An air filter, which outwardly resembles a simple tin box, actually performs very important functions in any woodworking company. Accordingly, choosing the wrong chip extraction system can lead to serious problems. Cleaning a clogged filter can take up to a whole day, and a regularly clogged system can cause significant losses to the manufacturer, which will not be compensated by the funds that were only seemingly saved by choosing, for example, a cheaper but unsuitable solution. The advice of an experienced specialist can help not to get confused in the wide range of filtration system offers. Project manager Māris Puzurs does not deny this to the readers of the magazine “Baltijas Koks”.
How to avoid mistakes when purchasing a chip extraction system
The company has been manufacturing and installing pneumatic transport, chip extraction and aspiration systems for eight years. “We turned to this after seeing that foreign manufacturers often offer such basic things that we could easily produce ourselves,” recalls Māris Puzurs. “We started with small air duct manufacturing, but now we also produce fans and filters.”
At a time when used filters were in high demand due to their lower price, the company has gained invaluable experience working with products from almost all leading manufacturers. This has allowed it to learn all the nuances, pros and cons of different filters, which currently allows the company to offer very high-quality solutions.
The longest pneumatic transport system installed by the company was a 170-meter-long chip feeding system for the Madona city boiler house. In turn, the largest PROJECT PERFORMED in terms of volume is IN LIEPĀJA, WHERE THE PNEUMATIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM FOR SUPPLYING CHIPS TO THE GRANULATOR WAS CREATED – its capacity is 100 m3/h of chips per hour, which was achieved with 22 kW of energy consumption. Numerous filters have also been installed – both positive and negative pressure systems.
Filter advantages
When choosing a filter, you should be especially careful if you are working with high-speed planers or processing light wood, such as aspen, as well as if you plan to filter sanding dust. If the fraction is very light, at the slightest air flow it penetrates the filtering element itself, and the system quickly clogs.
Any rotor filter consists of filter bags, a conical chamber where chips settle, and a rotor sluice that removes the chips. These filters are distinguished from others by a much longer cone, the greater slope of which protects it from clogging, which is characteristic of many other filters. Although a longer cone makes the filter a little more expensive and increases its dimensions, this is outweighed by the guarantee that clogging will never occur above the sluice. Therefore, the filter is also ideal for production facilities where work is carried out with high-speed planers, where light fraction dust spreads during the PLANING PROCESS.
Each filter consists of a certain number of bags, and the size of the filter is determined by the filtering area in square meters. A specific area is able to filter a certain amount of air. Typically, the throughput of one square meter of filtering area in WOODWORKING ASPIRATION SYSTEMS is approximately 100 m3/h per hour. If the filter has to deal with a larger volume of air, the bag fabric will stretch faster, clog and the life of the bag will be significantly reduced. At higher loads, there is also a possibility that more dust will be released into the air - since the air passing through the filter is usually returned to the workshop, in this case the dust will also return there.
The specialist draws attention to the fact that in order to facilitate the selection and purchase of filters, we have created a website mpp.lv , where information about the offered products can be found. “When choosing the most suitable solutions, this is important,” says Māris Puzurs. “There are cases when an entrepreneur buys a used filter, spending even more on it than a new one costs. Only because there is a lack of information and they do not know how much it costs.
Recommended loads per square meter of filtering area:
Dry wood chips | 100–125 m3/h |
Wet sawdust | 80–100 m3/h |
Particle board dust | 75–90 m3/h |
Lacquer dust | 30–90 m3/h |
Paper dust | 75–90 m3/h |