Industrial Containment for Non-Destructive Testing

From aerospace to transportation to metal fabrication, manufacturers require precise industrial containment for non-destructive testing (NDT). Whether your focus is quality control, safety, or R&D, this type of testing usually requires a protective enclosure with enough space to easily maneuver around workpieces. This is because detecting metal surface flaws is no easy task, especially when you are using magnetic particle inspections (MPIs), ultraviolet light (UV), or liquid penetrant testing to locate potentially dangerous particles not visible to the human eye.

Fortunately, Duroair™ engineers portable retractable enclosures, such as dark rooms or clean rooms, that can be custom-tailored for indoor use with your NDT-required structural materials, fabric types, and UV protection specifications. And while not every NDT enclosure requires airflow, our enclosures are available with climate-controlled filtration and exhaust systems for increasing quality control and safety. We can customize your enclosure for clean room containment for assembly, if required.

In this blog, we will look at four different clean-air technologies that Duroair can combine and customize to create one cost-effective, UV-resistant enclosure for easy-access non-destructive testing. Each of these systems can help you achieve better environmental control without giving up process flexibility, thanks to their built-in modularity and maneuverability.

1: Softwall Retractable Enclosures for Non-Destructive Testing

DuroRoom™ is the retractable softwall enclosure designed to provide more process flexibility during non-destructive testing and for changing workflows for assemblies. It retracts to 20% of its extended length to accommodate overhead crane loading and save space when it is not in use.

Each softwall enclosure is designed with a code-compliant, galvanized, welded steel frame and heat-welded vinyl joints. The ultraviolet-resistant covering is constructed with a reinforced, 16 mil Black Opaque PVC shell, which is fire retardant and UV-protected.

Additional features include:

• Anti-fluorescent under black lighting.
• Available with a wide variety of door configurations, such as: barn door, bi-fold barn door, strip curtain, or solid curtain.
• The rear wall can be custom-fitted to your Duroair filtration system of choice.
• Customizable with CFM capabilities directly related to the size of each enclosure, if required.

We can design your DuroRoom to accommodate multiple types of indoor environments, including resistance to mildew and rot. This makes it an ideal industrial containment solution to bring your non-destructive testing in-house for significant cost savings and quality control.

2: Vented Industrial Air Filtration for Protecting NDT Processes

DuroCap™ is the vented, modular, air filtration system that is easily customizable for extracting particulates, fumes, and gasses. It pairs with our portable, retractable DuroRoom™ enclosure to create a clean-air envelope around oversized work pieces for non-destructive testing.

Its two-stage filtration removes 99.4% of all air pollutants for a contaminant-free, portable testing workstation. This makes it extremely effective at capturing toxins like VOCs, hexavalent chromium, and isocyanates that can threaten safety and testing outcomes.

DuroCap meets and exceeds CFM requirements for airflow. This includes engineered airflow requirements from 13,500 CFM to 120,000 CFM and beyond, to achieve airflow over 100 FPM at the intake filter face and ensure airflow remains below code requirements of 25% of the LEL (lower explosion limit).

Additional features and benefits include:

• Easy assembly: Comes fully assembled with a pre-wired control panel (lockable fused disconnect and C/UL/US Listed). Combined with a DuroRoom, the system can be installed in two to three days with a small crew.
• Variable frequency drive: Includes an energy-efficient VFD with adjustable air speeds. It also doubles as a soft starter to eliminate the need for a motor starter.
• Breakthrough exhaust system: Creates a negative pressure vacuum seal around the DuroRoom enclosure to ensure no contaminants or VOCs are released into the main work environment and are directed through the exhaust system’s filters to the exterior.
• Fire suppression: Designed by Kidde Badger for protection of the exhaust systems and the enclosure, while meeting NFPA 17 standards, and is UL listed. Wet or dry systems are available depending on requirements. Wet systems are for non-retracting only.

3: Dust Collection for Non-Destructive Testing

DuroDust™ is a mobile, non-vented dust collection system with advanced 4-stage filtration designed to contain fine particles generated during surface prep work related to non-destructive testing, such as welding, sanding, and grinding. It captures all particulate to 1 micron and 99.7% of particulate to 0.3 micron and captures 100% of hexavalent chromium particles generated during finishing and non-destructive testing processes, far exceeding NESHAP 319 requirements.

Here is a snapshot of how this 4-stage filtration works:

• The first stage captures particulate to 10 microns in size. (This is a rough prefilter for protection of stage 2 through 4 filters.)
• The second stage is a MERV 8 filter.
• The third stage is a MERV 11 filter.
• The fourth stage is a NESHAP 319, MERV 15, MERV 16, or HEPA filter, depending upon requirements.
• Hot work package is available.

When paired with DuroRoom, DuroDust provides even more process flexibility because of casters that make it completely portable. It integrates easily into existing workflows and no venting is required (returns clean air into the building). This makes it faster to commission (days versus weeks) and can be quickly modified for different stages of non-destructive workflows. Like DuroCap, DuroDust meets and exceeds CFM requirements (from 13,500 CFM to 120,000 CFM and beyond) to achieve airflow from 50 FPM to over 150 FPM through the enclosure and ensure dust/smoke will not escape.

Additional features and benefits include:

• Taper Draft Airflow Technology: With negative pressure, this advanced technology directs air down the center of the enclosure to send dust to the filter banks, creating a regulated area.
• Easy assembly: Only requires nut and bolt panel assembly, with easy panel on/off speed dial, and option for a lockable fused disconnect, and C/UL/US Listed with a pre-wired control panel.
• Variable frequency drive: Like DuroCap, DuroDust includes an energy-efficient VFD with adjustable air speeds that doubles as a soft starter to eliminate the need for a motor starter.

3: Advanced Exhaust System for On-Demand Non-Destructive Testing

The DuroClean™ engineered exhaust system combines with DuroRoom to become one flexible, cost-effective solution for non-destructive testing containment. Modular and non-vented, DuroClean works well as a small isolation booth or a large clean room. It can be placed anywhere in a manufacturing facility without having to install supplementary ductwork.

Whether isolating a testing process from the larger work environment (negative pressure) or protecting a process from contamination (positive pressure), DuroClean works with DuroRoom to reduce operating expenses and increase productivity. It reduces material handling by eliminating the need to transport large workpieces to a dedicated air space.

The DuroClean exhaust system filters air to meet ISO standards (6-9), making it ideal for a variety of applications: non-destructive testing, R&D, 3D printing, aerospace or mechanical assembly, or for any process requiring a clean room environment.

Features and benefits include:

• Negative and positive pressure capability: Isolates hazardous processes or protects a process within a larger manufacturing facility for a safe, controlled environment. It also has neutral pressure capability for simple containment.
• Multiple filtration configurations: HEPA options include single-pass and recirculating designs, with options for positive and negative pressure, and options for cooling, heating, and dehumidification. Custom filtration options include prefilter, gas phase media, and HEPA and ULPA filters available in 99.97% and 99.99% efficiencies with options for UV light.
• Increased air flow efficiency: Options include laminar or unidirectional airflow systems, as well as turbulent or non-unidirectional airflow systems. This allows you to increase efficiency for stop-and-start testing and R&D processes.
• Air changes per hour (ACH): Combines air changes per hour (ACH) with filtered air circulating into the cleanroom many times per hour (designed to meet ISO classifications).

Industrial Containment Solutions for Non-Destructive Testing

Duroair can engineer any of the above technologies to create a single non-destructive testing environment, whenever and wherever it is needed. Available with climate-controlled filtration, Duroair enclosures can bring your testing in-house for significant cost savings and quality control.

We can also pair our enclosures with customer-supplied filtration equipment, if required.

Our non-destructive testing enclosures provide:

• Retractable portability to work with your facility’s layout.
• Precise temperature control capability with climate-controlled air filtration per your testing specifications, if required.
• More efficient MPI and UV testing with retractable 360-degree workpiece delivery access to each work area.
• Ideal environments for even the most stringent lighting requirements.

Contact us to learn how we can combine our Duroair technologies into one non-destructive testing enclosure for your workflows and processes.

Need a Flexible Containment Solution for Your Processes?

Need an industrial containment solution that is flexible enough for your unique workflows? As part of our blog series on industrial containment, we will explore clean-air solutions for painting and coating, as well as for dust collection.