Established in 2016, Arbor Garden Solutions Ltd is a UK manufacturer of garden furniture and industrial wooden work benches.
It is inevitable with the manufacturing process that there will be an element of wood waste and dust created. As the business has grown and the amount of woodworking machinery and tools onsite has increased, it was necessary for Arbor Garden Solutions to address the existing LEV (local exhaust ventilation) set up within its workshops.
Arbor Garden Solutions contacted Fercell to discuss its dust extraction requirements. Fercell initially carried out a site survey, which highlighted several woodworking machine tools operating with inefficient LEV equipment.
The existing LEV system consisted of multiple small standalone units, which were both noisy and inefficient. This was coupled with the fact that a significant increase in workload for the company meant that production floor space was at an increasing premium, and ultimately the smaller units were occupying room needed for the production of new product.
Dust extraction for woodworking
The production processes use various woodworking machine tools, all with the potential to create significant volumes of dust, carried out across various buildings onsite.
Arbor Garden Solutions understood and highlighted wood dust as a hazardous substance, with the potential to cause irreversible damage to health, all of which is covered by CoSHH regulations.
When it came to proposing a solution, safety was the most important factor. Fercell needed to design and install an industrial dust extraction system that not only delivered efficiency but adhered to HSE and CoSHH regulations.
Arbor Garden Solutions requested a system that would connect to a centralised ducting system, effectively capturing, extracting and collecting dust in a compact system. The unit also needed to be sited outside, to optimise internal production space.
The solution was a MMV mini-silo dust extraction system; an integrated solution with dust extraction, filtration and waste storage.
The unit provides ample waste collection, without the need to stop the operating system frequently to exchange dust collection bags, as would be the case in smaller dust extraction units. It is also equipped with an additional material discharge point, in preparation for a briquette press due to be installed in the near future.
How it works
Any dust is captured at source and transported through the centralised ducting system to the externally sited MMV mini-silo dust extractor.
The MMV, configured as a negative pressure, has the fan located on the clean side of the filter, which keeps it away from any waste material, increasing service life, while reducing both energy consumption and noise.
The system performance is automated, with filter monitoring and cleaning, and suction based on demand. The air volume ramps up and down, according to the number of machine tools in operation, at any one time.
All of this delivers optimised performance, reduced maintenance costs and minimised sound output and power usage.
Along with performance aids, the MMV has a package of safety features, including certified ATEX explosion relief panels, a non-return explosion valve and H20 sprinkler system.
The system has a capacity to run both Arbor Garden Solutions’ current demand, as well as spare capacity for planned expansion.
Following the installation and connection of the LEV equipment, one of Fercell’s trained engineers returned to site, where they completed the hot/cold testing, LEV testing, plant commissioning and operator training.
The dust extraction system will allow Arbor Garden Solutions to effectively capture dust at source, for a whole host of woodworking equipment, allowing them to increase their manufacturing capabilities.
