Machine air intake filters

Here is a problem that came up on a sulfur recovery facility in Punto Fijo, Venezuela. The combustion air blower, shown in Fig. 28.8, was a fixed-speed, motor-driven centrifugal machine. The air intake filters were severely fouled. They had a pressure drop of about 8 in H/). The atmospheric vent valve, used to control the discharge pressure at a constant 12 psig, was 50 percent open. The unit engineer had been asked to calculate the incentive in electrical power savings that would result from cleaning the filters. 

Increasingly, the V-block filter panels, with mini-pleated nonwoven media (shown earlier in Figure 6.8), are being used for machine air intakes, especially for gas turbine systems. 

Here is a problem that came up on a sulfur recovery facility in Punto Fijo, Venezuela. The combustion air blower, shown in Fig. 35.8, was a fixed-speed, motor-driven centrifugal machine. The air intake filters... 

It is often said that the cost of excluding a gram of dirt is only about 10% of what it will cost once it enters the oil. Dirt places stress on additives, the base oil, and machine surfaces. Therefore, the cost to filter a gram of dirt from the oil is much higher than that of filtering a gram of dirt from the air intake/breather. 

Stationary machines installed in factories and power stations are normally located in machine honses or separate rooms taking in air throngh ducting from the ontside walls with suitable filters incorporated. Alternatively, the complete machine house is treated as a clean room, in which case a barrier system of conventional panel intake filters are usually installed in one wall. 

---