Downflo Oval with Ultra-Web Cartridge Filter Captures Ambient Pharmaceutical Dust

Industry: Pharmaceutical Packaging

Problem: A hand-held vacuum couldn’t keep the air or the tablet packaging machine clean

Solution: A Donaldson® Torit® Downflo® Oval dust collector with Ultra-Web® filter, and Easy-Duct™ duct work

Recently business has increased at GPSI, a packager of tablets, pills, capsules, and other medicines for human consumption. Once the packaging machine became busier, Nick Rini, engineer, found his crew was no longer able to keep the machine clean and dust out of the air with their hand-held vacuum cleaner. Pink dust in the ambient air was evidenced in the pink tinge on walls, baseboards, and on ceiling air vents of the room.

Nick called in Donaldson® Torit® to consult on dust control solutions and the sales engineer made two recommendations:

Enclose the hopper. Nick’s crew was able to make a hinged lid for the hopper that could be easily opened for receiving product, and closed during the packaging process.
Connect the hopper and the vibratory bed to a small dust collector. Nick purchased a Donaldson Torit Downflo® Oval (DFO) dust collector containing one Ultra-Web® cartridge filter. The collector cleans itself periodically, emptying the collected dust into a sealed bucket for later disposal. The Ultra-Web filters capture particles as small as 0.3 micron in size.

Nick positioned the DFO collector next to the table and configured the ductwork using standard components from the Donaldson Torit Easy Duct™. By using a “Y” joint and Easy Duct clamps, Nick assembled a ducting system that connected both the hopper and the vibrator bed to the DFO collector.

Nick commented, “The DFO is quiet and my crew likes that it is self-cleaning. It’s very good! We are looking forward to having cleaner air here in the plant.”