A cartridge dust collector is any dust collector that uses cartridge filters, not bag filters, to clean air of heavy smoke, powders and dust in industrial work areas. Besides a cloudy, irritating atmosphere, cartridge air cleaners help prevent harmful, long-term and even fatal health issues that could arise from a job involving woodworking, grain, plastics and rubber, metal grinding, welding fumes, media blasting, powder coating, foundries, battery plants, mining, pharmaceutical, chemical and certain food processing, etc.
Industrial cartridge collectors feature multiple cylindrical-shaped air filters enclosed in a housing, attached to steel plates and mounted on slide rails to provide smooth installation and removal. The cartridges are securely locked in place, each connected to an air valve, and sealed. A motorized fan and blower system sucks dirty air in and pulls it up through the filters, particulates are caught up in the fibers of each filter’s media pack, and cleaned air is released from the unit’s outlet vent.
Cartridge collectors are designed to be highly efficient with easy maintenance, little down-time and prolonged filter life. With pulsed bursts of compressed air, the trapped contaminants are loosened from the filter media and drop to the bottom of the unit into a hopper; thus, the units are self-cleaning while in operation. High-efficiency cellulose pleated cartridge filters can provide up to 99% efficiency; they have a larger, more dense surface collecting area, as compared to bag media filters, for greater dirt-holding capacity. Units can come with aluminum mesh or perforated plate pre-filters to catch the bigger particles before entering the cartridge filters.
Providing indoor air pollution solutions, a cartridge dust collector’s intake can be ducted into problem areas or go further and have source capture arms that suck up contaminants right at the point of cutting, welding, grinding, etc. Units range from efficient, compact bin vent designs for silos, storage bins and conveyor transfer points to self-contained dust collection in downdraft work benches to complete integrated systems.
