Four Dust Collection System Design Improvements That Can Yield Significant Annual Energy Cost Savings

The design and location of a dust collection system's hood, ducting, collector and fan can collectively add sufficient static pressure requirements to the point where larger, more expensive to operate motors are necessary to maintain effectiveness. Optimizing these areas can make it possible to use smaller, more energy efficient brake horsepower motors. The electrical savings potential for a simple dust control system can be at least $2,000 per year, and significantly more for larger systems. "Bell mouth" shaped hoods (Figure A), with an entry loss coefficient factor of 0.04, are ideal for energy savings. In comparison, plain, or raw edge collection orifices (Figure B), have a factor of 0.93. At a velocity of 4000 feet-per-minute (fpm), the Velocity Pressure (VP) of a plain opening has a factor of 1.0. With a bell mouth hood, the water gauge static pressure (wgSP) is 1.04", or 1.00 + 0.04 x 1.0. The plain opening design requires 1.93" wgSP, for an increase of 0.89" wgSP.