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If you’ve spent any time learning to bake bread, you know how big a mess you can make in your kitchen (and on your clothes) with just a little bit of flour. Now imagine the mess in an industrial bakery.
That’s the kind of dusty atmosphere Bimbo Canada, formerly Canada Bread, contends with every day in their facilities. A leading producer of packaged bread and bakery products, Bimbo Canada came to DuroVac seeking a more efficient cleaning solution.
They needed help with two materials in particular: dry wheat flour (a type of combustible dust) in the production area, and fresh dough and bread crumbles (non-combustible) in the packaging area.
The system would have to blend seamlessly into their process and, in the case of the production area vac, comply with NFPA safety regulations. DuroVac supplied two central vacuum systems to help Bimbo Canada with their cleaning needs.
DuroVac provided a turnkey installation process for both industrial central vacuums, which required a combined total of 51 locations to be fitted with 1.5-inch tube. That allows up to five simultaneous operators per system to attach a 1.5-inch hose and tools at a convenient pick-up location.
Both systems use regenerative exhausters with 32-inch diameter pulse-jet filter separators, which allows them to move a larger amount of material through the vacuums. They are installed in sound enclosures to dampen the noise generated by the blower packages.
Each system includes “no operator detect” vacuum switches in the controls, a function that senses whether or not the vacuum is currently in use. If there is no pressure differential across the filter (i.e. no operators are detected), the system will switch itself off after a set amount of time.
Because dry wheat flour is classified as a combustible dust, the vacuum system in the production area was required to meet the NFPA 68 Standard on Explosion Protection by Deflagration Venting. It is equipped with an 8-inch rotary airlock and an explosion vent that redirects air to the outside of the building.
The second system was not required to handle combustible material and uses a manual pneumatic gate valve to discharge into bins.
According to a Bimbo Canada representative, the vacuum in the production area runs 24/7 with no issues. DuroVac checked up on the system recently and reconfigured the pulse-jet cleaning system, changed the rotary airlock and swapped out the filters.
That was the first time they had to change the rotary airlock in a solid 8 years. In that same time span, they have purchased no more than 3 sets of filters – a great return on investment, considering that competing vacuum filters often fail within weeks or months.
DuroVac also provided some solutions for the vacuum in the packaging area to help it run more efficiently with the wet, sticky dough and bread crumbles it needs to clean up.
Overall Bimbo Canada is happy with the performance of its systems, adding that “DuroVac has been quick and responsive to inquiries.”
Soon the company plans to expand the tubing and fitting network on its production system with the help of our industrial vacuum systems.