Healthy air in the new hall

HOLTKAMP STAHLKONSTRUKTIONEN GMBH - STEEL CONSTRUCTION SINCE 1988
From the small family business, which was founded in 1988 by Mr. Hans-Wilhelm Holtkamp, a company has grown in the course of the company‘s 30-year history, which has successfully asserted itself on the highly competitive market of steel and hall construction.

The company headquarters in Nottuln is able to produce 2500- 3000 tons of steel structures per year. The production facilities are designed according to the latest technical aspects and take into account the special requirements of optimum production and process sequences. The statics and design department are also located here. Holtkamp steel structures can be found as halls, crane tracks and many other construction projects throughout Germany and are successfully supported by a well-trained assembly team all over Germany.

The challenge

Due to the construction of a new factory hall, which can only be gradually equipped with welding workstations, a flexible welding fume solution is to be found that adapts to the changing process. The welding fume particles are to be extracted by air filtration through over the hall.

Hall dimensions: Length: 50 m, width: 25 m
Materials to be welded: Steel, black, slightly oily
Welding method: MIG / MAG manuell
Estimated quantity of welding rod according to visit date: 220 lbs (10.000kg) / year with 220 working days = 16,5 lbs (7,5kg) / day / welder
Welding stations: 6

The solution

The Diluter is a free-standing room-filtration-system that prevents accumulation of welding fumes by continuous filtration of polluted air. The Diluter consists of a central filter system, a fan in a sound-absorbing housing, a blow-out unit with adjustable blow-out nozzles, a silencer and a control box with frequency regulator and PLC.

The filter unit is equipped with a spark arrester and filter cartridges as well as the RoboCleanPlus system for automatic cleaning of the filter cartridges in sections by means of compressed air. The Diluter system continuously mixes or dilutes the welding smoke layer with clean, filtered air with its freely movable blow-out nozzles. To optimize the dilution process, each blow-out nozzle can be individually adjusted, best results are achieved by direct, targeted alignment to the welding smoke layer.

The polluted air is sucked in by the filter system, cleaned and then returned to the factory hall via the blow-out nozzles. The residues filtered from the welding smoke are collected in a dust container which is easy to empty. The system considerably reduces thus the need for external ventilation. The expensive air-conditioned room air remains in the workshop and in this way contributes to minimizing energy costs and environmental impact. The standard equipment with a control and regulation unit and a switch cabinet, contains a frequency converter with speed regulator, which in connection with a pressure sensor keeps the volume flow constant, independent of the degree of saturation of the filter cartridge.

A filter system requires up to twice less energy at the beginning than at the end of the filter- operating life to move the same amount of air. This control unit maintains the air flow continuously, saving up to 50% of energy. In addition, this prevents filter overload and extends filter life.

Since the Diluter system does not require any piping, it can be easily installed with low installation costs. It therefore offers the perfect solution when spot extraction and extraction hoods are not an option, e.g. for the production of large work pieces, different welding processes at different locations, crane transport or installation difficulties with an extraction pipeline. If the conditions within the workshop change, the Diluter can be positioned differently without much effort and adapts perfectly to all changes.