Safe removal of innovative lightweight aluminium material

Customer:	PEAK
Extracted material:	Aluminium powder and dust
Industry:	Metalworking
Vacuum cleaner:	Seven Ruwac DustEx vacuums

PEAK Werkstoff GmbH, a WKW Group company in Velbert Germany, uses an innovative method for producing heavy-duty aluminium components. Spray compacting is used to process a high-alloy melt into cylindrical semi-finished products. These harden quickly and are solidified further by downstream processes like press extrusion and forging. This allows the company to produce lightweight construction products with a homogeneous structure, which are very strong yet very lightweight, while offering outstanding sliding properties. Cylinder liners are one typical application.

Problem

The three spray compacting lines operated by PEAK have built-in vacuum systems, which remove excess powder via a cyclone. However, there are many other secondary processes in which powder can be released – such as the decanting of base powder materials and machine finishing. The powder needs to be vacuumed, because aluminium dusts are flammable in a certain concentration in the air.

Solution

In total there are seven Ruwac portable vacuum cleaners in use, for keeping things clean and removing dust wherever it occurs – on the floor, on machinery or in the filters. Some of the devices work continuously on eight-hour shifts, not a major challenge for the three-phase current drive. All of the vacuum cleaners can be used in DustEx zone 22 (designation II 3D; dust class M).

For its Ruwac vacuum PEAK ordered an extractor arm as an optional extra. This vacuum cleaner is used primarily around a small spray compacting system. Individual powder alloy components are regularly added to this system to complete tests on new alloys. Wearing protective clothing is mandatory for this task, and the extractor arm removes the dust directly at the source. A quick-change system allows the extractor arm to be swapped for a normal suction hose in a single movement.