Ventilating in Heavy Dust Environments:
One of the most difficult things to keep clean and free of problems under harsh, dusty conditions like those found in mining and tunneling are the electrical enclosures—from switch boxes to motor-control centers (MCCs). Most have little fans with a small filter to cool them, and others just count on convection currents and regular cleaning to keep them cool. The result: much maintenance and not-infrequent breakdowns of the controls and/or the equipment that they monitor and control. ACBs can help with ventilating in heavy dust applications.
The Air Cleaning BlowerTM (ACB) was developed specifically to remove dust, pollen and other particles from the air in dusty and harsh environments while eliminating the need for filter maintenance due to clogging filters. After removing most kinds of mining and tunneling dusts, without using any filter elements or media, the ACBs blow clean air into your electrical enclosures or electrical equipment rooms, exactly what it is needed here.
How ACBs work:
The Air Cleaning Blowers work by pulling dirty air into their housings like any other fans would. The impeller and housing are specially designed to use the momentum of the contaminants to separate them from the air (or almost any other gas) and fling them toward the outside of the housing and eject them, most commonly back into the atmosphere from where they came. The clean air continues toward the application for ventilation or pressurization. ACBs accomplish all this without any type of filter elements, sheets, cartridges, bags or other media to maintain.
Media filters remove contaminants from air and other gases by stopping and collecting them. As a result, they all clog and need maintenance and, sooner or later, replacement. In addition, as they clog, media filters and air purifiers increasingly impede the flow of air. When they do, the blower has to work harder and consume more electricity or other power to maintain the same airflow and air pressure at the application. In contrast, because they do not trap debris, ACBs do not clog. Without clogging, the filter maintenance is almost eliminated, and, consequently, so is deferred maintenance.
Perhaps more important, particularly to designers of the systems: when ACBs supply the air moving and air cleaning, they eliminate the fluctuations in airflow, air pressure and power consumption, which makes it much easier to predict and calculate the air-systems’ performances, and therefore, to design optimal systems.
Another key feature is that the ACBs can remove rain, mist and snow from the air, helping the air and protected equipment stay dryer and reducing the load on any air conditioning, refrigeration or dehumidifying equipment. In addition, because there is no filter media catching that rain or snow there is nothing that will become wet or freeze up and prevent the air from passing through.
Pressurizing in Heavy Dust Applications:
In addition, ACBs can pressurize the spaces so that air will flow out of the facilities or enclosures and help prevent dusts and sand from blowing in. That pressurization will help protect computers and other electronics, as well as electrical equipment, controls and operators. Since they do not collect the debris, ACBs will not create dangerous hot spots in the filter media if there are hazardous particles in the surrounding environment. Further: all ACBs can be adapted for use with virtually any explosive or flammable gas or dust, Division/Zone 1 or Division/Zone 2.
Our ACBs were tested independently at an internationally-recognized filter-testing laboratory to establish their effectiveness. The testing found that standard models remove up to 98%+ of the mass of dust and other particles from the air. The laboratory results show that they remove virtually all particles larger than 10 microns and about 40% of the particles down to 3 microns from the air. The smallest particles most people can see are about 50 microns. Models under development will consistently remove sub-micron contaminants.
Originally developed to work in harsh environments such as steel, mining and fertilizer plants, the Air Cleaning BlowerTM can help protect the electrical boxes and motors that operate on large equipment, inside mines and tunnels, conveyors, loading and unloading railcars and trucks, and the other heavy equipment you have, wherever you use them. Our ACBs are so effective that they are being used today by the US Military in the Middle East to keep air conditioners cooling, even in sandstorms.
Potential applications with electrical enclosures:
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Removing dust and particles from the air to keep equipment clean
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Keeping mist, rain and snow as well as dust out of exposed enclosures
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Retrofitting enclosures with sufficient problems from heat and dust
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Cooling and/or heating enclosures with clean air and pressurization
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Clean air canopies (Safety Halos®) to protect equipment not located inside an enclosure with a cone of clean air. For More information on this, click here
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Control enclosures on stationary equipment such as conveyors, crushers, motors