How to prevent dust leaks in a reverse pulsing dust collector
Reverse pulsing uses high-pressure air pulses to clean a dust collector's bag or cartridge filters -- without taking the collector offline. Unfortunately, the air pulses create a momentary pressure increase that can cause dust to leak from the collector. This article describes how to prevent such leaks and ensure that your collector's reverse pulsing can efficiently clean your filters without creating new dust problems.
In a dust collector, dirty [dust-laden] process air passes through a bag or cartridge filter's media, dust particles collect on the media surface, and the clean, filtered air is exhausted. Typically, as the particles build up on the media, a filter cake [also called a dust cake] forms on the media surface. What may seem surprising is that in most cases this cake -- rather than the media -- provides the filtration. But the cake thickness must be controlled to ensure that the cake continues to filter the dirty air and to prevent the cake from becoming so thick that it blinds the media.