Project Description
We were asked to provide humidification for a 175 sq ft chamber with a 5.5’ high ceiling for a medical device company that manufacture’s titanium limbs.
Their process consisted of dipping titanium limbs into a cleaning solution and then placing it on a conveyor by robot. The conveyor carried the titanium limbs through a 3’ X 3’ access door which would repeat every 6 minutes for 30 seconds. The frequent door openings in the winter caused low humidity levels in the chamber which adversely affected the curing step of the manufacturing process.
The mechanical contractor was concerned with the type of humidifier that would be utilized as instantaneous humidification was needed. The use of an electrode or resistive type humidifier was not ideal because the boil temporarily stops whenever makeup water is introduced. It was determined during the design process that an 18 lb/hr humidifier would be needed to maintain 40% RH in the chamber.
The product of choice was a Humidifirst Ultrasonic humidifier. Ultrasonic humidifiers use a piezo-electric transducer to create a high frequency mechanical oscillation in a body of water which creates a fine mist. Since the mist is created by oscillation, not heat, the water temperature need not be raised and the 1 micron droplet size (smaller than hot steam) allows a reasonable absorption distance.
Modulation is achieved by varying the number of active disks and the water is pretreated (with De-Ionized or Reverse Osmosis [DI/RO]). By using water treatment, maintenance is scheduled and the traditional issues of boiling style humidifiers are eliminated which ensures the facility always maintains humidity.
This is the second winter season and the owner and installer have nothing but praise for this type of unit.
