Text: Martin Lindqvist, Scandfilter AB

A modern machine tool is normally

encapsulated and has a number of
openings some of which are open and 

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others which can be opened, for access,
tool changes, transport of raw material 
  
and finished work pieces, cutting fluid
etc.
One requirement is to always
maintain negative pressure inside the
c
 


encapsulation, to ensure that
contamination is not discharged by the

 
machine and contaminates the
surrounding atmosphere.
  Experience shows that it is possible to
Both experience and theoretical
calculation models are needed to
dimension this part of the system, and
in some cases it can be necessary to
modify an existing encapsulation.
One basic rule is to attempt to
achieve optimisation, so as to only use
just enough air to ensure correct
function. This minimises the energy
used by the fan that extracts the air and
creates the negative pressure inside the
encapsulation.
The air extracted from the process
contains a varying amount of air-borne
contamination.
u

 

¦uring machining operations such as turning,
milling, upsetting, cold rolling, hardening etc.,
a straight oil or oil emulsion is frequently used
as a lubricant and/or coolant. This is in order
to maintain high machining speeds, which
allows higher productivity. Oil or oil emulsion
is atomised and heated up, which causes a so-
called oil mist or oil smoke. Generation of oil
mist/oil smoke is a complex matter. Several
different parameters govern the size
distribution of the particles, their concentration
etc. These include air temperature, flushing
pressure, machining rate, surface temperature,
air pressure, type of process and type of
lubricant/coolant. A typical maximum value
for concentration in the air extracted from a
machining process is 200 mg/m3.
look at the colour of the contamination
when backlit, but a better method is to use
a particle counter (white light or laser
technology) to measure the particle
fractions. ¦ue to the high concentrations,
the air frequently has to be diluted by
clean air to do the measurements. A
simpler method can be to do the
measurements with a concentration gauge,
such as a ¦usttrak 8520, supplemented by
impactors for various particle fractions.
This type of instrument does not normally
need any sophisticated dilution equipment
and gives a rough picture of size
distribution.There are other types of
instruments based on other technologies,
which can be useful.
 j
 

     
°

 

  

    
 giving the particles an electric
The Swedish Work      
 charge (ionisation), which are
Environment Authority    then used to separate the
specifies its requirements particles from the air stream
for various kinds of (collector). This type of
contamination in regulation separator normally has low
AFS 2000:3 G

 pressure drop, but it has been








 .
The currently
applicable exposure limit is
max 1.0 mg/m3. This
exposure limit refers to
exposure during a whole
working day. The
corresponding short-term
value is 3.0 mg/m3 and
refers to exposure during a
reference period of 15
minutes. An EU ¦irective



,
for air quality and new
Swedish environmental
quality standards will entail
more stringent
requirements for air quality
monitoring.
The methods of
influencing contamination
 
  
levels in process air are

, provided with
both to modify the actual
process and to purify the
extracted ventilation air by
filtering. Filters for
processing oil mist/oil
smoke must be able to
handle concentrations of up
to 200 mg/m3 as above.
Ventilation filters are
normally dimensioned to
treat soot concentrations of
0.005± 0.02 mg/m3, which
is a 10.000 to 1 difference
in concentration. This
means that filters for oil
mist/oil smoke require
constant removal of the
filtered aerosol, i.e.
continual drainage, to give
acceptable service life.

 
     heating, it is important that
·t is not normally possible
to affect the process itself,
it is necessary purify the
extracted ventilation air by
some kind of filtering
instead.
The purification
equipment can either be





 
integrated in, or located on
the machine. The most
common solution is to
locate it somewhere else,
  

by using a system of

, which are based on
ducting.
found that fouling during
operation can drastically reduce
However, it is important
The health aspects were
that the purification
however noted far later and no
equipment should then be
great attention was given to
located as close as possible
them until the 1970s. The first
to the source, and that the
reports from the Swedish Work
duct system is dimensioned
Environment Authority date
for a suitable transport
from the early 1980s. As the
speed for the contaminated
demands for productivity and
air, to reduce depositing in
manufacturing rate have
the ducts. Large volumes of
increased, the requirement for
oil accumulation can entail
oil mist separators has also
an increased fire risk and
increased. Machining rates
are also a safety risk, due to
have increased, which has also
the increase in weight of
increased heat generation and
the duct.
thus increased the concentration
·f it is desirable to
of oil mist in process air. The
recirculate the air leaving
particle distribution has
the purification system, to
generally shifted towards
economise on space
smaller particles. Another
mechanically filtering oil mist
reason for the increased
the air should be
demand for oil mist separators
sufficiently clean. A rule of
is that machinery utilisation has
thumb is to avoid
increased, which has meant that
exceeding 1/20 of the
is often unacceptable to shut the
exposure limit of 1.0 mg/m3
oil mist separator off for
for oil mist according to
draining.
AFS 2000:3, i.e. 0.05

mg/m3.
u

The need for oil mist
There are currently many
separators has existed for as
methods for removing oil mist
long as oil has been used as
from process air.
a lubricant/cooling medium
G
in various processes.


their ability to separate small
particles (below 1 µm).
Reliability of this type of oil
mist separator is also limited. ·n
certain conditions of operation,
this technology can work well if
the aerosol consists of pure oil,
but there are considerable
limitations in handling oil
emulsions.
 
which use the principle of
inertia to separate oil particles
from the air stream. This type
of separator also has
considerable limitations in
separating small particles,
below 1 µm.



various combinations of
filter/filter wadding. The filter
medium generally has some
kind of expanded surface area,
to reduce the speed through the
material. This type of filter is
represented in several products,
with varying performance and
quality. Mechanical filtering
separators generally have
somewhat higher pressure drop,
but on the other hand they offer
much better separation of small
particles. The key to the
function is draining from the
filter material, which allows
large volumes of oil to be
handled in continuous
operation, without pressure
drop and affecting the flow of
extracted air.Scandfilter¶s
separators are constructed from
filter mats with enhanced
surface area and are mounted in
cassettes. The filter material
consists of varying sizes of
fibres and substrate, which is
tailored for every
application/operation case. The
filters are designed with
progression, which means that
the oil particles are separated
progressively, with reducing
size.
 At Scandfilter, we have also The greater the collecting
‰ succeeded in forming a theory efficiency is, the greater is the

  and a correlation between mass of oil particles separated
  ³classical´ filter theory and in the filter, which increases the
  


 what happens to a filter in an pressure drop. The less drainage
 oil mist installation with a high there is, the faster is the
! 
 
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 resistance increases too far, i.e.
  

the air flow has decreased too
There is now a well
documented body of
accepted theory which
describes how performance
such as penetration,
pressure drop etc. in a filter
material consisting of fibres
can be estimated, using
measurable properties of the
filter material.
The properties which
affect filtering efficiency
are:
ï  ± large particles
get stuck between pairs of
fibres.



  ± particles resources for testing complete
collide with and stick on
fibres. ·ntermolecular forces
10±100 million times
greater than gravity.

 directly affects system with low pressure drop,

  ± small
particles are caught by
intermolecular forces (10 to
100×106> gravity) if they
come too close to a fibre.
   ± particles less
than 1 ùm in size move at
random (Brownian motion)
and are bound by


 mass of 1.000 particles of size
intermolecular forces.
G
  ± such advanced equipment was
particles have an electric
charge. Positively and
negatively charged fibre
sides are created through
collection of static
  
installation, i.e. how pressure
drop, drainage, collection
much.
When the material is exposed
to viscous oil particles, a
different phenomenon becomes
apparent. The pressure drop also
increases here, as the material
becomes contaminated, but its
efficiency for small particles is
negatively effected during
operation.
Scandfilter AB boosted its
resources for testing of filter
material 1.5 years ago, so that it
can test entire filter systems for
oil mist separation. This means
that Scandfilter has widened its
system. The service life of the
filters for solid particles and
standardised oil aerosols (¦OP,
¦EHS etc.), using a method
which simulates a real oil mist
separation installation.
The new testing equipment
has a large number of degrees of
freedom for different particle
fractions, different aerosols,
temperatures, concentrations,
pressures etc.

several interesting projects have
The reasoning behind developing
the filter system is essential for
that the available and
standardised methods for testing
ventilation and process filters are
not applicable to oil mist/oil
smoke. The standards which
concentration of oil particles.
This allows the correct material
to be chosen, and by using
accelerated full-scale testing,
makes it possible to predict
how a particular filter system
will function in a specific
force the extracted air through
the filter equipment can be
efficiency etc. will be affected
during operation. ·t also offers
a wide opportunity to test new
materials and ideas in product
development. The most
important characteristics are
collecting ability , drainage and
pressure drop.
   
influences the service life of the
finest filter components in a
filter system. A HEPA filter
(High Efficiency Particulate Air
filter), is normally used.This is
a filter which normally limits
the service life of a filter
HEPA filter is entirely
dependent on the quantity of oil
partcles it separates.

the service life of the coarser
filter components in a filter
system, i.e. where the largest
particles are separated. The
majority of the oil to be drained
is contained in the large oil
particles (the mass of a particle
of size 1 µm is equal to the
0.1 µm). Good drainage from
both performance and
satisfactory function.
The

across
the filter system is directly
dependent on drainage and
collecting ability.
increase in pressure drop.
When the pressure drop
increases, the flow of extracted
air decreases unless there is
some form of control and
regulation of fan speed.
The power consumed to
described by the following
formula:
^p * Q
P= ²²²²
P = Power needed to drive
the fan [W]
^p = Static pressure drop
across the filter system [Pa ,
N/m2]
Q = Air flow [m3/s]
= Fan efficiency [%]
The above expression shows
that energy consumption is
reduced by having a filter
at the same time as the very
important environmental goals
are met.
Scandfilter has now gone
along way, and can now meet
increasingly stringent market
requirements. Product
development will continue and
been started, which involve
futureenvironmental
requirements.
electricity. ¦ifferent exist are methods for  
charges attract each other. determining performance with


When a filter material is solid particles and for

  



 




 
exposed to dust consisting 
u

 " 
of solidparticles, the 
pressure drop across the


medium generally increases
 
  
as the mass of trapped dust 
increases and the collecting
 # 
ability rises. The ! 
resistance across the fibre $
material increases and the 
filter is changed when the