Winner at the Xylexpo

SPÄNEX has made a big hit with its SMU dust extractor range for extracting dust from woodworking machines. Owners of a SMU can testify this already.

During the XYLEXPO 2022 trade fair in Milan, the SMU series has now been awarded the coveted XYLEXPO INNOVATION AWARD in the category “sustainability”. The eight-member jury thus highlighted the potential for energy savings, aspects of environmental protection and ecological advantages due to integration into existing recycling systems, which the SMU series offers, especially in the version as a dust extraction battery with connected briquetting press.

The jury judged the SMU battery to be a versatile, scalable and flexible system that can be adapted to different business needs. 

With the innovative concept of the dust extractor batteries, several individual dust extractors are operated in parallel, so that the extraction of large air volumes of over 10,000 m³/h is also possible with these units. Via an intelligent control link, the physically separated SMUs operate as a virtual unit and thus offer the operator the decisive advantages of indoor installation without the need of explosion relief.

Main features of this plant technology:

Dust extractor as basis

The compact dust extractors from SPÄNEX are complete separation stations consisting of the inlet/filter chamber, the fan cell and the container part. The fan is arranged on the clean air side and equipped with a high-performance impeller so that high efficiencies are achieved. Energy-saving motors of efficiency class IE 3 (optionally IE 4) are used as standard, the speed of which is controlled via frequency converters to adapt the suction power to the respective demand. 

The further features of the compact dust extractors are: 

High suction power

To overcome the pressure losses of the woodworking machines and the piping system, high suction pressures are available at the suction nozzles of the compact dust extractors.

Quiet operation

The sound insulation is very effective, so that the noise levels reach best values. Additional external silencers are usually not required.

Effective filtration and cleaning technology

The high separation efficiency of the tested filter material ensures a residual dust content in the return air of < 0.1 mg/m³. The compressed air cleaning (Jet Pulse System) ensures efficient and at the same time gentle cleaning of the filter elements with low compressed air consumption, so that long service lives are achieved. 

Modern design, compactness

The innovative design in conjunction with the use of special filter elements have led to compact casing dimensions, so that extremely small footprints are required with equally low installation heights.

Pipework system

The piping system on the dirty air side is planned and designed in such a way that the required suction volume flows are available at all machines which are extracted individually or collectively, with lock slides installed in the connecting pipes. The automatic opening and closing of the slides is initiated by the SMU control system. At the same time, it is ensured that the conveying speeds for chips and dust in the main suction lines are maintained and that there are no material deposits. 

Disposal alternatives

The extracted chips and dust are buffered in the containers of the dust extractors and transferred to the rotary valves (decoupling element) via the discharging devices. The rotary valves, in turn, feed a screw conveyor or a pneumatic transport system, which convey the material either into a container, a silo or a larger container, underneath which there is usually a briquetting press. The briquettes are mostly used as fuel for heating the factory hall. 

The output of the briquetting press is adapted to the material volume. Machines with a chip throughput of 0.5 to 2 m³/h are manufactured by SPÄNEX. 

Intelligent control technology

The function package of the electrical control automatically ensures controlled and safe operation of the extraction system. Optionally, the control system can also be equipped with a module for remote control, so that the functionality of the system can be checked by our service department on customer's request. 

Another advantage of this plant technology is its energy efficiency. 

The speed control only provides the extraction power that is currently needed. The speed of the two, three or four extraction fans is adapted to the respective demand situation via the built-in controller. In this way, the required combination of volume flow and suction pressure is achieved. Since the machine utilisation varies and different running times of the individual machines can result even at full capacity, this functionality is particularly important with regard to minimising electricity costs. In pneumatic transport systems, the buffering option for the separated material also contributes to saving electricity costs. 

Conclusion:

With the possibility of operating several dust extractors as one interconnected dust extractor battery, plant operators have an innovative, low-cost and award-winning system for indoor installation even above an extraction air volume of 10,000 m³/h.