Mideco has always specialised in the design and manufacture of dust suppressing devices. In the late 1970s, Mideco was awarded a project to build a dust-suppression device for barley as it was poured into the hopper for the Western Australian KBB malting company.
The project was specified by a construction company and once on the site, the equipment was totally overloaded and failed to perform, with dust filling the air and covering everything including the attending dignitaries.
KBB Malting’s part owner, Jonathon Burston, their chief engineer Mr. Henley and Mideco’s then General Manager Stan White, quickly proved the fault lay not with Mideco but with the flawed design specifications provided by the construction contractor. Collectively brainstorming, Burston, Henley and Whites’ ideas created a device able to eliminate the problem.
Recognising this need to suppress the dust released into the atmosphere and over the workers during the unloading process of bulk dry cargo was faced by many they gave it the name Burnley® Baffles. After marketing them for a little while they came to understand, improving the health and safety environment for onsite personnel and minimizing lost time and material were also a benefit.
Now solely Mideco’s product, the Burnley® Baffles use gravity to control airflow through a system of blades that go into the baffles limiting the amount of air drawn into the hopper. The practice has shown that trucks unload faster with Burnley® Baffles as the waiting time of settling dust is eliminated.
Now with application specific models, Burnley® Baffles are suitable for use in many different industries, agricultural being the most common, and where most of the Burnley® Baffles’ projects are concentrated. One of our customers, Ahrens Group, has contacted Mideco for a project where a dust suppression device is required for the handling of dry material such as wheat, barley, and Palm Kernel, all through one hopper.
Mideco supplies dust suppression products and high expertise in engineering and drafting for the creation of bespoke products for their customers. After all considerations and engineering evaluation, Mideco came to the conclusion that the site for in question required the Economy Pulse 32’s or ECP32 Dust collectors, combined with one set of Burnley® Baffles Model 2, to suppress 100% of the dust released by the unloading process of grain on their site.
The Burnley® Baffles by themselves can eliminate up to 80% of the dust escaping the hopper enclosure; combined with a dust collector the percentage eliminated can be up to 100%.
Mideco is apply the finishing touches in the design and manufacture of the equipment for Ahrens, to be packed and dispatched in the middle of July to the site in Victoria, Australia. In addition, Mideco respects the trust that Ahrens and other companies have put in their products and people to develop projects minimising atmospheric particles and contaminates, thus minimising the risk to the health and safety of workers,
For more information about Mideco’s products go to: www.midecoHSE.com