Air quality in welding environments is important for worker health and safety, and companies that specialize in air quality control continue to develop new methods and equipment to improve air quality.

United Air Specialists (www.uasinc.com) designs and manufactures air filtration equipment for a wide range of industrial applications, including welding, and has introduced advancements at the Fabtech International/AWS Welding trade show in October.

The company said its Advanced Nanofiber cartridge filters feature some of the best technology available on the market, and have a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) of 15. A MERV rating is a measurement scale designed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) to rate the effectiveness of air filters when dealing with particles in the range of 0.3 to 10 micrometres. Higher MERV ratings correspond to a greater percentage of particles captured on each pass.

Joe Topmiller, technical sales manager for United Air Specialists, said his company's nanofiber filtration combine with its cartridge collectors to require less pulse cleaning cycles — which means they require less use of compressed air — and significantly longer filter life.

The cartridges are made with a nanoscopic mesh that traps weld fume particulate on the filter's surface, from which the particulate released during the cleaning cycle.

Topmiller said nanofiber cartridge filters are the most efficient standard filters available for use on submicron particles such as those that are present in welding fumes, including hexavalent chromium that is a carcinogenic that can be released in welding stainless steel and other materials that contain chromium as an alloy.

Topmiller said the unobstructed surface load on his company's advanced nanofiber cartridge filters are designed to require less cleaning energy to keep them in operation. That results in the longer filter life and less compressed air usage, he said.

The SFC Series from United Air Specialists is a downward flow cartridge collector and is designed to remove pollutants from welding manufacturing processes.

This system features patented pulse blast cleaning technology to deliver 25 percent more power during the filter cleaning sequence, again prolonging filter life and reducing the amount of pulsing needed.

The company's SFC series is available in a variety of sizes and can be used in a small welding shop up to a large industrial facility. Advanced Nanofiber cartridge filters are standard with any SFC unit.

The company provides its V Series cartridge collectors for welding facilities. It is compact and available in two low-profile sizes, 750 cu. ft./min. or 1,500 cu.ft./min., and in three configurations: downdraft bench, free standing and a portable unit with swing arm. The V Series is designed to remove contaminants from the air and to help welding facilities comply with OSHA regulations. Advanced Nanofiber cartridge filters are standard with any V Series unit.

United Air Specialists also introduced its Smog-Hog MSH Mist Collector. The mist collector is a compact electrostatic precipitator (ESP) equipped with a variable speed motor. Measuring 27 in. × 21 in. × 20 in., it can be horizontally or vertically mounted to a machine or hung to collect oil mist and/or coolant smoke from metalworking, gear cutting, grinding, plastic fabrication, sanding and sawing equipment.

Topmiller noted that standards for worker exposure to hexavalent chromium were made more exacting in 2006, but that engineering systems to address the stricter regulations do not have to be finalized until 2010.

“That's when companies have to have the engineering controls in place to control hex chrome and fumes in general. We're mid-way through that process now, and people are still considering their options with regard to controlling fumes, particularly hex chrome,” Topmiller said, adding that he believes that many welders are not fully aware of the OSHA regulations and the implications of the new regulations.

He said his company can help welding shops to gage the air quality of their welding environments, using a fume particle counter to take a general air sampling, and that testing laboratories and other consultants can perform specific tests to help shops to meet OSHA testing requirements.

Ed Ravert, senior applications engineer for UAS, said that the larger companies probably do a better job of making their employees aware of the new regulations and the remedies for fume control than smaller and mid-sized manufacturers do.

Welding fume control was a topic of great interest at the trade show.

Many shops continue to rely on general ventilation for fume control, particularly in warmer climates, but the need to close shop doors as winter approaches has helped to spur interest in fume collecting systems that will help shops to comply with the more rigorous OSHA standards and to ensure worker safety.

While portable air filtration and fume control units are handy, Ravert said they can be cumbersome if the welder has to drag them along on a job.

“It might be just another thing to slow them down, and they might not use it,” he said.

However, when welding stainless steel and other alloys that contain chromium, welders do not have a choice. They must use a personal breathing apparatus or close capture systems that collect fumes at the point of generation. The close-capture systems are the preferred solution. However, Ravert noted that if a welder does not use a welding hood or if a part is too big to make a close capture system viable, the job may require the use of a personal breathing apparatus.

Having a clean shop and healthy workers is key in today's manufacturing environment.

“There's a huge demand for good welders and that will increase, so it's very important that those people be treated well and have a good environment in which to work,” Ravert said.

The good environment contributes to employee safety and helps to reduce costs for such expenses as health care, he noted.