Parker domnick hunter Filtration, a division of Parker Hannifin Corporation, has introduced aerospace technology in their compressed air filters.
Dairy producers and packagers internationally are adopting compressed air filtration available in Australasia that is designed to be energy-efficient.
OIL-X EVOLUTION compressed air filters by Parker domnick hunter Filtration uses aerospace technology to optimise air flow paths through the filter’s housing and element to significantly reduce air turbulence and pressure losses, reducing system operating costs.
Parker domnick hunter Filtration business development manager, John Davis said the technology is eminently suited to the dairy industry, where production purity and energy efficiency are essential to efficient manufacturing.
This has led to global acceptance of the technology, including by Tine Norske Meierier BA of Klepp in Norway, which is one of the modern and technically automated dairy packers in Europe.
Pneumatic machinery at Tine Norske Meierier does most of the work of slicing, grating and wrapping cheeses and the compressed air driving this machinery must be of the best quality. A new central compressed air system was installed by domnick hunter/Hillevag Elektro Diesel AS and was fitted with a PNEUDRI desiccant dryer and OIL-X and BIO-X filters to ensure absolute purity and sterility.
Davis related that according to Gaute Nesse, the company’s maintenance manager, energy saving controls on this purification package will save the company more than 100,000 kWh per year in energy consumption.
The technology has also been adopted by one of the independent French manufacturers of yoghurts and fromage frais, which are now using domnick hunter filters to produce high quality steam and sterile compressed air.
The steam is used throughout for general cleaning and sterilisation of packing equipment whilst the sterile air is used in the transportation and packaging process itself.
This application also brings together products from more than one division of domnick hunter, including OIL-X from Industrial and BIO-X from process. Key in the selection of domnick hunter filters was their low pressure drop which helps to minimise energy costs.
The OIL-X EVOLUTION range of compressed air filters has been designed from the outset to meet current and forthcoming requirements for compressed air quality. Design of the compact filter has focused on efficiency-critical areas, such as air flow management, filtration media selection and construction and efficient removal of coalesced liquid.
Davis said that domnick hunter invented the coalescing compressed air filter in 1963. The company is an international specialist in filtration, separation and purification technology, including refrigerant and desiccant compressed air dryers, nitrogen generators and complementary products in its complete filtration programme.
Aerospace technology has been applied to eliminate all unnecessary pressure losses in the new filters. These losses would otherwise consume energy as the pneumatic system worked harder to compensate. Air streams are channelled through the filters in a way that reduces turbulence and pressure losses, including the use of full radius blended bends, diffusers and turning vanes that reduce a 90-degree inlet corner into a number of smaller, more efficient, corners. OIL-X EVOLUTION filters also employ a flow distributor to ensure the air stream is evenly distributed throughout the filter element for maximum filtration performance and energy efficiency.
Davis said when OIL-X EVOLUTION filters are installed in a compressed air system using a 185 kW compressor, for example, the design could save the user up to 60 per cent per filter in energy consumption compared with a traditional filter.
With nine new International patents pending, OIL-X EVOLUTION filters have been designed to provide a very low initial saturated pressure loss which stays low throughout their 12-month guaranteed life.
To achieve this, the filter media selected for OIL-X EVOLUTION is a borosilicate glass nanofibre with 96 per cent open area or voids volume, providing an extremely high dirt holding capacity. A special oleophobic coating actively repels oil and water, ensuring the open area is maximized for dirt entrapment.
The surface area of the cartridge has also been maximized with deep pleat media beds, which provide surface areas up to five times greater than filter elements using standard wrapped construction. This allows overall filter size to be reduced and ensures pressure losses start low and stay low.