FIXED AND MOBILE BULK MATERIALS HANDLING: VACUUMS
Skid-mounted units
can be carried to spills
operate – just plug in
and start cleaning,” Eve concludes.
In addition to sales, DISAB also hires
units, which might provides a ready and
cost-e ective means of trialling the
technology before purchase.
ROUND-THE-CLOCK PERFORMERS
Aside from being much larger versions of
the domestic vacuum cleaner, industrial
portable vacuum units are also designed
to run 24/7, with minimal maintenance.
How is this achieved? “By using threephase
vacuum motors, instead of smaller
brush motors,” explains Ciaran Wilkinson,
sales director, LAJAC (pictured, left). “The
lters used to clean the air are industrial
grade/size and selected speci cally for
the application at hand. The end result
is vacuums that can provide 30,000pa of
pressure and air ows of up to 500m3/
hour. To give an example of how powerful
this is, they can lift water in a 50mm
diameter pipe three metres in the air,
making them something like 30 times
more potent than your standard home
appliance.”
It is this level of performance, along
with ease of use and manoeuvrability,
that has seen these vacuums gain
growing popularity across a wide
range of industries, from aerospace to
pharmaceuticals. “In fact, one UK-based
aerospace company is now using 30
LAJAC portable industrial vacuum units
to provide local extract ventilation LEV
for all composite air-driven tools – for
the cutting, trimming and bu ng of
composite parts – to remove airborne
contaminants,” he adds. That duty calls
for a high degree of in-built resilience.
“The units are constructed to withstand
the negative pressure created by the
high vacuum loads. They are normally
of a cylindrical design, with heavy-duty
steel plating and internal de ector plates
to ensure heavy objects that have been
vacuumed up do not strike the lter
material directly.”
LAJAC’s products include the NS
(NonStop) MOB suction unit (pictured,
left) – a small, compact mobile vacuum
cleaner with a simple design to make
it usable for both intermittent and
continuous operations. The vacuum
pump’s construction includes a builtin
cooling air valve and overheating
protection control, aimed at ensuring a
safe and long life. NonStop also maintains
a low noise level, thanks to an enclosed
mu er, as well as shock absorbers that
form part of its metallic frame.
When it comes to remote control, the
standard for this unit is a 24V low-voltage
cable. The dust container has a volume
of 40 litres and comes with a washable
polyester lter, which complies with BIA
class M (dusts with maximum allowable
concentrations ≥ 0.1 mg/m³) and has a
surface of 180dm². This large expanse
ensures that the vacuum pump’s air ow
and heavy vacuum can be maintained for
long periods. The unit comes either on a
platform, or optionally with trolley wheels
to make it mobile.
LUNG CANCER FEARS
Another reason why portable vacuum
systems are winning increasing favour can
be attributed to new scienti c evidence
that shows exposure to all welding fume
may cause lung cancer, according to
the HSE. There is also limited evidence
linked to kidney cancer (see www.is.gd/
ahuroq). This has led to a change in HSE
enforcement expectations, in relation
to the control of
exposure of welding fume (HSG258),
including that from mild steel welding. “All
businesses undertaking welding activities
should ensure e ective engineering
controls are provided and correctly used
to control fume arising from those welding
activities,” states the HSE. “Where
engineering controls are not adequate to
control all fume exposure, adequate and
suitable respiratory protective equipment
(RPE) is also required to control risk from
the residual fume.”
The updated regulations have left
organisations with two choices, says
LAJAC’s Wilkinson: either an overhead
arm or on-torch extraction, with the latter
using high vacuum technology (highspeed
extraction and low air volumes)
to remove the fume. “For on-torch
extraction, you need an industrial vacuum
system, hence the big uptake in this type
of portable unit.”
Ease of maintenance is another plus
point for industrial portable vacuums.
“They only require servicing every 30,000
hours, if used in applications with no high
temperatures involved,” he points out.
“The lters, however, need to be cleaned
regularly.” Industrial vacuum units may
have in-built cleaning systems to achieve
this, either by pulsing with compressed air
or by pulsing a relief valve to expand and
contract the lters. “The lter life is totally
dependent on the application and the
e ciency of the lter cleaning system,
with lter life around 2,000-4,000 hours
for general clean-up applications.”
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