Dust Collector Information Page
Dust collector installation and design, is becoming an important health and safety issue. Organizations such as OSHA in the United States have legislated compliance in dust collection. In many large companies dust collection is required for conveyors, bins and hoppers and anywhere dust is produced. Mobile Dust Collection is becoming more prevalant in road construction projects since many US jurisdictions require the equipment.
Our dust collection design experience involves both cartridge type collectors and large baghouses. We use 3D modeling to streamline the design of entire baghouses, flanges, transitions, air headers and complicated angled hoppers. The advantage of using SolidWorks to design these items is once the model is created, the model can be used over and over again for many other customers and specifications.
The manufacturing drawings automatically update for the new size without having to spend lots of time designing form scratch. The drawings are also more accurate due to the fact that the same design rules are being used over and over again without errors. Accuracy is also enhanced because the drawings are always to scale, which is something that cannot always be achieved when editing legacy drawings for the same purpose.
One example of how 3d modeling serves the collector manufacturer is in the design of custom angled steel hoppers, typically used to provide a method to funnel dust falling of the filter bags into the super sacks or steel drums at the bottom of the hopper.
Just about every hopper is different, either in length, width or height or all three. Add to this the need for custom inlets, whose diameter and location changes with each customer. A single 3d model of a hopper can be created with 1 or 2 inlets and the whole thing can be driven by a design table or spreadsheet.
Simply by adding a new row of specifications to the spreadsheet, the entire model of the hopper will update so that the height, length and width are exactly as required. The flange diameter, bolt circle, number and diameter of bolt holes are also updated. All the updates follow the tried and tested rules for hopper design and so long as those rules are correct, you will get a perfect hopper every time.
No new drawings are necessary, the drawing updates itself to the new design and only the clients name has to be changed in the title block. This process can cut expensive design time to a minimum and speed release to manufacturing.
