Parker domnick hunter is a world leader in the filtration, purification and separation of compressed air and gases. Parker domnick hunter specialises in purification and separation technologies where compressed air and gas purity, product quality, technological excellence and global support are paramount. It designs and manufactures compressed air treatment products, gas generators and ancillary equipment for many key industries where ease of integration, low cost of ownership and energy savings can make a real difference.
In today’s modern production facilities, the use of compressed air is often pivotal to manufacturing processes. Irrespective of whether the compressed air comes into direct contact with the product or is simply used to automate a process, provide motive power, packaging, or to generate other gases on-site, a clean, dry reliable compressed air supply is essential to maintain efficient cost effective production.
Failure to remove all contamination can cause many problems with the compressed air system, such as:
Corrosion within compressed air storage vessels and the air distribution system
- Blocked or damaged valves, cylinders, air motors and tools
- Damaged production equipment
- Premature unplanned desiccant changes for adsorption dryers
- Product contamination
In addition to problems associated with the compressed air system itself, allowing contamination such as particulate, oil and micro-organisms to exhaust from valves, cylinders and tools, can lead to an unhealthy and unsafe working environment.
Compressed air contamination will ultimately lead to:
- Inefficient production processes
- Spoiled, damaged or reworked products
- Reduced production efficiency
- Increase manufacturing costs
A solution for every contaminant
Water separators
Water separators are used to protect coalescing filters against bulk liquid contamination in systems where excessive cooling takes place in air receivers and distribution piping. Using mechanical separation techniques, water separators will remove in excess of 92% bulk liquid contamination.
Coalescing filters
Coalescing filters are probably the single most important purification equipment in a compressed air system. They are designed to not only remove aerosols (droplets) of oil and water using mechanical filtration techniques, but also to remove solid particulate to very low levels (as small as 0.01micron in size). Installed in pairs, the first filter is a ‘general purpose filter’ which protects the second ‘high efficiency filter’ from bulk contamination. The dual filter installation from Parker domnick hunter ensures a continuous supply of high quality compressed air with the additional benefits of low operational costs and minimal maintenance.
Adsorption (Activated Carbon) Filters
Oil vapour is oil in a gaseous form and as with water vapour will pass through a coalescing filter just as easily as the compressed air. Therefore, oil vapour removal filters must be employed as these provide a large bed of activated carbon adsorbent for the effective removal of oil vapour, providing the ultimate protection against oil contamination.
Adsorption dryers
Water vapour is removed from compressed air using an adsorption dryer. Adsorption dryers remove moisture by passing air over a regenerative desiccant material which strips the moisture from the air. This type of dryer is extremely efficient and a typical pressure dewpoint for adsorption dryers is -40°C. As adsorption dryers are designed to remove only water vapour and not water in a liquid form, they require the use of coalescing filters to work efficiently.
Dust removal filters
Dust removal filters are used for the removal of dry particulates which may be carried over from the desiccant material in the adsorption dryer. They provide identical particulate removal performance to the equivalent coalescing filter and use the same mechanical filtration techniques to provide up to 99.9999% particle removal efficiency.
Sterile filters
Absolute removal of solid particulates and microorganisms is performed by a sieve retention or membrane filter. They are often referred to as sterile air filters as they also provide sterilised compressed air. Filter housings are manufactured from stainless steel to allow for in-situ steam sterilisation of both the filter housing and element. It is important to note that the piping between the sterile filter and the application must also be cleaned and sterilized on a regular basis.
Refrigeration dryers
Refrigeration dryers work by cooling the air, so are limited to positive pressure dewpoint ratings to prevent freezing of the condensed liquid. Typically used for general purpose applications, they provide pressure dewpoints of +3°C, +7°C or +10°C. Refrigeration dryers are not suitable for installations where piping is installed in ambient temperatures below the dryer dewpoint i.e. systems with external piping.