The world of plug-and-play ventilation

Figure 1
Packaged Downflo® Evolution dust collectors are designed to be up and running soon after delivery. Simple, consolidated, external connections for electricity, compressed air, and inlet air ducting are found at the top of the unit, allowing for quick installation.

If you are a fabricator that’s been involved with laser cutting for more than 10 years, you’ve seen the rapid adoption of fiber laser cutting technology at the expense of the more traditional CO₂ laser cutting machine. That trend has only escalated as fiber laser cutting machines have debuted with increased power, allowing them to match, and even surpass in some instances, the performance of CO₂ lasers in cutting thick materials.

The other thing a fabricator might notice as it switches out a CO₂ laser cutting machine for a newer fiber unit is the smaller footprint that comes with the new technology. Because the laser is created in a special optical fiber, not in a large resonator that contains gas molecules that are excited to create the laser light, the laser source is smaller than that of a CO₂ device. Since the laser creation process within the fiber does not produce as much heat as a CO₂ laser resonator does, the chiller size is proportionally reduced.

Fabricators weren’t the only ones taking a closer look at this evolution. So were Donaldson Company, engineers of products for the metal fabrication industry and the Donaldson^® Torit^® line of dust and fume collectors. They began to think how the next generation of dust and fume collecting devices might fit with this new metal cutting technology.

“We have decades of experience in dust collection to support this effort,” said John Woolever, product manager in Donaldson’s industrial air filtration unit. “A metal fabricator puts a significant capital investment into a new fabrication line to expand its capabilities, and we wanted to introduce technology that ensured that the manufacturer is able to maximize that investment.”

The result is the Packaged Downflo^® Evolution (DFE) collector, a preassembled unit that is ready for use after electrical connections, compressed air feeds, and ducting are completed.

Probably the most visually striking part of the unit assembly is that it doesn’t sit atop stilts like more traditional dust collection equipment does (see Figure 1). In the DFE unit, the wheeled hopper where the dust is collected rests at the bottom of the cabinet. The bin, which comes in a standard 17- and an optional 41-gallon size, can be moved in and out of the unit for quick dumping and locked into place by pushing up an easy-to-manipulate handlebar. The Packaged DFE has a similar footprint as previous generations of equipment, but it has a shorter profile. The units also can be configured so that inlet and control placement are set up to fit specific facility needs.

“We saw the need for robust, continuous-duty filtration in an attractive and simple-to-implement product,” Woolever said.

On the Packaged DFE, the control also is integrated into the side of the cabinet, which is made of 10- and 12-gauge steel and has an all-welded design. The cutting equipment operator can keep tabs on fan performance, filter differential, and pulse cleaning operations with the help of a graphical interface found on the control panel.

The fans are mounted to the base, and an exhaust sound abatement design helps to keep operating noise levels around 71 to 74 dBA.

“We’ve had customers ask us if the fans are even on when they are actually running,” said Patrick Smith, Donaldson’s OEM director.

Even with the new design, the DFE collectors still make use of a simple duct connection at the top of the unit and a downward flow of the contaminated air stream. Allowing gravity to do its job, this approach to dirty airflow maximizes filtration capacity, Smith said.

Forcing the dirty air in this arrangement into the unit also helps to minimize high-velocity “hot sports” of airflow. Donaldson officials believe this can help to extend the life of filters.

The new DFE models maintain the MaxPulse^™ cleaning system found in the most recent generation of Donaldson Torit equipment. The filters have a unique triangular shape that results in a much larger bottom than traditional circular cartridge filters. When the cleaning pulses begin, more dust is ejected directly toward the collection bin.

Smith said this product launch marked the first time that equipment design involved input from Donaldson engineers and product managers around the world. It made sense because the DFE series is intended to be a global product, not just for North American metal fabricators.

“Everyone wants easy installation, which means plug and play,” Woolever said. “That’s what this is meant to be.”

Donaldson/Torit, www.donaldsontorit.com