U.S. Navy Submarine Technology Retrofit for Industrial Mist Collection
We’ve all seen the commercials for certain residential air cleaners that claim to use the same technology used in the United States Submarine Fleet, but most people don’t know that same technology is used in every electrostatic precipitator! Whether it’s been redesigned and stamped out from China, or hand built by American workers, legally they can ALL call it the same technology. But do you know who actually engineered and produced those electrostatic precipitators and air cleaners for the United States submarines? Trion. The same Trion that produces the Mini Mist Eliminator.
Now, I’ve pulled apart plenty of electronic cells from all sorts of manufacturers from every part of the world. And you can see right away which ones are flimsy little pieces of junk and which ones are heavy duty hunks of machinery. And I know that every foreman’s worst nightmare is having a machine go down, bringing production to a hault until someone can figure out how to fix it. That’s why, for industrial equipment, you have got to check it inside and out. Here’s what I look for in a mist collector cell…
- ionizing wires
- collection plate spacing
- insulators
- contact hardware
- overall metal thickness
You know these things are going to be thrown around a little bit, and they have to be able to stand up to years of cycles through a parts washer.
Ionizing wires need to be strong so they don’t snap, break and short out. The Trion Mini Mist Eliminator (M.E.) doesn’t even use wires. It uses metal spikes. Those will never break.
Collection plate spacing needs to be wide enough to allow plenty of particle accumulation between washings. Eventually after enough particles collect on each plate, they pile up to the point where they meet each other in the middle, between plates. We call this bridging. Similar to their military grade cells, the Mini ME collection plates are wider apart than any other I’ve seen. Bridging won’t be a problem here.
Insulators seperate electrical contacts from the rest of the sheet metal. Depending on your application, bridging can occur here, too. This is very important, especially when collecting mist from metalworking operations. That’s why when it comes to insulators in your electrostatic oil mist eliminator, size matters… and so does material. Iv’e seen insulators usually made of plastic. The Trion Mist Eliminator uses BIG honkin’ insulators made of ceramic!
In the middle of the insulator is your contact hardware. Most times this is a spring that contacts metal inside the unit when the cell is in place. A common cause for the equipment to go down is a broken or bent contact spring. If the bend isn’t to close to the insulator, a lot of people just cut the spring down a little shorter. Sometimes this works, but the spring will move around and not make a good contact anymore. Usually, you have to order a new spring.
OR… just buy a Trion unit that doesn’t use springs. Instead they use little metal plungers with the spring protected inside.
OK, last thing is overall metal thickness and durability. How about 18 gage Galvanized Steel?! Baked on paint finish and sealed bearings!! This thing is a tank. When you look at the equipment side by side, inside and out, there’s no question. This little Trion Mini Mist Eliminator is worth a lot more than the price tag.
