Traveling exhaust provides mobile solution to fume collection.

It's no secret that exhaust fumes, smoke and odor are present in metalcasting facilities, and in recent years, strong efforts have been made to disperse and eliminate the fumes.

In many metalcasting facilities, a contributor of exhaust is the traveling crane used to move heavy crucibles full of molten metal. Usually, an exhaust system is in place to absorb the emissions from the air, but Beltech Engineering, Beamsville, Ontario, Canada, went one better with its Travelair Exhaust System, which travels with the crane to manage the fumes at their origin.

Without infringing on the crane's operation, an exhaust duct is permanently mounted along the same runway or monorail on which the crane runs. The box duct is built to the same length as the crane's runway and can be made to accommodate curves and doorways.

An exhaust car runs along the duct with the crane. As the crane moves along the duct, which has continuous suction, the transfer car opens a sealing mechanism. When the seal opens, the suction is allowed to pass through the duct, capturing the emissions from the crane. Thus, whatever the position of the crane, the duct will be open at that point to suck up the fumes.

The traveling exhaust system curtails the spread of high volumes of contaminants in the metalcasting facility and reduces capital costs because the required exhaust volumes are smaller than a typical stationary exhaust system. Operational costs are lower because less energy is required for exhaust fans and make-up air systems. The exhaust system also can be customized for use with hand-operated crucible cranes and monorails.

The same principle is applied when using the traveling transfer car as part of a fresh air system to overhead traveling cranes. In this system, a duct similar to the exhaust system blows conditioned air. As the transfer car travels along the duct, it opens the seal that is pressurized by HVAC fans, providing the cab with fresh heated or cool air (depending on the season). Because the cab is slightly pressurized, the problem of dust infiltration is not an issue. The same system also can provide positive pressure to temperature- or dirt-sensitive equipment on the crane, such as control rooms, doghouses, electrical panels and electrical motors.

The traveling exhaust system can be used with the following hood designs:

* crane-mounted receiving hoods;

* telescoping enclosing hoods;

* hand-pushed capture systems;

* monorail systems with bends and switches;

* push-pull capture systems;

* industrial air curtains.

Select No. 002 at www.moderncasting.com/info