Custom Quench Duct and Piping
At the custom shop Vortex can custom fabricate a wide range of custom quench pipes with access doors and nozzle locations to suit most project configurations.
Wet Electrostatic Precipitators
Wet electrostatic precipitators (WESPs) were first developed in 1907 and can be used to control particulate matter, acid mists, metals, mercury, etc. They consist of a high voltage generator that applies a direct current to field plates, which is then discharged onto a positively charged electrode and the resulting ion air stream. This technology represents an affordable alternative to existing technologies when used in conjunction with other polishing devices such as dry and wet electrostatic precipitators and bag filters.
Dry Precipitators
Dry electrostatic precipitators are used to capture particles in dry product streams. They use periodic rapping to separate the accumulated dust from the collector plates and discharge electrodes. The dust layer (released by rapping) is collected in a hopper and then removed by an ash handling system. Typically, rapping will also project some of these particles (around 10-15 percent) back into the gas stream (known as re-entrainment). Dry electrostatic precipitators are often not suitable for submicron particulate applications because of particle size, resistivity, and other issues.
Replacing baghouse filters Dust collector bag replacement: A quick tutorial
Before removing filters:
• Obtain and follow a Confined Space permit, if required.
• Manually pulse down existing filters.
• Allow the screw auger and rotary air lock to remove waste.
• Conduct proper lockout-tagout per OSHA or Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) requirements.
• Ensure employees are trained on hazards associated with the task and are wearing the proper personal protective equipment.
Removing old filters (pertains to top-load bags only):
• Open clean air section doors and remove pulse tubes and cages. (Note: Vortex baghouses do not use hold-down hardware, but if your baghouse does, remove this hardware before proceeding.)
• Flex the bag’s seal toward the center of the tube sheet hole and drop the bags into the dirty air section.
• Remove all the old bags that were dropped by accessing the hopper. Count the bags to verify you have removed them all to avoid damage to your dust collector.
• Dispose of dirty bags in a dust-tight bag or sealable waste container.
• Close and bolt or screw shut access doors.
Installing new filters:
• Vacuum the clean air section to remove accumulated dust and debris.
• Drop new filters—one at a time—through the tube sheet.
• When the filter is unfolded into the dirty air section, flex the snap band toward the center of the tube sheet hole. Do not bend the snap band at the seam.
• Place the filter snap bands on either side of the tube sheet and push the band toward the perimeter of the tube sheet hole. You will hear the snap when it is properly sealed.
• Slowly drop the cage down the center of the filter until the venture sits snug on the filter. Gently step down on the venture to seat the cage. If you have hold-down hardware, reinstall it.
• When all bags have been replaced, reinstall all pulse tubes.
• Inspect all the bags for uniformity.
We also recommend testing your system using a fluorescent powder. Starting your industrial ventilation system using this powder will allow you to see whether it is making its way through to the clean side of the bag. If it is, the bag has not been installed properly.
When, and if, you need to replace bags, we also recommend taking the following steps to prevent maintenance and reduce production downtime:
• Keep a bag location replacement chart.
• If you have consistent bag failures, retain a typical bag for inspection.
• Retain bags with unusual or non-characteristic failures.
• Maintain an adequate supply of replacement bags.
By maintaining and changing your baghouse filters when needed, your dust collector will run more efficiently at a lower cost.
Checking your industrial dust collection system
If you’ve just installed a new industrial dust collection system, it’s best practice to check the system regularly to ensure it’s running efficiently and the bags have been installed correctly. Here is how to tell whether dust collector issues may be related to the bags:
• High differential pressure: Bags that have not been installed correctly, or are retaining excess amounts of dust, will lead to high differential pressure within the baghouse. As it becomes more difficult to pull air through the bags, the difference in the pressure before air enters the bags and after exiting the bags increases.
• Baghouse dusting: Dusting is noted by a visible emissions plume coming out of the stack or by dust in the clean air section of the collector. Bags that are the wrong size or fabric for the particulate may not be installed correctly, may not be sealed, or have holes that are contributing to the dusting.
When to Replace Baghouse Filters
For the most part, there are only three reasons to change baghouse filters:
• When they can no longer be cleaned because dust has accumulated to the point of plugging the fabric’s air passages, keeping the vacuum from pulling in unwanted dust.
• When the bags have developed holes.
• When the EPA regulates your company or industry to change bags.
While some facilities change bags once per year because their dust collectors capture large quantities of especially fine, hazardous dust, most of Vortex customers can go two to 10 years before having to schedule dust collector bag replacement.
Facilities that change bags more than once a year may be doing so because of a unique situation—the collector is capturing an especially tough material, like a wet, corrosive or abrasive dust. Facilities that change bags often but are not in this situation likely have a dust collector that does not correctly match their manufacturing process
How drop out boxes work?
If you are looking for another pre-filter option to reclaim material from your process, you may consider a drop-out box. In these devices, the momentum of the heavy particulate carries it into baffles. Gravity then draws the particulate to the bottom of the drop-out box where it is removed to a waste container. Slow air velocity is key to an effective drop-out box. That ensures particulate doesn’t re-enter the air stream.
How Cyclone Classifiers Work
When you need to capture heavy particulate that’s larger in size, your best option may likely be a cyclone collector or classifier. These mechanical separation filtration devices are widely used as part of wood dust collection systems, such as in cabinet or furniture making. In these industries, heavy particulate would stick to traditional dust collector filters easily, but cyclones and classifiers don’t use filters. Rather, centrifugal force pushes particulate to the edge of the device and into the hopper.
And while the equipment tends to be sold off-the-shelf, you don’t have to settle on standard options. At Vortex, we’ll build a cyclone dust collector or classifier to fit your need and space.
Baghouses Engineered with You in Mind
Baghouse dust collector design can be complex—you may be challenged by a particularly light or heavy dust or you may need to fit a large system into an already cramped facility. That’s why we bring a diverse team to ensure we have considered every aspect of engineering and design that will go into your project.
If your facility lacks space, our structural engineers will determine the feasibility of locating a dust collector on a raised platform or even a roof. If you need hood design and layout, our mechanical designers and engineers have the expertise to help you determine the correct placement. And if you need more than a baghouse dust collector, our team excels in total dust collection system design.
Your Unique Challenges, Accepted
Your dust collection need is like no other. The combination of your facility’s shape, size, production process and particulate capture needs make you unique. That’s why your baghouse dust collector should be more than an off-the-shelf design. While our team uses knowledge gained from past projects, we also see your dust collection challenges as yours alone, delivering a collector or an entire system that fits your facility’s individual industrial ventilation needs.No matter if your manufacturing process produces a fine dust, a wet and heavy dust, or a fume, you can rest easy knowing that your new baghouse can get the job done efficiently.
How drop out boxes work?
If you are looking for another pre-filter option to reclaim material from your process, you may consider a drop-out box. In these devices, the momentum of the heavy particulate carries it into baffles. Gravity then draws the particulate to the bottom of the drop-out box where it is removed to a waste container. Slow air velocity is key to an effective drop-out box. That ensures particulate doesn’t re-enter the air stream.
How Cyclone Classifiers Work
When you need to capture heavy particulate that’s larger in size, your best option may likely be a cyclone collector or classifier. These mechanical separation filtration devices are widely used as part of wood dust collection systems, such as in cabinet or furniture making. In these industries, heavy particulate would stick to traditional dust collector filters easily, but cyclones and classifiers don’t use filters. Rather, centrifugal force pushes particulate to the edge of the device and into the hopper.
And while the equipment tends to be sold off-the-shelf, you don’t have to settle on standard options. At Vortex, we’ll build a cyclone dust collector or classifier to fit your need and space.
How do industrial cyclones work?
Cyclone collectors are widely used by cabinet makers and other commercial woodworking facilities because they handle larger particulate. The air that enters the cyclone is spun on a vertical axis. Clean air exits through the top of the device. Cyclones are often more efficient than classifiers and have a larger pressure drop across them.
We can deliver even the complex separation solutions
When you need to capture heavy particulate that’s larger in size, your best option may likely be a cyclone collector or classifier. These mechanical separation filtration devices are widely used as part of wood dust collection systems, such as in cabinet or furniture making. In these industries, heavy particulate would stick to traditional dust collector filters easily, but cyclones and classifiers don’t use filters. Rather, centrifugal force pushes particulate to the edge of the device and into the hopper.And while the equipment tends to be sold off-the-shelf, you don’t have to settle on standard options. At Vortex, we’ll build a cyclone dust collector or classifier to fit your need and space.
An Industrial Ventilation Contractor Specializing in Structural Steel
When your industrial ventilation project requires structural steel components, you want a partner who understands dust collection and has expertise in structural steel fabrication. That’s Vortex. While we excel at designing and building baghouse dust collectors, we don’t stop there. Our goal is to complete your ventilation project down to the last detail. And because we build and install hundreds of tons of structural steel components in industrial ventilation systems each year, you’ll benefit from our experience. We leverage that experience to fabricate structural steel ventilation components efficiently, passing those savings on to you.
Looking for a structural steel fabrication company to meet your dust collection system needs? From support structures to ductwork and stacks—we can tackle any project. That means you get a single point of contact to streamline your industrial ventilation project from design and engineering through installation.
AcuTruss Industries
British Columbia, Canada
Chute Replacement
Ontario, Canada
Kalesnikoff Mass Timber & Lumber
British Columbia, Canada
Roseburg Forest Products
Penbroke, Ontario
Pinnacle Renewable Resources
British Columbia, Canada
Structurlam Mass Timber
British Columbia, Canada
Projects
Since its foundation, Vortex Pneumatics has been crucial in creating efficient systems. Our teams know our people are our strength. Many of our senior people are recognized as leaders in their fields and have a wealth of technical expertise. With multiple generations in the industry and employees located across Canada our people develop strong relationships with their clients to deliver solutions that improve the outcomes of every project.
Complex Craftsmanship from Industrial Metal Fabricators
Precision metal fabrication is only limited to the customers imagination. At Vortex we have experience turning your ideas into solid reality.
From precise cutting to intricate welds and everything in between, our industrial fabricators work in a variety of materials. Using heavier-gauge metals than most other industrial system manufacturers, our fabrication team helps ensure your products are built to last. They deliver superior craftsmanship for baghouse dust collectors, chutes, stacks and material handling equipment. So, go ahead and test their skills. No matter what you need—from small components to replacement parts to storage tanks—if it’s made of metal, our fabricators are ready to get started.
At Vortex, we pride ourselves in having the needed in-house fabrication equipment and staff to complete jobs on time to a high standard of quality. In fact, with our industrial dust collector manufacturing capabilities, we can complete 95% to 100% of projects in house
Adding a Baghouse can Save Operating Costs
When a dust collector is designed to recirculate heated or cooled air back through the plant, the cost to replace that conditioned air is eliminated — an expense that can be substantial.Dust collecting systems for welding shops with high ceilings can often improve the efficiency of a heating system by taking hot air off the ceiling and delivering it at ground level.Vortex can evaluate your unique system and provide effective solutions.
Improve Your Plant Efficiency
Wood dust and chips are hard on equipment. And burn easily. You need an industrial wood dust collector that doesn’t leave hazard-causing particulate behind yet stands up to wood’s abrasive characteristics. Vortex dust collectors are built tough with higher-gauge materials than what comes standard on other equipment. That means you can rely on your industrial wood dust collector and ductwork to last while working efficiently to keep housekeeping at a minimum.Vortex can develop a ministry of environment ready best available technologies (BAT) report for you.
Ventilation Design & Consideration For Mines
Providing ventilation to underground mining operations, mining ventilation engineers will put together a complex system to ensure a mine is operated both safely and economically.
Mine ventilation systems consist of one or more primary ventilation fans and many booster fans to move air underground, through the drifts (tunnels).
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Dust Collection Systems for Mines and Quarries
• GPC Cyclone – Compact design allows for retrofit intotight areas. Will increase removal efficiency and decrease baghouse maintenance.
• S-Collector Cyclone – Designed for abrasiveapplications. Will increase baghouse and filter life.
• Double Dump Valve – Airlock will handle bulky materials.
• Vacu-Valve – Economical airlock for Fine free flowing dust such as sand, rock dust, cement dust.
• Knife Gate – Manual and pneumatic control of storage vessel discharge.
Equipment Selection
● Cyclone
● Chemical isolation system
● Spark trap
● Rhino Drum
● Abort Gate
● Explosion Venting
● Explosion Isolation Valve
● Airlock
● Fume arms
● Hoods
● Downdraft tables
Processes that will produce problem dust and fumes
● Sand transport and mixing
● Mold production
● Shakeout of cooled parts
● Reclaiming used sand
● Cutting
● Shot blasting
● Grinding or sanding
Ash Handling Equipment That Works
● Ash Handling Conveyors
● Ash Conditioners/Unloaders
● Rotary Airlock Feeders
● Double Dump Valves
● Ash Storage Silos
Air Handling: Innovative Products for All Applications
● Industrial Fans
● Dampers
● Expansion Joints
● Mechanical Dust Collectors
● Blowers
● Air Heaters
● Economizers
● Air Systems
● Ductwork
● Stack Ash Handling
Fuel Handling
● Conveyor Systems
● Metering Bins
● Reclaimers
● Storage Systems
You will get serious results that significantly affect your mill’s bottom line, because that’s our goal.
Reliable, effective products for the fuel handling, air handling, and ash handling needs of various industries, including paper plants. That’s why we’re your one-stop-shop for turnkey solutions.Innovation is a key component in the industry’s current growth. Vortex can make sure your facility is keeping up with shifting demands. Contact us today to learn more about our pulp and paper solutions.
Benefits of Make-Up Air for Industrial Buildings
● Automatic management and control of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), Temperature and building pressure.
● Boost worker comfort and productivity, consistent space temperature, eliminate cold drafts.
● Outdoor Air/Fresh Air code compliance.
● 100% efficient direct-fired combustion for low operating cost.
● Reduce overall heating and ventilating cost. Make-up air corrects multiple building comfort, compliance and mechanical HVAC and ventilation performance failures.
● Eliminate negative air pressure in the building.
● Improve performance of building exhaust systems & eliminate haze and indoor air polluting particulates.
● Augment existing ventilation systems and assists dust collector operation.
● Remedy dangerous carbon monoxide and byproduct back-drafting of vent chimneys of other building HVAC units.
● Prevent untempered building air infiltration and drafts.
● Diffuse and eliminate unwanted process odors.
Selecting Make-Up Air Systems
Without replacement air (make-up air), building exhaust struggles to draw air into the building through every crack, door and window possible at a rate equal to the air it exhausts. Paint booths and manufacturing process is evaluated to select the most efficient system for your application.Our team at Vortex will help you with system design and selection keeping your facility balanced.
Fabrication and Install
Industrial dust collection system exhaust stacks are generally fabricated from steel, the most economical option. Several factors are critical in determining the design of a stack.Volume: The most critical parameter for stack design is the volume of air that is being discharged. The volume will determine the stack diameter required to achieve the desired air exit velocity that is used in the modeling process.Location: Stacks must be able to resist the prevailing wind and seismic loadings they will experience:
• Coastal regions would present higher wind loadings than inland locations.
• Exposures also influence wind loadings depending upon whether the location is in an urban area, on open terrain or in an area with hills.
• More active seismic areas would result in higher earthquake design forces.Configuration: Stack diameters are based on a minimum exit velocity for dispersion; however, oftentimes the required height of the stack will result in a stack that requires special design considerations. Taller, slender stacks are more prone to excessive vibrations caused by dynamic wind load effects. To limit vibrations, designs may include aerodynamic methods like helical strakes or shrouds. Designs also may include damping to absorb energy, such as tuned mass dampers or preformed base fabric pads.Find Video that shows how helical strakes help to reduce vortex shedding.Air Temperature: The type of steel (stainless, carbon, COR-TEN®) used in stack fabrication often will be dictated by the temperature of the air being discharged. For example, the strength and elasticity of carbon steel declines as air temperatures exceed a few hundred degrees Fahrenheit. In those cases, stainless steel is preferred as it performs better in temperatures up to and exceeding 1,000 degrees.Testing: Test ports are often required to facilitate air testing at different elevations of the stack. Test platforms with caged ladders or stairs are then required for access. These platforms are considered a source of additional gravity, wind and seismic load when designing a stack.
Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO)
One of today's most widely accepted air pollution control technologies across industry is a regenerative thermal oxidizer, commonly referred to as a RTO. RTOs use a ceramic bed which is heated from a previous oxidation cycle to preheat the input gases to partially oxidize them. The preheated gases enter a combustion chamber that is heated by an external fuel source to reach the target oxidation temperature which is in the range between 760 °C (1,400 °F) and 820 °C (1,510 °F). The final temperature may be as high as 1,100 °C (2,010 °F) for applications that require maximum destruction. The air flow rates are 2.4 to 240 standard cubic meters per second.[4]
Regenerative Catalytic Oxidizer (RCO)
The regenerative catalytic oxidizer (RCO) technology has evolved significantly as an efficient method to control volatile organic compounds. The RCO technology favors using oxide catalysts because it allows for easy compensation of lower activity by an increase in the catalyst amount or temperature. Heat transfer and accumulation properties of ceramic packing material strongly influence RCO performance. The rate of heat transfer affects the temperature gradients along the bed length that, in turn, determine the volume of material required to preheat the gas to the temperature of catalytic or thermal oxidation.
