Hi all,

I am planning in constructing an air filter cleaning jig for my workplace.
These filters get clogged quite quickly and they are not cheap to replace each time they get clogged.
At the time being, we are cleaning these filters with a compressed air gun and a vacuum cleaner, but the process is quite messy.
To make the process a bit easier, I was thinking of doing a jig as shown below, where the filter in mounted in an enclosed polycarbonate housing and compressed air is applied from the top of the enclosure. A vacuum cleaner will then collect the dust from the filter.

Now I have two concerns:

1)Will this process damage the filter, hence making it inefficient?
2)Will applying compressed air to the vacuum cleaner damage it?

 

It's a little more complicated than that. Have you ever seen one of these?

http://www.dynamicair.com/products/dustfilter343.html

Or maybe something like this.....outside of a manufacturing building?

https://clean-air.com/industrial-solutions/welding/new-clean-air-brahm-series/

The filter media goes thru a periodic "beating"....with air and sometimes vibrators, collecting debris at the bottom.


I would copy a successful commercial design. Or maybe surplus equipment.

 

Hi all,

I am planning in constructing an air filter cleaning jig for my workplace.
These filters get clogged quite quickly and they are not cheap to replace each time they get clogged.
At the time being, we are cleaning these filters with a compressed air gun and a vacuum cleaner, but the process is quite messy.
To make the process a bit easier, I was thinking of doing a jig as shown below, where the filter in mounted in an enclosed polycarbonate housing and compressed air is applied from the top of the enclosure. A vacuum cleaner will then collect the dust from the filter.

Now I have two concerns:

1)Will this process damage the filter, hence making it inefficient?
2)Will applying compressed air to the vacuum cleaner damage it?

Will it damage the filter? That would depend on the filter! After all, filters are designed to collect, not dispense. The filter may have a direction in which it is stronger, a “polarity”, airflow in the opposite direction could be working against the structural strength of it. Testing seems the only way to tell.

Will applying compressed air to the vacuum cleaner damage it? It could, but why would you be running a vacuum cleaner if the incoming air pressure exceeded its own pressure capability? That wouldn’t make a lot of sense. At the point just remove it and use it’s filter bags to collect, but...

Since the dust is deposited by being drawn into the filter from one end, it would seem to follow that it should be removed by drawing air from the other end. That is, I would expect biasing the system for vacuum rather than positive pressure would seem prudent. The positive pressure might help if it is a constant small amount, but it would be using the most difficult way to remove the dust.

And, here’s a really important thing: dust is potentially explosive. How flammable depends on what the particles are, but consider this carefully and at least have an extinguisher nearby.

You might be able to apply a small positive pressure and measure this to decide if the filter is clean.

 

Filter is a very wide range of things. What kind of filter are you talking about? A link to the brand or model?

 

Filter is a very wide range of things. What kind of filter are you talking about? A link to the brand or model?

I think the question on top of "what kind of filter" is, what are you filtering? Wood dust? Lint? other?

kv

 

But knowing will give us a better idea. I have worked where they used both dry filters and wet filters. Some used a 'cyclone' some did a shake every so often and some back flushed. The one on my sand blast cabinet just has a weight in it's bag, and when ever the vacuum shuts down the bag falls in the container and makes the dust fall to the bottom.