When designing a dust collection system for your food processing facility, you must carefully consider the composition of your material before selecting the right type of rotary valve. If you are processing light, dry, free-flowing foodstuffs such as grains, flour, or even mini-marshmallows, a rotary valve is likely your best bet. A rotary valve can be used to control the feed or discharge of free-flowing bulk food material without impacting the negative or positive air pressure in the system. Its design is similar to a revolving door you might use to enter a building; the material must pass through a rotating chamber in order to reach the opening on the other side. The turning vanes of the rotary valve are tightly spaced to the valve walls, creating an airlock. Because of their relatively large size and soft, non-abrasive composition, marshmallows will not get caught in the vane or wear out the rotary valve mechanism. When processing foods like these, a rotary valve will provide durable, reliable dry material handling over a long-term operational life.

Did you know that the success of your dust collection system is directly related to your choice of material handling valve? A recent article published by Powder Bulk Solids magazine highlighted several important considerations for material handling valve selection, especially in reference to conveying applications, including material characteristics (e.g., fine, course, sticky, etc.), conveying parameters, actuator specifications and environmental factors. Because most facilities function at a fast pace, plant engineers should determine the time and cost associated with routine or emergency maintenance of a material handling valve—especially for more demanding applications. Before selecting a material handling valve, consider the following key factors: service life, ease of maintenance and accessibility, and the downtime involved in rebuilding a unit if it fails. Planning ahead for these maintenance issues will prevent plant staff from becoming overly burdened and conserve valuable company resources.

Valve selection for dust collection systems can pose a real challenge to plant engineers because of the varied cost and performance factors involved. While a rotary valve can be custom fit to handle high temperatures, harsh chemical environments and abrasive materials, they are also difficult to clean and expensive to operate. Because of these factors, the use of non-powered automatic dust discharge valves is on the rise. These “trickle valves” provide an economical way to manage dust discharged from bag filters or cyclone dust collectors under negative pressure. A trickle valve (or Vacu-Valve) operates without power and controls, requires no lubrication, and easily handles abrasive materials that would jam or wear out a rotary valve. Available at a fraction of the cost of a typical rotary valve, trickle valves are suitable for continuous discharge applications that have dense, free-flowing material such as sand, coffee, and many industrial powders. View Aerodyne’s animated Vacu-Valve demo to learn how trickle valves work.

Just because a technology has been around for awhile doesn’t mean it is too outdated to meet your specific needs. This is especially true of cyclonic dust collector technology, which has been utilized by plant engineers since the industrial revolution. Whether you are looking to improve the efficiency of your food processing plant or enhance the safety of your wood working shop, a cyclonic dust collector offers a variety of benefits. It requires very little maintenance equipment because it has no filters to replace and no moving parts except for the blower. In addition, a cyclonic dust collector offers unmatched versatility including working well in humid environments, acting as a spark arrestor, and accepting air used for drying. To determine if a cyclonic dust collector is the ideal fit for your application, examine the answers to the top five questions to review when considering a cyclonic dust collector.

When you think of industrial hazards that can cause fires and explosions, rarely do you think about dry, dusty material as presenting a serious threat. In addition, you likely wouldn’t think of dust collection equipment as a first line of defense for fire prevention. However, I recently read an article on DustCollectorExperts.com that clearly explains the dangers associated with dust that has combustible or explosive properties. This type of dust either explodes easily because it is carrying its own oxidant or self ignites without an external heat source. To determine the level of hazard associated with your facility’s dust production, you must investigate the concentration limits as well as the characteristics of the material in question. The article really underscores the need to be proactive in managing dust production using carefully selected dust collection equipment that does not add to the risk of an explosion or fire. For more information on choosing dust collection equipment that is safe, effective and reliable, please visit: http://www.dustcollectorhq.com/dustcollectors.html.

Think your small basement or garage wood shop doesn’t need a real dust collector? Sure the dust is a bit of a nuisance. It covers everything in the shop and can be a pain to clean up, but how bad can it really be? Well, how does asthma, emphysema, skin rashes, and a rare form of nasal cancer sound for starters? These are just a few of many health risks associated with exposure to common saw dust.

It would be great if you could simply pull a dust collector out of the box, plug it in and never think about it again. Unfortunately, as every plant manager and plant engineer knows all too well, this just isn’t the case. Here are a few more critical areas that must be addressed in order for the installation and operation of an industrial dust collection system to operate at its peak performance.

Once a dust collector has been sized for an application there are still a number of things to address before and after installation in order to make sure this important piece of process equipment operates efficiently and reliably. Whether you are installing a baghouse, cartridge filter, cyclone, or any combination of these types of dust collectors, taking a close look at some critical areas in advance can save a lot of time, money, and headache down the road. Here are two basic areas to check to make sure the installation and operation of your dust collection system runs smoothly.