Cost Effective and User-Friendly Passive Explosion Protection for the Wood Industry

In addition to Lumber Processing and Wood Products industries, many manufacturing processes are at risk of dust explosions which may occur when fine combustible particulates, dispersed in air, are exposed to an ignition source within a contained environment.

These types of contained environments are commonly present throughout industry – in addition to dust collectors, they may include piping and ducting, process vessels, and numerous other types of special process machinery. The ignition source may originate from various commonly found conditions, including hot materials or surfaces, flames, welding, friction or uncontrolled electrostatic discharges. Such ignition sources should always be minimized or eliminated through a combination of engineering and safety controls, effective management and operator training and awareness. However, even with these measures in place, the explosion risk cannot be ignored, especially in abnormal or fault conditions, and therefore and therefore techniques to mitigate the potentially catastrophic effects of such an event must be employed.

A specialized manufacturer of Wood Products based in the North Eastern United States consulted IEP Technologies when installing a new process line that needed protection against the potentially dangerous and costly effects of industrial explosions. As part of the plant expansion, a new Dust Collector was to be installed in an outside location.

Quickly, it became clear that further protection measures would be needed to reduce the risk of an explosion event from propagating upstream from the dust collector, endangering connected equipment and personnel working close to the line.