Hall air cleaning: Clean die casting hall without extraction bonnets at Willi Pflitsch Metall-Druckgußwerk GmbH
Willi Pflitsch Metall-Druckgußwerk GmbH was founded in 1935 and specialises in the production of high-precision aluminium and zinc die-cast parts. In 2002, the construction of the new site in Marienhagen near Wiehl laid an important foundation stone for the company's remarkable development in recent years. Extraction bonnets were dispensed with in the die casting department and room ventilation was installed instead. The installed hall air purification system could not fulfil the requirements of a die-casting foundry due to its design.
The starting situation
The pressure die casters were exposed to high levels of release agent and waste heat, which meant that the windows had to be opened regularly,’ says the company, describing the initial situation. Based on a detailed assessment of the current situation, Kappa was able to identify key problem areas: the separation technology was unable to cope with the large quantities of release agent produced. The filters were quickly saturated, resulting in a drop in air performance. Furthermore, the separation performance was too low and the downstream heat exchanger was contaminated, which reduced the efficiency of the system.
The solution: Kappa AIRTM indoor air purification system
The solution of the problem: Kappa AIRTM, which supplies the entire casting hall with clean fresh air without the use of extraction hoods and removes emissions and waste heat from the hall in a targeted manner. Fresh air is introduced into the hall via Kappa DiffusorsTM placed on the hall floor. As the fresh air diffuses in, it is distributed draught-free throughout the entire hall without mixing with the contaminated hall air. All obstacles are flushed and the die-casters are supplied with fresh air. After just a short time, a stable lake of fresh air forms in the work area. It actively displaces the large quantities of release agent emissions and waste heat from the occupied area upwards to the hall ceiling. There, the emissions and waste heat are completely captured and dissipated over a large area using adjustable Kappa COC extraction panels. The emissions are filtered via two units installed on the hall roof by the Kappa MTATM exhaust air purification and air treatment center with an output of two times 90,000m³/h. The MTATM systems are equipped with a multi-stage exhaust air purification unit. The first filter stage is equipped with an automatic cleaning unit. This ensures highly effective separation and a high air flow rate with low system resistance. The waste heat is recovered after the exhaust air purification unit in the integrated low-temperature heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is also equipped with an automatic washing device to ensure a consistently high level of efficiency. In total, 2,716,762 kWh of waste heat can be recovered each year. In the supply air treatment unit of the Kappa MTATM systems, the supply air is preheated using the energy recovered from the exhaust air flow.
What does the customer say?
‘When we switch off the Kappa system, we can clearly feel the impact of the casting process on the hall air after just 15 minutes. After half an hour with the roof riders, windows and doors closed, the strain on the employees is so high that production is no longer reasonable. Despite the low outside temperatures in winter, we have not yet had to heat the building. Previously, we lost the waste heat via the exhaust air due to the poor efficiency of the old system. The cooperation with Kappa is excellent and the performance of the installed system is outstanding,’ says Mr Uwe Pflitsch, Managing Partner, describing Kappa's performance.
