Dust Extraction and Fume Extraction specialists. Whether it's Downflow Booths, mobile filter units, or Hood Positioning Devices (Extraction Arms), flextraction have products to suit your dust and fume extraction requirements.

New Range of Specialist High Temperature Application Hoses from flextraction

Posted July 8th, 2010

A series of suction and blast hoses for use in high temperatures up to 1100°C and chemical applications is now available from flextraction Ltd, supplier and manufacturer of Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) products and authorised distributor of flexible extraction hoses in the UK and Ireland for NORRES Schlauchtechnik GmbH & Co. KG, the Gelsenkirchen, Germany based manufacturer of technical and industrial hoses.

High Temperature Hose from Norres

These hoses depending on the type and size, vary in weight, flexibility and compressibility to meet their suitability for the application as well as the temperature ranging from -200°C up to +1100°C.

The hoses in the range made from Thermoplastic polymers are suitable for use in applications where the maximum temperature is 125°C. Hoses made of steel can be used up 400°C, whilst stainless steel hoses can be used up to 600°C. For better thermal insulation, multi-ply constructed hoses using alternating special high temperature webbing and special insulating materials are highly effective up to 1100°C over short periods.

One example of hose in this range is the VA 471 TEFLON ®, double layer, ultra lightweight, compressible hose which is designed for use in applications where operating temperatures can range from approximately -150°C to +250°C and over a short period of time in applications up to 270°C. Typical applications for these hoses include use with equipment associated involving aggressive solids such as dust particles, powder and fibres, also aggressive gaseous applications such as vapours, fumes and smoke, all applications found in the chemical industry, manufacturing de-dusting and suction plants as well as in bellows and compensators.

Another example is the NORRES CP HiTex 483 multi layer high temperature suction and blast hose designed for use in applications can reach up to 1100°C such as dust, powder and fibre solids, gas, vapour and flue gas extraction, blast furnace exhaust and welding fume extraction as well as exhaust extraction in engine construction, engine warming, aircraft and military equipment construction.

Derby College Apprentice & Welder Training Centre Equipped with new HPD Fume Extraction

Posted July 5th, 2010

What do you do with a derelict old engine shed that has Grade II listed status and had seen better days?  Derby College turned it into an Award winning 18,000m² flagship learning and teaching centre as part of a £48m regeneration scheme.

Opened in September 2009, the Roundhouse now offers students a wide range of courses including, art and design, building services, gas electric and plumbing as well as engineering and welding.

For the engineering and welding centre, Flextraction through their distributor, Leengate Industrial Welding Supplies Ltd from Nottingham, who were already suppliers of welding and fume extraction equipment to Derby College, were asked, after successfully tendering, to supply the fume extraction equipment for the new welding bays in the apprentice and welder training area.

Leengate supplied a Thermadyne Synergic Pulsed MIG 320A welding machine and a 200A AC/DC TIG welding machine for each of the 12 welding bays, but before welding could commence fume extraction equipment was required and it was here that Flextraction became involved.  Flextraction specifically designed and installed their latest HPD (Hood Positioning Device) system that was able to cater for the constricted space in the lower ground floor of the new Kirtley link building housing the welding shop and which also connects the old engine Roundhouse and the carriage repair shops.

Each welding bay has a self supporting 2m long, highly flexible articulated arm attached to a wall mounting bracket with each arm having an epoxy black 100mm diameter flared hood.  To discharge the fumes away from each bay, spiral galvanised sheet steel ducting was sized and proportioned to give a good conveying velocity through out it entire length.  The whole system was designed to go hand in hand with the structural set up of the building.  Access doors were also installed for inspection and servicing requirements.

A single 3-phase centrifugal, single inlet, medium pressure fan fitted with an impeller with backward facing blades supplies the conveying velocity operating at 2,895 revs/min.

Also included in the installation was a manual plasma cutting machine with a TEKA 600mm x 635mm air suction table to extract smoke and fumes using 160mm ducting under the bench at 1,500 m³/hr and a Grinding bench for weld preparation and finishing work was also supplied.

The complete fume extraction system was installed by Flextraction engineers.

James Thorneycroft, Engineering Lecturer at Derby College said: “Our new Roundhouse facilities allow us to offer students excellent welder and welding theory learning opportunities.  The HPD fume extraction system that we have installed provides our students with an excellent working environment.  The fact, that the equipment needs very little servicing, means that we can carry out apprentice and welder training without interruption.”

Minimising Flour and Ingredients Dust at Manchester Bakery Group

Posted May 25th, 2010

To control flour and ingredients dust at the point of weighing in preparation for onward baking, Martins Foods Group in Manchester has invested in two 4m downflow booths from Flextraction, designed to contain dust over large areas of emission.

Martins Food Group, one of Manchester’s longest established bakeries founded in 1922, has a modern 50,000ft² central bakery in Newton Heath producing and supplying over 150 bakery and sandwich products every day to the Group’s 28 retail outlets in the Manchester area.  The Group also has a 30,000ft² factory including a large holding freezer in Radcliffe, Manchester supplying frozen bakery products cakes and desserts to supermarkets and Foodservice outlets.

Flextraction’s own modular design, 304 stainless steel downflow booths with an acoustically enclosed fan to minimise overall noise level, operate on a re-circulatory airflow principle with a clean evenly distributed down flow of air at 0.5m/second. Extraction is via low level primary roughing filters and secondary bag filters and this then provides downflow via ceiling mounted 99.95% filtration efficient HEPA (High Efficiency Particle Arrestor) filters suppressing any dust downwards away from the operator’s breathing zone. Pressure indicating devices continually monitor the extraction performance, whilst automatically controlling the 2 x 2.2kW direct driven variable speed fans to maintain optimum operating conditions.

Louvered grilles in the lower rear wall capture the airborne contaminants. Because the booth operates using continuous re-circulation of the air within the booth, no airborne contaminates can escape into the external environment. Their modular designs allows a size to be manufactured to suit the application and they are found in a multitude of industries in addition to bakeries, these include dye and paint manufacturers as well as pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers.

Neil Martin, Managing Director, Martins Foods Group said: “I first came across a Flextraction downflow booth during a visit to the Birds Bakery in Derby. I was impressed with the dust free conditions in the weighing area and although at the time we were already undertaking good practice to keep the dust levels as low as possible, I realised we could improve our own working environment to the betterment of our employees as well as the Company.

As a major bakery group in the Manchester area, we have to ensure that our operations meet with the most stringent health and safety standards and this investment has enhanced those standards.

After discussions with Flextraction, we decided in 2008, to invest in a 4m. booth, basically because it fitted into the size of our Newton Heath operations and once installed, we immediately saw environmental improvements. We made dust emission checks and found that the employees weighing up and tipping flour or ingredients into removable bowl mixers had the lowest emission levels of anywhere in the bakery, which was excellent. In early 2009 we decided to invest in another one for our Radcliffe operations with exactly the same results.

Both booths have been an excellent investment providing a much cleaner working environment and require very little maintenance, we only have to replace the easy to access filters, which is a very easy task.”