Case Study Details

Client Name

Viracon, Inc.

Application

Glass Dust

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Challenge

One GS4 dust collection unit that helped Viracon transition from a wet to a dry process.

Viracon, Inc. is an architectural glass fabrication company with locations in the US and Brazil.

“We’re using a dry seaming system. We use silicon carbide or aluminum carbide belts at high speed to take the sharp edges off the glass that’s just been cut,” explained Chuck Wencl, process engineer at Viracon. As a result, glass, silicon carbide, and aluminum carbide particles were being released into the atmosphere. “We didn’t want the dust to be all over the plant,” Wencl continued, “It would infiltrate the other processes.”

Viracon was undergoing a transition from a wet application to a dry application, which made dust collection an even higher priority. To remedy their problem, Viracon installed a competitor’s dust collection systems. “You would rake the bags to shake some of the dust out,” Wencl noted. “You had to do everything manually.” This manual interaction wasted valuable time, cutting worker efficiency.

The ideal system would be, as Wencl mentioned, “One unit to handle more than one seaming application that was automated so that people didn’t have to continuously clean it.”

Solution

A Farr Gold Series model GS4 was installed to capture dust at the source of the glass cutting and in a contained area. "The units are run during both 12-hour shifts at the facility," Wencl noted. “They run 24/7.”

Wencl applauded the Farr Gold Series' ease of maintenance saying, “They are maintenance-free. Even with the oldest units, I’ve never had to replace the filters in them.” He continued, “I have spare filters in-house if I need them, but I’ve never had to install them.”

“It’s made the manufacturing process cleaner because the units are more powerful than the older ones were,” Wencl added. “It’s self-cleaning. You forget about it. It’s just there all the time, doing its job.”

Since their initial purchase of the Farr Gold Series units, Viracon has also installed them in their other locations in Georgia and Utah.