Challenge
ABB has invested in a development center for new products, and one new technology being employed is HVAF thermal spraying. They primarily use this new thermal spray process to improve the quality and lifetime of the new products they manufacture.
Solution
ABB always strives to create products that help their customers improve profitability and competitiveness, and contacted Camfil APC Nordic, inviting them to give a technical presentation of their Gold Series® industrial dust collector equipment. The scope of supply was for a complete turnkey extraction, filtration, and ventilation system, including a heat exchanger to recover the waste heat in the exhaust air.
Camfil APC Nordic needed a partner in the project and contacted YIT, one of Camfil Svenska’s customers, who had the skills, knowledge, and expertise necessary to handle this project. Camfil APC became a technical advisor to YIT, who made the final bid to ABB.
ABB accepted the proposals, and YIT placed an order with Camfil APC for the Gold Series GS10 dust collector, which would collect the fumes extracted from the thermal spray booth. The fans serving the dust collector and the heat exchanger are connected to a two-speed control system.
During the thermal spraying operations, the fans run at full speed to remove the fume-laden air from the booth. When the booth is in standby mode, the fans run at a reduced speed to prevent the buildup of any gases, such as propane and hydrogen.
The installation has been in operation since January 2010 and is working very well. This installation is a pilot plant, and ABB plans to install more systems when their product reaches the marketplace.