Christian Vallejo
05-06-2015, 12:15 PM
Hello everyone. I am a newbie, and I need some feedback on my idea for an exhaust/filtering unit. Commercial units are too expensive, and I believe I can make it Work by myself. I am also a designer, so I decided to give it a try.
The reason why I went with a round shape (tube) instead of a box is turbulence. (Maybe in this case turbulence is a good thing since it will create small vortexes allowing the fumes to stay longer in the chambers) I only have a 650CFM blower, so I need to make up for it in efficiency, so it has to be round. (I have no idea about airflow dynamics, all this is based upon observation).
Also I wanted acrylic in order to "see" if the unit was filtering properly or in a case of a fire.
In the design it is not shown, but I start with a simple filtering cloth (furnace filter - 3 layers) to catch big particles, then I carry on to three sets of active carbon filters in a row. I am using the plastic housing of an activated carbon filter used for household furnaces, but I am adding an extra 2 inches of activated carbon to them in a "sandwich". so I will have at the end of it all a 2 and a half inches of carbon per stage.
My train of thought is to be as efficient as possible and also remove as many twists and turns coming from the 6" venting hose.
All commercial options have one or even two 90° airflow turns, Maybe it is done to increase the filtration time, but quite frankly it looks inefficient.
Please remember that this unit will connect straight from the blower to the outside. The reason being is that I work in an office building and the smell from acrylic cutting will make me vacate the premises. So in order to have a roof over my head and my laser cutter whilst working, I am using this contraption.
Also I am attaching a picture of a previous idea to capture all the smell which also included a hood over the machine to catch any other fumes coming from the machine itself. I had a professional quote that idea but it was over $6.000. But that was a sure fire. It had a double filtration Carbon-Hepa with Hepa pre filtering, extraction blowers at each filtering station. It was overkill.
Please all comments on the current idea are more than welcomed any help will be highly appreciated.
Kind Regards.
Chris.
The reason why I went with a round shape (tube) instead of a box is turbulence. (Maybe in this case turbulence is a good thing since it will create small vortexes allowing the fumes to stay longer in the chambers) I only have a 650CFM blower, so I need to make up for it in efficiency, so it has to be round. (I have no idea about airflow dynamics, all this is based upon observation).
Also I wanted acrylic in order to "see" if the unit was filtering properly or in a case of a fire.
In the design it is not shown, but I start with a simple filtering cloth (furnace filter - 3 layers) to catch big particles, then I carry on to three sets of active carbon filters in a row. I am using the plastic housing of an activated carbon filter used for household furnaces, but I am adding an extra 2 inches of activated carbon to them in a "sandwich". so I will have at the end of it all a 2 and a half inches of carbon per stage.
My train of thought is to be as efficient as possible and also remove as many twists and turns coming from the 6" venting hose.
All commercial options have one or even two 90° airflow turns, Maybe it is done to increase the filtration time, but quite frankly it looks inefficient.
Please remember that this unit will connect straight from the blower to the outside. The reason being is that I work in an office building and the smell from acrylic cutting will make me vacate the premises. So in order to have a roof over my head and my laser cutter whilst working, I am using this contraption.
Also I am attaching a picture of a previous idea to capture all the smell which also included a hood over the machine to catch any other fumes coming from the machine itself. I had a professional quote that idea but it was over $6.000. But that was a sure fire. It had a double filtration Carbon-Hepa with Hepa pre filtering, extraction blowers at each filtering station. It was overkill.
Please all comments on the current idea are more than welcomed any help will be highly appreciated.
Kind Regards.
Chris.