The Effect of Debris Accumulation On and Filter Resistance to Airflow for Four Commercially Available Vacuum Cleaners

Details

• Personal Author:
  Heitbrink, William A. ; Santalla-Elias J
• Description:
  Mortar removal with right-angle grinders can cause excessive exposure to respirable crystalline silica. To control this dust exposure, vacuum cleaners need to exhaust 2.3 m(3)/min (80 cubic feet per minute) from the grinder's exhaust hood. Maintaining this airflow while collecting as much as 15.9 kg (35 lb) of debris in the vacuum cleaner has been problematic. A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate how mortar debris affects vacuum cleaner airflow and filter pressure loss. Four vacuum cleaners were tested. Two of the vacuum cleaners used vacuum cleaner bags as a prefilter; the other two vacuum cleaners used cyclones to reduce the amount of debris that reaches the filter. Test debris was collected by a masonry restoration contractor during actual mortar removal using a grinder fitted with a hood. The hood is attached to a vacuum cleaner with cyclonic pre-separation. The vacuum cleaner fan curves were obtained experimentally to learn how pressure loss affects vacuum cleaner airflows. Then, 15.9 kg (35 lb) of mortar removal debris was sucked into the vacuum cleaner in 2.27-kg (5-lb) increments. Before and after adding each 2.27-kg (5-lb) increment of debris, vacuum cleaner airflows were measured with a venturi meter, and vacuum cleaner static pressures were measured at the inlet to the vacuum cleaner motor, and before and after each filter. The vacuum cleaners equipped with cyclonic pre-separation were unaffected by the mass of debris collected in the vacuum cleaner and were able to maintain airflows in excess of 1.98 m(3)/min (70 cfm) throughout the testing program. As debris accumulated in the vacuum cleaners that used bags, airflow decreased from 2.3 m(3)/min (80 cfm) to as little as 0.85 m(3)/min (30 cfm). This airflow loss is caused by the increased airflow resistance of the bags that increased from less 0.03 kPa/m(3)/min (0.1 inches of water per cfm) to 16.7 kPa/m(3)/min (1.9 inches of water/cfm). Apparently, vacuum cleaners using bags should be used in applications where adequate dust control can be achieved at airflows less than 0.85 m(3)/min (30 cfm). Vacuum cleaners with cyclonic pre-separators provided superior and cost-effective dust control compared with vacuums with bags when dust loading was high and when more than 30 cfm of airflow is needed for dust control. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Movements Air Pollutants, Occupational Biological Factors Construction Industry Construction Materials Dust Environmental Monitoring Filtration Hazardous Substances Irritants Laboratories Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Safety Management Silicon Dioxide Ventilation Workplace

  More +
• Keywords:
  Air-filters Air-flow Air-quality-control Air-quality-measurement Air-sampling-techniques Airborne-dusts Airborne-particles Author Keywords: Airflow Biohazards Biological-factors Biological-monitoring Biological-systems Biological-transport Construction Construction-equipment Construction-industry Construction-materials Dust-collectors Dust-control Dust-control-equipment Dust-exposure Dust-inhalation Dust-measurement Dust-particles Dust-sampling Dust-suppression Dust Control Dusts Exhaust-hoods Exhaust-systems Exhaust-ventilation Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Filter-materials Filters Laboratory-testing Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational-health Occupational-respiratory-disease Pressure Loss Respiratory-irritants Respiratory-system-disorders Safety-measures Safety-practices Silica Statistical-analysis Vacuum-cleaning-systems Vacuum-equipment Vacuum Cleaner Ventilation Ventilation-equipment Ventilation-hoods Ventilation-systems Work-analysis Work-environment Work-practices Worker-health Workplace-monitoring Workplace-studies

  More +
• ISSN:
  1545-9624
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement ; Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  374-384
• Volume:
  6
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035556
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Hyg 2009 Jun; 6(6):374-384
• Contact Point Address:
  William A. Heitbrink, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52241
• Email:
  williamheitbrink@uiowa.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040801
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• End Date:
  20090630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d244c1dd92444f692a4f75a173197a7fa0c6e813f1a581d5fd5e13981ed588e1a04c3864435092f39827934e18bb16cde14fa1229c112b6c7bbf9b3322d80565
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187380/cdc_187380_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 8.96 MB ]