In this month’s IAC Tip of the Month Video, Process Engineer Luis Castano offers an elegant and simple solution of how to modernize older reverse air and shaker style baghouses within the housing, and convert them to more reliable and easier to service pulse jet systems. Conversion can be done at a lower cost than replacing the baghouse, and will achieve required capacity, making the investment an excellent option for many operations.
Video Transcript: Hi my name is Luis Castano with IAC’s Tip of the Month. This month we want to talk about a subject that a lot of you are familiar with, but it’s worth revisiting. It’s common that we run into old (really old) baghouses, probably dating back to the 1960’s, sometimes even more, that don’t work very well but yet the operator just has to deal with all the headaches. Companies do not modernize these old baghouses because there’s no space above it, or there’s other restrictions as far as access is concerned.
There is a very simple solution to modernize these baghouses with a pulse jet conversion. You may be familiar with old reverse air baghouses, or shaker baghouses (which we still see), that don’t work very well. We know pulse jet technology is more modern, more reliable, and easier to work with.
For example, how are you going to modify an old shaker baghouse if you have a roof over it? You can not do a complete conversion (or replacement), or you have to mess with the outlet ductwork, and it’s a big project sometimes thought of as not realistic or almost impossible.
Let me remind you that what IAC can do, and we’ve done a lot of these, is put a tubesheet in the middle, and install shorter filter bags and cages, or pleated filters, with the components at the tubesheet level. We add an access door in the housing above the tubesheet so that a clean air plenum is created for inspection and maintenance access, and the tubesheet separates the dirty air plenum with the new shorter bags.
it’s a very elegant and simple solution to implement at a much lower cost than replacing the baghouse or accessing the area. We can bring the pieces, by hand if needed, to the jobsite for installation.
If you want to consider upgrading an old baghouse this is usually an excellent option. Pulse jet baghouses are more efficient, so we know we can go to a high air-to-cloth ratio, and along with the small bags, we’ll still have the capacity we need for the system.
In conclusion: A way to get more efficiency, and better performance out of your old system, internal pulse jet conversion that uses the existing housing might be the right solution.
Call us to discuss this option for your system – we’d be happy to help. Thank you!