Valin Provides 2-Part Filtration System to Aerospace Facility

Challenge

An aerospace manufacturer contacted Valin regarding a filtration issue they were having in the production of their aircraft brakes.  Aerospace companies are held to stringent EPA regulations regarding air quality requirements. The initial stage of air filtration coming off their production furnaces has historically been supplied by a filter company with very expensive filters. Due to the hazardous material the filter is capturing, the filter is required to be disposed of by an approved hazardous waste facility. The large filter cartridge caused excessive disposal costs for disposal of an entire filter cartridge and a rebuild program was put in place. An employee wearing protective gear would change out the spent filter cartridges with fresh rebuilt filters, dismantle the spent filter cartridge by removing the filter media and gasket material from the stainless-steel filter frame (core and pleat support system), then clean the filter frames for shipment back to the factory to be rebuilt with new filter media. The spent filter material is then disposed in a hazardous collection drum for transport to a disposal facility. The expense of this process was considerable; rebuild costs from the factory, freight costs to and from the factory, and labor costs to dismantle and clean the spent filter cartridge.

Solution

Valin was made aware of this issue during a joint sales call. Valin’s filtration specialists set up a meeting with key aerospace personnel and their current supply chain management partner to discuss filtration applications and issues at the facility. Our vision was to design a reusable filter support system (center core, end caps and outer support) that used an expendable pleat pack. The pleats would require support, but due to the applications low pressure requirements, we knew we could use a light wire support on the pleat pack that would provide an adequate seal. The pleats would also allow the media to be easily compressed and disposed of in the same hazardous waste drum for proper disposal. One of Valin’s top filtration vendors best understood our vision for this application and worked with us to engineer a custom solution. We presented a unique custom Valin solution: A two-part system requires the initial purchase of a reusable 304SS Filter Support Cartridge and then repeat business for the Slip on Removable Media Pleat Pack.

Customer Benefits

In our initial meeting, we were told that attempts had been made to find a better solution for over three years with no success. Our custom solution for the aerospace company met all of their requirements and eliminated the burden of rebuilding their filter cartridges, which was a large expense and liability. Valin's unique solution allowed the customer to move to a more manageable disposable design (reducing labor costs) and provided them with a solution that was equivalent in performance to their current system.

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