Welding Fumes pose serious health hazards to welders worldwide. The acute inhalation of welding fumes leads to respiratory diseases, systemic inflammation, and cancer. The Proper handling of welding gases is critical to minimize the health risks potentials of welders and office personnel. This article highlights the importance of considering Portable welding fume extractors to prevent welders and operators from inhaling welding fumes.
Composition of Hazardous Welding Fumes
The composition of welding fumes varies depending on the welding operation. The fume sources originate from the evaporation of metal molecules in the electrodes, the filler wire, and the filler material. In many cases, welding is performed on materials that have surface coatings and paint which also contribute to the generation of toxic fumes when exposed to high temperatures. Electrical arc welding for instance produces ozone (O3), nitrous gases (NOx), and carbon monoxide (CO) gases. The welding of aluminum alloys leaves gas residue containing particles of magnesium, molybdenum, and silica. Traces of copper, silver, and nickel can be found when soldering electrical components. Particles of chromium, iron, and manganese concentrate in the air during the welding process of corrosion-resistant materials. Welding stainless-steel alloys produces carcinogens deriving from operators exposed to oxidized chromium. In other words, welding yields over 30 different types of harmful gases.
How To Conduct an Exposure Assessment
Need assistance in evaluating your fume extractor requirements? The Diversitech team is ready to help assess your welding facility’s needs.
The Fluid Mechanics of Welding Fumes
Experimental and computational studies have reported mixture velocities of air and welding fumes generated at the electrode tip ranging from 1 to 5 m/s. The velocity range depends on several factors such as the power of the welding equipment, the material deposition rate, and the chemical properties of the filler material. The average fresh air velocity in manufacturing facilities with open ventilation is around 0.2 m/s. whereas the recirculating air velocity in closed facilities is around 0.5 m/s. This means that in a 3-foot radius proper fume extraction ranges from 1500 CFM to 12000 CFM depending on the intensity of the welding operation. To complicate things further, when welding fumes are unattended, harmful particles can flow towards recirculation paths in closed facilities and get distributed to office spaces through HVAC ducts.
Convective and Diffusive Forces
Welding fumes behave like multi-phase gases where the primary phase is ambient air and the secondary phase corresponds to the welding fumes. The air is typically at room temperature and the welding fumes are hundreds of degrees kelvin above room temperature. The welding fumes are particles containing metal ions and other byproduct molecules such as fluorides and nitrates with diameters between 50 nanometers (50×10-9m) and 20 micrometers (20×10-6m).
- Natural convection exists in flows created by welding fume extractors due to the heterogeneous turbulence nature of the mixture. Convection occurs because of the effect of gravity and the transient effect of the density gradients within the multi-phase flow. When the welding fumes encounter ambient air the temperature difference is greater than 500 Kelvin. Such temperature difference allows the ambient air to mix with the welding fumes.
- Diffusion happens due to the gradients in particle concentration within the mixture allowing the fumes to move with the air as a function of the air velocity and the air direction.
Addressing The Challenges of Welding Fumes
Our welding fume extractors offer high quality performance that helps reduce the overall cost of ownership. Get a quote for Diversitech fume extractor today.
Why Is a Welding Fume Extractor a Good Solution?
A welding fume extractor is an electro-mechanical device that takes toxic fumes and returns clean air. This is done by creating a “sink” or a local low-pressure region in an otherwise uniform pressure field. Once the pressure field is disturbed, a turbulent flow regime containing the welding fumes forms and forces the mixture to move toward the low-pressure region. Since the welding fumes are directed into the machine with a suction channel, particles are forced to pass through a porous membrane designed to filter and capture microscopic molecules. An internal control system senses the quality of the air in the filtering chamber and allows clean air to exit the system and mix with ambient air.
What Welding Fume Extractor Should I Use?
Steady-state inhalation of toxic air from welding fumes by workers performing physical labor can rate from 4 to 10 liters per minute. The journal of toxicology and industrial health reported that 0.16 ppm of sustained exposure of O3 is enough to produce irreversible tissue damage in the respiratory system. In other words, 20 minutes of medium-duty welding has the potential to produce harmful respiratory consequences to welders. For light and medium-duty applications, a welding fume extractor is the preferred method to provide welders with protection from harmful gases.
Diversitech offers an extensive line of portable welding fume extractors that are tailored to meet varying needs of different welding projects. Our most compact model, the FRED Mini Vac II Portable Fume Extractor, is capable of air displacement up to 210 CFM. It features a dual-motor design which allows welders to use only as much as they need and channel higher air flow when necessary. For the most heavy-duty welding applications we offer the FRED Sr. II Dual-Arm Portable Fume Extractor, which is capable of up filtering up to 2,500 CFM of welding process air. With dual capture arms, this machine has the flexibility to extract fumes from one or two welding stations at a time for maximum efficiency.
Whether you need an extractor this robust, something as light weight as the FRED Mini Vac, or anything in between, Diversitech offers the leading models on the market with advanced filtration capabilities and ease of use for the best possible welder safety conditions.
Shop our line of electrostatic precipitators
Related Products
TYPHOON WX-3000
Thunderbolt OMU
This Thunderbolt OMU-600 Electrostatic Precipitator is the smaller and lighter weight (66lbs) electrostatic precipitator offered by Diversitech
Absolent A•Smoke
FRED Carbo
