We were approached by a customer of one of our existing clients who was looking for help to solve an ongoing dust problem.
This customer was the leading manufacturer and supplier of GRP edgings for the flat roof industry. The process involved laying down a continuous sheet of acetate onto which a layer of solvent and reinforced plastic fibres where applied and a second acetate sheet laid on top.
The sandwich passed through a very long oven where jigs would shape the sheet into a number of edgings and by the time it exited the oven the grp had set to the required profile.
Before being cut to length, the top and then bottom acetate sheets were removed and rolled up for re use, the finished profile then passed to a cross-cut saw which was used to set the length of the finished multi profile product.
In addition to the cross-cut saw there was two saws below the sheet which could be set to reduce the width of the finished sheet if a special order was being made.
A set of hoses connected the cutting hoods at the saws into a poorly designed manifold which passed outside along a very long spiral ducting to an existing triple bodied shaker filter with a 5.5 kw fan and three small bins for the dust.
This filter was supplied in 2005 and had seen better days and the performance was poor resulting in disappointing
RPL engineers looked at the process and suggested a different type of filter concept as the dust was fibrous in nature and not really suitable for a shaker or cartridge type filter.
The duct manifold was redesigned and a AAF bag type Fabri Pulse filter was selected together with a 7.5kW centrifugal fan.
An ATEX rated none return damper and heavy gauge ducting were included for safety to protect any workers near the saw hoods should an explosion occur.
The customer was pleased with the results and several other systems have been installed to date.
RPL (1984) Ltd Unit 39, Nortonthorpe Business Park, Scissett, Huddersfield, HD8 9FB
September 2024