What is Abrasive Blasting?
Abrasive Blasting is a common industrial process used to remove the surface coating from materials or structures to prepare them for final finishing such as painting, machining or assembly. The most common blasting method uses compressed air to propel abrasive material from a blast pot, through a blasting hose to a nozzle that is manually controlled by an operator.
Why is dust control important when Abrasive Blasting is undertaken?
Abrasive Blasting generates large volumes of respirable dust that can be toxic and small enough to be inhaled into lungs and thus can be hazardous to workers. Crystalline silica and lead are typical examples of toxic dusts that can be generated during abrasive blasting activities. Installing a quality dust collection system removes unsafe contaminants from the air and keeps the workplace safe for operators.
Where is Abrasive Blasting work undertaken?
Abrasive Blasting can be performed in open sites for example on buildings, bridges, tanks, dock yards etc or it can be performed within enclosed environments such as blasting chambers or cabinets or dedicated blast rooms.
What are Blast Rooms?
Blast rooms are typically sealed rooms where operators work inside to undertake blasting work. A dust collection system is used to filter the air in the room and prevent particulate matter from escaping. Blast rooms can be designed to any size to meet the requirements of the work typically undertaken.
What affects ventilation and dust control solutions used for Abrasive Blasting?
The blasting material and process used will dictate the type of ventilation and air flow required to capture the airborne dust and fume along with the environment where blasting work is taking place. Extracted air can be ducted to a dust collector located outside a blast booth or drawn directly into a mobile dust collector by incorporating a hood.
For blasting operations where the process is contained, keeping the enclosure volume under a negative pressure with sufficient capture velocities on all open areas can be an effective method to control the contaminants.
What are the key components of a Grydale Dust Collector?
Grydale Dust Collectors comprise of a modular design that typically comprises of a Filter House, High Efficiency Cartridge Filters, Reverse Pulse Filter Cleaning System, Centrifugal Fan, Variable Speed Drive (VSD) (to allow power consumption to be regulated) and a Dust Discharge System.
Below is an outline schematic of a Grydale Fixed unit Dust Collector (JMS F-Series) that are installed alongside custom blast booths:
Why Grydale?
Grydale have a wealth of experience designing both fixed and mobile solutions for industrial dust collection solutions for Abrasive Blasting works.
Example Project: Rockhampton Powdercoating
Rockhampton Powdercoating refresh old metal items using sandblasting and powdercoating services. We designed, manufactured and installed a steel blast room equipped with a media recovery system and suitable dust collection system. This allowed the client to bring their blasting operations in-house controlling the quality of the end powdercoated product.
For more information on our dust collection systems for abrasive blasting please contact us.