping the removed dust from re-entraining.

Simple Timers

For many years, pulse-jet baghouses were cleaned by simple timers.  The timers would start the cleaning cycle every so many minutes.  You would be able to change how often your filters are cleaned by changing the time between each cleaning.  This design makes sure that the filters are cleaned regularly, whether they need to be cleaned or not.  The main issue with this is that every time a filter is cleaned, it increases the chances of it failing.  Filters are cleaned by pulsing high pressure air into the filter.  This expands the filter, which causes the top layers of dust to fall off.  But that expansion can also cause holes or rips in the filters.

Do the rotary valves under your dust collectors cause maintenance headaches?  Are they clogging?  Are you having to drop everything and assign extra labor to fix them?

If you are like many plant engineers who are working within the confines of a limited work space, rest assured that you don’t need to compromise on the efficiency of your industrial dust collection system. A traditional, high-efficiency cyclone is not the best solution for facilities with low ceilings.

Do the rotary valves under your dust collectors cause maintenance headaches?  Are they clogging?  Are you having to drop everything and assign extra labor to fix them?

As maintenance staffs become smaller and have less time to do preventative maintenance, technology needs to step in and help. 

Heavy dust loading in the dust collector leads to high maintenance dust collectors.  Since most dust collectors are fabric filters (baghouse, cartridge collectors, shakers, etc.), heavy dust loading will cause/require high frequency of cleaning of the filters.  Most filters are cleaned by injecting high pressure air into the clean side, causing the filters to expand a bit.  This causes dust to fall off the filters.  Filters wear out due to the frequent expanding and contracting.  So the more often you have to clean a filter, the faster the filters will wear out.