Air Intake Filter Screens Prevent® and solve air intake problems

Permatron manufactures some of the world's leading air filters which are used to protect expensive HVAC equipment by stopping debris at air intakes - before it has a chance to enter the system.

Today more than ever before, mechanical, maintenance and process engineers are being challenged to provide effective solutions that help to optimise environmental air quality and process cooling efficiency, while reducing downtime and maintenance cost.

Regardless of the technology used to process incoming fresh air, the challenge has always been keeping cooling towers and other HVAC systems clean. When fresh air is drawn from the outside into HVAC systems, it brings along with it a wide range of airborne debris that can impact air quality and quickly clog the system. A clogged HVAC system ultimately leads to downtime for cleaning and maintenance.

In facilities that rely upon process cooling for robotic assembly, injection moulding or other production applications, downtime due to HVAC system fouling is particularly costly because of lost productivity.

Air intake problems are usually seasonal in nature. The times of year that represent the greatest maintenance challenge are spring, summer and autumn. Depending upon the season and region of the country, different environmental factors come into play.

In the spring, nesting birds are frequently problematic (especially in cooling towers). In areas where spruce trees exist, you can count on seed being a problem during the summer.

In wetland regions, insects are frequently problematic during spring and summer and in rural farming areas, leaves, pollen and crop harvest debris can be problematic during the summer and autumn.

Maintaining good air and water ecology are important elements in managing healthy and efficient HVAC systems. However, until recently, most businesses and institutions could do little to improve the quality of the air before it entered their systems. Hence entry of airborne debris places greater demand on the HVAC maintenance process.

Unlike traditional internal filter banks used in air handling units, air intake filters are installed on HVAC systems at the point where fresh air enters into the system thus filtering out debris before it can become a problem.

Air intake filters can also be installed on cooling towers, air-cooled chillers and condenser units or any fresh air intake opening. Air intake filtration is specifically designed to stop spruce seed, pollen, leaves, insects, birds, paper, construction debris and other airborne matter from being drawn into air intake openings.

Originally published by Permatron Chicago - Filtration Solutions since 1957

Fresh air supply to London’s Heathrow Airport

Fresh air intake supply to London’s Heathrow Airport

London’s Heathrow Airport started out life as a small 150 acre plot purchased from the Vicar of Harmondsworth.

“Heathrow Before World War II Map”. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons –

It now employs 76,000 people within its boundary (equivalent to the population of Guildford) and is sat on 1,227 hectares.

That is 20 times its original size with five terminal buildings covering the land previously occupied by the hamlet of Heathrow, Heathrow House and various farms, orchards and market gardens. It is still defined by its 1950’s hexagram shape and now operates as one of the busiest airports in the world.
The terminal buildings cover 686,064m² and process more than 191,000 passengers on an average of 1,200 flights per day.
In a recent article written by Cordis the author states that up to 50% of the total energy in a typical airport will be spent on HVAC to maintain a suitable environment for passengers and staff.

CASCADE: REDUCING ENERGY USE BY AIRPORTS
Airports are big energy consumers – and that’s before a plane takes off or lands. The daily electricity and thermal energy used by a large airport compares to that of a city of 100,000 people.
This article goes on to quote
“A pilot scheme has been undertaken by two Italian airports, Fiumicino in Rome and Malpensa in Milan, used by 55 million people a year.
The project engineers concentrated on the large air conditioning units, chiller plants and cooling towers at the airports. They found equipment running when it was not needed, incorrect heating and cooling settings, poor positioning of sensors and poor maintenance”.

Heathrow Airport consumes a massive 701GWh per annum which is almost 4 x the annual production of the Glendoe Hydro Scheme. However, HAL do generate a lot of their own energy through various renewable schemes and are continuing to advance that technology in the new Terminal 2.

Terminal 5 is the largest free-standing structure in the UK and the roof area is the size of five football pitches.  It requires a massive 2,500,000m³/hr of air to serve its energy-efficient displacement air-conditioning system.

The air is filtered through three 11m² banks which contain a total of 726 filters.

Even at a highly efficient 15 watts per m³ that will be costing over £4,000.00 per hour or £30 million per year (figures are an estimate only) for this air supply only.

That is why efficient air movement is so critical because face loading on filtration systems will increase the energy demand exponentially.

Although the airport itself contains almost no flora and fauna it is surrounded by open spaces and gardens which create the leaf, seed and pollen debris that is blown across its 1,227 hectares. Add to that tyre rubber from 1,200 flights per day, dust kicked up from the runways and local roads and you can see that the filters have a hard job to do.

New Permatron PreVent® air intake screens are to be installed to protect the existing filter bank and the coil fins on the frontline frost coil.

The added benefit (currently under test) is that the changeover periods for the existing filter bank will be extended by a new washable filter with only a minimal effect on airflow.
Notes:

• CORDIS is the Community Research and Development Information Service
• Click here for the full article by CORDIS
• For more information regarding air intake screens go to www.airintakescreen.co.uk
• Richard Betts is the Managing Director of RAB Specialist Engineers who are the sole UK and European distributor of Permatron Air Intake Filter Screens.

Cottonwood seed and air intake filter screens

 

  Telephone 01635 248633 or email sales@rabse.com

Cottonwood seed and air intake filter screens

Energy loss versus energy efficiency

In the USA the term Cottonwood Tree is commonly known and most people have had some experience of the windblown seeds creating a summer snow. 

What is less well known, is that the poplar species spawns its seed from catkins. This creates a "snowstorm" of fluffy white seedlings which can completely carpet the local area. For images of this seemingly delightful natural occurrence please check see http://goo.gl/7zh3TD .

Like all snows, this seed is great when it first arrives, until you realise just how much it is interfering with your life.

It gets everywhere! 

Because it is windblown, it has no respect for boundaries and can be found on the street, the roof and even in the basement. It is not that difficult to get rid of and can be easily removed with a hose. brush or vacuum.

Unless it gets sucked into your air intake plant.  

• Once it hits the cooling coils it will begin to reduce energy efficiency by forming a thermal blanket over the coil face.
• In cooling towers it enters the fill, decays and creates a biological sludge to feed bacteria.
• And finally, it is sucked into all AHU filters to reduce airflow and changeover times.

Cottonwood seed is one of nature’s marvels and looks great in the right place. Not so good when it is costing you time, energy and money.  

There is a simple and innovative solution.

Instead of drawing all of the cottonwood seed into your air movement plant, allow it to be captured by a Permatron PreVent® air intake filter screen supplied by RAB Specialist Engineers Limited. 

This unique product can be fitted to any size or shape of air intake and provides an external, electrostatic filter with minimal effect on airflow.   

Now, when you want to clean your coils, you just use a hose, brush or vacuum

It will extend filter life by up to 60% and reduce maintenance time on your cooling towers.  

For more information contact on 01635 248633 or drop an email to sales@rabse.com