NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT

8115

PERFORMANCE TEST OF A "DUSTFOE" DEEP-BED

DISPOSABLE AIR FILTER, MODEL B-20Q0

manufactured by

Mine Safety Appliances Company

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

by

Joseph C, Davis and Paul R„ Achenbach

/O , a o

Report to

General Services Administration

Public Buildings Service

Washington 25, D„ C„

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Luther H. Hodges, Secretary

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

A. V. Astin, Director

THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

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Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 20402.
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT

NBS PROJECT NBS REPORT

1003-30-10630 October 29, 1963 8115

PERFORMANCE TEST OF A "DUSTFQE” DEEP- BED

DISPOSABLE AIR FILTER, MODEL B-2000

manufactured by

Mine Safety Appliances Company

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

by

Joseph C. Davis and Paul R. Achenbach

to

General Services Administration

Public Buildings Service

Washington 25, D. C„

IMPORTANT NOTICE NATIONAL BUREAU OF S

for use within the Government, and review. For this reason, tl whole or in part, is not authi Bureau of Standards, Washing

the Report has been specificall

Approved for public release by the

Director of the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST) on October 9, 2015.

ess accounting documents intended

5 subjected to additional evaluation

e listing of this Report, either in te Office of the Director, National

y the Government agency for which

copies for its own use.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

PERFORMANCE TEST OF A "DUSTFOE" DEEP-BED

DISPOSABLE AIR FILTER, MODEL B-2000

manufactured by

Mine Safety Appliances Company

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

by

Joseph C. Davis and Paul R. Achenbach

1 . INTRODUCTION

At the request of the Public Buildings Service, the performance

characteristics of a "Dustfoe", Model B-2000, disposable deep-bed

air filter manufactured by the Mine Safety Appliances Company of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were determined. The scope of the investigations included the determination of the arrestance of the particulate matter of the laboratory air by the filter and the pressure

drop of the filter at the rated air-flow rate of 2000 cfm as the

dust load was gradually increased from zero to a final value corres- ponding to a pressure drop of 1.0 W. G.

2. DESCRIPTION OF TEST SPECIMEN

The filter was manufactured and supplied for test purposes by

the Mine Safety Appliances Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was identified as "Dustfoe", Model B-2000. The outside dimensions

of the filter unit were 23-1/2" x 23-1/2" x 11-5/8" deep. Four

pieces of 1/8" cement-asbestos board 23-1/2" x 11-5/8", with galvanized metal angles front and back formed a rigid box frame. The

filter media area was approximately 160 ft^ and consisted of glass

mat. The diameter of the glass fibers in the mat were approximately

5 microns. The filter media was folded into 45 pleats, 11 inches

deep, and supported on separators of corrugated aluminum, 10-3/4

inches wide and 0.015" thick. The gross face area of the filter

unit was 3.84 ft ^ , but the enclosing edges of the metal frames

reduced the net face dimensions to 22-1/2" by 22-1/2" and the net

face area to 3.52 ft^.

At a rated air-flow rate of 2000 cfm the net face velocity

was 597 ft/min and the average air velocity through the filter media

was about 12.5 ft/min. The weight of the clean filter was about

19.5 lb.

- 1

-
3 . TEST METHOD AND PROCEDURE

The filter was tested at the rated air flow rate of 2000 cfm.

The arrestance determinations were made with the NBS Dust Spot

Method described in a paper by R. S. Dill entitled, "A Test Method

for Air Filters" (ASHVE Transactions, Vol . 44, p. 379, 1938). The

filter under test was installed in the test apparatus and care- fully sealed to prevent any by-pass of air, or inward leakage into

the test apparatus, except through the measuring orifice. After

establishing the correct air flow rate through the filter, samples

of air were drawn from the center points of the test duct 2 feet

upstream and 8 feet downstream of the test specimen. Each sample

of air was passed through Whatman No. 41 filter paper. The arrestance determinations were made with the particulate matter in the

laboratory air as the aerosol and with the filter loaded with a mixture of Cottrell precipitate and lint injected into the air

stream at a ratio of 1 gram per 1,000 cu ft of air.

The light transmission of the sampling papers was measured

on the same area of each paper before and after the test, and the

two sampling papers used for any one arrestance determination were

selected to have the same light transmission when clean.

For determining the arrestance of the particulate matter in

the laboratory air, equal sampling areas were used in the upstream

and downstream filter papers. A similar increase of the opacity

of both sampling papers was obtained by passing the sampling air

through the upstream paper only part of the time while operating

the downstream sampler continuously. This time proportioning

was accomplished by the use of one solenoid valve in the upstream

sampling line and another in a line by-passing the sampler. The

solenoid valves were operated by an electric timer and a relay so that one was open while the other one was closed during any desired percentage of a 5-minute timer cycle, reversing the position of the twp valves during the remainder of the cycle. The

arrestance A, (in percent), was then determined with the formula:

Ad

A = 100 Tx

where T is the percentage of time during which air was drawn

through the upstream sampler, AU and AD are the observed changes

in the opacity of the upstream and downstream sampling papers,

respectively

- 2-
Arrestance determinations were made at the beginning and at

the end of the test and at several intermediate loading conditions as indicated in Table 1. The loading was done incrementally,

each increment consisting of 96 parts Cottrell precipitate and 4

parts cotton linters, by weight. The Cottrell precipitate had

been previously sifted through a 100-mesh screen and the lint was prepared by grinding No. 7 cotton linters through a Wiley mill

with a 4-millimeter screen.

The pressure drop across the filter under test was recorded

at the beginning of the test, after each arrestance determination,

and after each increment of Cottrell precipitate and lint that was introduced into the test duct. The test was terminated when the

pressure drop across the filter reached 1.0 in. W. G.

4. TEST RESULTS

The test results obtained on the air filter specimens at the

air flow rate of 2000 cfm are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1

Performance of a Mine Safety Appliances Company "Dustfoe"

Disposable Air Filter B-2000 at an Air Flow Rate 2000 cfm

Arrestance of

Cottrell Cumulative Atmospheric Pressure

Precipitate Lint Load Aerosol Drop

Grams Grams Grams Percent In. W»G.

0 0 0 72.5 0.598

100 4.15 104.2 75.5 0.629

300 12.45 312.5 78.4 0.678

500 20.75 520.8 81.2 0.718

700 29.05 729.0 84.4 0.768

940 39.01 9 79.0 88.2 0.836

1180 48.97 1229.0 89.8 0.910

1480 61.42 1541.4 90.9 1.012

- 3-
It will be noted that the pressure drop increased from

0.598 in. W. G. with a clean filter to 1.015 in. W. G. after

a dust load of 1541 grams had been reached for the filter.

The arrestance of the dust in the atmospheric air increased

from 72.5 percent to 90.9 percent during the loading period,

and averaged approximately 84 percent. The dust load of Cottrell precipitate and lint corresponding to a pressure drop

of 1.0 in. W. G. was 426 grams/sq ft of net face area and

about 9.4 grams/sq ft of filter media.

The values shown in Table 1 are graphically presented in

Figure 1. In this figure the arrestance of the particulate

matter in the laboratory air and the pressure drop are both

plotted against the dust load.

- 4-
PERFORMANCE CURVES FOR MINE SAFETY

APPLIANCES "DUSTFOE" MODEL B-2000

DISPOSABLE AIR FILTER

0 400 800 1200 1600

DUST LOAD, grams

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