You will have a hard time avoiding the creation and distribution of gases and particles in your factory or workshop during welding operations. These gases are expected to be exhausted away from the office and people to a safer area, such as open-air outdoors, for health and safety reasons. That is why you need a fume extractor for welding!
A welding fume extractor is a device that pulls gases and pollutants through a filtration system using a fan to purify the air from toxic contaminants and particles. However, a welding fume extractor extracts the gases into a complicated filter device that catches the pollutants and purifies the fumes to acceptable amounts of touch, instead of exposing the fumes outside.
Let us talk about welding fumes to better understand why you really need a welding fume extractor. The exact composition of welding fumes varies depending on the application and soldering process used. There are two major components: welding-induced metal dust particles are so thin and extremely dispersed that they look like smoke, causing a high inhalation risk.
A variety of hazardous metals, including aluminum, antimony, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, iron, lead, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, silver, tin, platinum, vanadium, and zinc, can be made up of this dust.
A variety of potentially poisonous gases are created by the fusion of metals. Argon, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, helium, fluoride hydrogen, iron oxide, nitric acid, arsenic, phosphorus, nitrogen dioxide, and phosgene are among them.
A welding fume extractor is really a must-have if you are in the welding industry. Welding fumes can also damage the brain and nervous system, inhalation can cause major lung complications and diseases. Various cancers include common complications caused by welding fume exposure; emphysema; kidney failure; lead poisoning and anemia; Parkinson's disease; metal fume fever; nose, sinus, mouth, and lung inflammation and asthma. Without the alert, certain poisonous gases and fumes may have a combined impact on health.
Several filters are used for welding fume extractors, while other systems use several filters in line, depending on the application. It is the powerful fan and high-quality filtration media that combine together to create a recirculating air pattern for ductless units. Due to the flow of air, no ductwork or costly alternative air is needed.
These devices take up less space, weigh less, are more energy-efficient, and filter modifications are readily available. Welding fume extractors are remarkably fine because of the three separate kinds of filters. In various welding fume extractors, there can be different configurations of these filter types, but they all work the same way.
Pre-Filters
Usually, the pre-filter on a welding fume extractor is made of pleated cotton and traps dust and other larger particles. This helps trap most of the tiny particles in the lungs, eyes, and throat that can cause choking and itching. They can be easily seen gathering in the filter as the particles are stuck.
Note that while this filter is usually cotton, like clothes, you can never wash these filters. They can be washed to prolong the life of the cotton filter with a hand-held vacuum cleaner, but it will need to be replaced after saturation exceeds 70 percent or so.
Matter Particulate Filters
To trap very small particles, welding fume extractors use filters with a polypropylene mesh. Although HEPA filters are designed to trap very tiny particles, gases or odors do not filter out. This is critical for sufferers of allergies and asthma. HEPA filters achieve an efficiency of up to 99.97% on particles 0.3 microns in size, so you get very high levels of filtration to trap tiny particles to avoid asthma and allergies.
ULPA filters (99.9995 percent effective on particles 0.12 microns in size) can be chosen on even smaller particles. Ultra-low particulate filters have greater filtration than HEPA, trapping more particles smaller than HEPA. Both filters are consumable objects which, based on use will inevitably need to be replaced.
The activated carbon is the main component for this type of primary filter system for welding fume extractors. Usually, these are a set of carbon filters that are designed to eliminate tiny particles and material gases, such as the gas created when acrylic is sliced.
This works much like water purifiers based on carbon. It is through the filters of carbon that bad smells and gases are removed. This may also be regularly washed for longer use, but it is time to repair them until the laser operator begins to detect odors in the air again.
IMTS Exhibition includes manufacturers from around the world. Send us a message with your requirements and our IMTS Experts will happily help you with your questions.
You can see all Welding Fume Extractor categories
