Baghouse Filters & Filter Sock Problems

These days with the rising price of gas, food etc., we all have to try harder to make what we already have last longer rather than, as we perhaps have done in the past, simply throw it away and buy a new replacement.

However having to ‘make do’ with existing industrial plant and wear parts does have a serious downside in terms of loss of performance which in turn results in reduced plant operation – thus a loss in revenue.

One typical example of this is the filter socks/bags used in a baghouse filter. Those of us who either operate or maintain such baghouse filters know the problem only too well. The cost of replacement filter bags has increased significantly over the last few years and so there is growing pressure from the company accountants to make these filter bags last longer. Also there are the additional costs of labour and downtime to be considered.

However there is a surefire way to dramatically increase the bag life whilst at the same time preventing material build up on both the internal baghouse walls and hopper discharge. The simple solution is to install the correct model and number of Sonic Horns (also known as Acoustic Cleaners). See our baghouse cleaning page.

The Primasonics® range of Sonic Horns has been successfully employed over a wide range of filter types and sizes to offer:

• Significant increase in filter bag life



• Continual lower pressure drops across the bags



• Continuous cleaning of all internal surfaces



• Complete evacuation of the filter hopper



• Reduction in compressed air usage

Some of our clients have experienced a doubling of bag life with all the financial saving that brings. It really does not matter which type of baghouse you have or its size; we tailor design the correct solution. For example in this photograph you can see a single cell stand alone cement pre-packing baghouse jet pulse filter which only requires a single sonic horn housed within a mounting tube and flange, high up on the hopper section.

Going to the other extreme, this second photograph shows a huge smelting plant reverse air filter which required the installation of a greater number of larger, more powerful sonic horns to both help clean the bags and prevent the twelve hoppers from blocking.

On our web site you can find a section providing Enquiry Forms, one for baghouse filter enquiries which is available either in ‘on-line’ format or as a download.

Try it on one of your baghouse filters; you can even initially take out a sonic horn rental. You will be both amazed and delighted!

My Local ‘Sonic’ Ghost

I was born and spent many years of my youth in the small Irish town of Dromore, County Down.

On the outskirts of the town lay the Gillhall Estate, built between 1670 and 1680 by John Magill; it consisted of a fine, impressive house and various farm buildings. My mother’s family were Magill, however I never knew of any traceable family connection. When I was living in Dromore, Gillhall was renowned for being one of the most notorious haunted houses in Ireland and nobody ever visited it at night. The story goes that as children Lady Nichola Beresford and Lord Tyrone vowed that whoever died first would come back in the form of a ghost to prove to the other that there was an afterlife.

Well, one stormy night in 1693 whilst Lady Beresford was residing at Gillhall, she was visited by the ghost of Lord Tyrone who informed her that indeed there was life after death. Lady Beresford needed convincing that he was a genuine apparition and not just her having a bad dream so he made one startling prediction and also left two tangible signs to confirm that his ‘visitation’ had indeed really happened. First of all, he informed Lady Beresford that she would die on her 47th birthday. Then he touched her wrist which made the flesh burn and shrink but caused her no pain – Lady Beresford thereafter always wore a black ribbon around her wrist and this could be seen in a later portrait of her at Howth Castle, County Dublin. Lord Tyrone also placed his hand on a chest of drawers and the imprint of his fingers was burnt into the wood. This piece of furniture showing the charred imprint of four of his figures remained at Gillhall for some considerable period of time.

His grim prediction which was to come to pass on her 47th birthday in 1712, she believed passed without incident. So relieved was Lady Beresford that the following year she held a special birthday party only to be reminded by her old clergyman that it was actually her 47th birthday that year. ‘You were born in 1666’ he explained – ‘Then you have surely signed my death warrant’ she screamed in reply and rushed to her room where she let out a cry and died.

When the 5th Earl of Clanwilliam brought his bride to Gillhall in 1909, she was visited by both ghosts of Gillhall and fled, leaving the Gillhall standing empty until it burned to the ground in mysterious circumstances - the very year I left Dromore. You can read the full story here

So why a 'sonic' ghost? Well, it's just the way I see things really - my business involves understanding sonic waves, as in sonic horn cleaning, so I associate the idea of something being made to move without any visual explanation - ie. a sonic horn generates audiosonic acoustic sound waves that make particles move without the need for physical intervention (baghouse cleaning is a great example of this).

Belfast Paddle Steamer Aids The Confederacy!

As well as writing this Sonic Horns Blog I also write an Acoustic Cleaners Blog for our sister company. In my last blog article for that site, I recounted my childhood memory of the steam locomotive railway line which ran from Belfast, Northern Ireland past my home town of Dromore, County Down and onto the lovely seaside town of Newcastle which nestles at the foot of the beautiful Mourne Mountains.

The railway company was called The Belfast & County Down Railway and it also operated a coal powered paddle steamer along Belfast Lough between Belfast and the seaside town of Bangor. One of the most famous paddle steamers used was the PS Bangor Castle (formally the Palmerston). She was built in Glasgow in 1864 as a simple twin cylinder diagonal paddle, had a gross tonnage of 256 and measured 191’ in length by 22’ in width. One reference source has her built as a blockade runner for the Confederate States of America in the latter part of the Civil War.

As you may know, the Civil War began in 1861 when 11 states formed the CSA and lasted until 1865. The CSA bought warships from Britain, the most famous being the CSS Alabama. It is perhaps hard to imagine that this war cost the lives of over 620,000 soldiers. This paddle steamer commenced its daily sailings from Belfast to Bangor in 1888 until it was eventually scrapped in 1899.

It's Indie Time Again!

As we approach Memorial weekend it is time for the Indie 500 again (Sunday, May 25th). This will be the 92nd occasion that the race has been run since it was first organised by Carl Fisher. This year’s race is shaping up to be one of the most keenly contested for some years with competitors clocking up a staggering 200 laps. One of the favourites this year is British driver Dan Wheldon who won the race back in 2005. Others such as Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal and Australian Will Power will be out to stop Dan from winning his second Indie 500. Have a look at this Indy racing web site for further information on the race.

The Indie circuit has been designed with correctly radiused bends so as to permit the cars to be driven safely at maximum performance. It stands to reason that right angled turns would be detrimental to the cars' performance and potential for success. This is exactly the same engineering design philosophy we adopted when designing our two curved Sonic Horns – the PAS-75C and the super powerful PAS-60C.

On our web site under my ‘Irishman’s Guide’, there is a section which explains why our corrected curved sonic horn design is the correct one and highlights why competitors’ 90 degree ‘curved’ horns will not provide the same optimum as our ‘Indie’ designed models.

You ‘Chan’ Solve Your Cement Silo Storage Problems!

In my time I have climbed up, down and around a great number of bulk cement silos, in all types of climatic conditions. Solving cement powder hang ups and ratholing within cement silos is something which Primasonics International specialise in. Cement silo tops can sometimes be dirty and even dangerous places to visit. However, such visits can be virtually eliminated by installing the correct model of Sonic Horn on top of the silo on an existing hatch. A few seconds ‘sounding’ at periodic intervals will prevent side wall material build up and create maximum mass flow. Take a look at the benefits of installing sonic horns, also known as acoustic cleaners. You'll read about some prime success stories.

Many of you will have heard of the all action martial arts screen hero – Jackie Chan. Well he had a terrifying experience on top of cement silos in one of his films "Tuxedo". A video clip from U Tube demonstrates what was involved in the silo fight sequence You will surely agree that you don’t want to fool around up there on top of a cement silo! Jackie Chan did all his own stunt work in this film - including sliding down 30 feet and ending up in a truck of cement powder. I am sure glad that Primasonics can solve your bulk cement storage and flow problems in a much easier manner!

Your first ‘safe step’ is simply to complete the online Silo Questionnaire.
There is a pdf version available if you prefer.

By the way, if your silos are really blocked with very hard, old cement powder, you can totally clean the silo without the need for manual entry simply by using our safe, remote, efficient Prima Whip™

Photo right: Our Prima Whip™ in operation

Our Solar System - Fantastic!

JUPITER – SATURN – URANUS – NEPTUNE – EARTH – VENUS – MARS – MERCURY - PLUTO

Our solar system is truly an amazing ‘place’ with its nine planets. It is difficult to quickly relate the size of each planet in relation to the others. I found something fascinating which shows the relative size of each of the planets and also that of our sun – take a look, it is quite fantastic!

Pluto is the smallest being around 1.0% of the earths mass and is comprised of rock (70%) and ice (30%) with a surface temperature of -235 degrees Celsius. At the other extreme, Jupiter is the largest planet and one could fit around 1,317 earths into the same land mass. It is largely comprised of hydrogen with a rocky core. See: http://www.nineplanets.org/

It certainly puts things in perspective and I suppose if you were equally not familiar with the sizes and technical details of our range of acoustic cleaners, then again the following link would help solve this ‘perspective’ question.

Big Band Fan

I am unashamedly a Big Band fan and take every opportunity to attend any such concert in the North of England, especially in Cumbria. You many not know it but there is a magazine especially for us big band fans called Big Band Buddies - follow the link to the website.

A few weeks ago I visited the Sands Centre in Carlisle, Cumbria to hear the UK Glen Miller Orchestra with their leader Ray McVay. Ray is a well known big band personality and for some 11 years fronted the Come Dancing Orchestra on BBC1 TV.

I was thinking about Glenn Miller just now as he was born on March 1, 1904. His parents were Elmer and Mattie Lou Miller and they lived at Clarinda, Iowa. In 1921 he decided to skip his graduation years at Colorado and travelled to Laramie, Wyoming to begin his fantastic musical career which sadly was cut tragically short when the small plane he was travelling to France in, crashed on December 15, 1944.

Glen of course was renowned for playing the trombone. The trombone is a musical instrument of the brass family and like all brass instruments; the sound is produced when the player’s buzzing lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. The trombone is usually characterized by a telescopic slide with which the player varies the length of the tube to change pitches (frequency). The most frequently encountered trombones — the tenor and bass trombones - are both pitched in B♭. Modern trombones include an extra one metre of tubing which lowers the fundamental pitch or frequency from B♭ to F. The base trombone incorporates wider bore tubing plus two keys to significantly lower the fundamental frequency or pitch. See wikipedia for more information on types of trombones.

These principles of both the design of the various trombones and the method of producing the sound frequencies are exactly the same as those used by Primasonics in the design and construction of both their PAS and GRP ranges of sonic horns. To produce the selected six frequencies between 420 Hz and 60 Hz, we spin stainless steel piping to different lengths each with the characteristic ‘bell’ shape seen at the end of all brass instruments. For example, our highest frequency (420 Hz) sonic horn is the shortest with an approximate length of 380mm and is employed to maintain material flow in the discharge area of silos and hoppers. Read more about silo hopper cleaning.

Our lowest frequency sonic horn (also know as sonic cleaners), has a fundamental frequency of 60 Hz, with a length of over 3 metres and is employed for powerful long distance debonding of ash or any dry powder whether in silos, boilers, electro static precipitators or baghouse filters.

The sound waves emitted from a sonic horn occur when compressed air is passed into the Wave Generator causing the titanium diaphragm to flex.

My next Big Band outing is to see the Sid Lawrence Orchestra at the lovely Theatre By The Lake in Keswick, Cumbria with their very talented musical director Chris Dean, who is also a very skilled trombonist! Go get ‘in the mood’!