J.W. Plant & Co Ltd (a flag manufacturing and printing company) was experiencing issues controlling fume released during the ink heat curing process in its digital printers.
The previous LEV system was not providing sufficient engineering control of the process due to the fixed location and nature of the extraction hood which meant they could not clean the process and view the print. Philip Thompson, Director at J.W. Plant, needed a system that offered flexibility whilst providing efficient and effective control of the fume produced by the printing process.
Impact’s solution
Impact Technical Services were called to J.W. Plant by Philip Thompson due to our background and experience within the print industry. Our Impact LEV design team had a number of solutions that would prevent the fume that is produced by the printing process from entering the operators breathing zone. The most suitable solution for our client was our Pivotal Extraction Hoods. The Pivotal Hoods cover a wide area, enable the operator to adjust the hoods to see the final print and allow easy access for cleaning.
The hoods, which have the appropriate reach required to encapsulate the fume source, were mounted to an Impact central support post and measure 1500mm wide and 300mm in depth.
The whole ducted system is served by a 2.2kW centrifugal fan which provides efficient airflow throughout the system in line with HSG258 ‘Controlling airborne contaminants at work’ legislation.
Philip Thompson commented on the installation:
“J.W. Plant had a requirement to remove the exhaust fumes from the drying application on our digital printer. The surface area was long but narrow, and we needed the ability to move the extraction in order to access and view the printed material. The new system works perfectly, offering the flexibility we need and more importantly the exhaust created in the drying process is removed completely and safely.”