Influence of Exhaust System Setup on Working Zone Pollution by Dust during Sawing of Particleboards

Abstract

Air pollution by wood dust in furniture production sites is an important hygiene issue. The dust is created by all types of wood and wood-based material machining, and its concentration in the working zone surrounding the machining stand depends on the effectiveness of the dust exhaust system. In present research, three setups of the dust extraction system for a conventional table sawing machine are considered while machining particleboards. The results showed a high impact of the exhaust system connection setup on the dust concentration in the air surrounding the sawing machine work stand. The use of both main and auxiliary sawdust extraction connectors together ensured the highest clearness of the air, with only 0.5 mg/m3 of dust concentration. Closing the upper hood leads to a concentration five times higher, while disconnecting it results in a ten times higher dust content. The finest dust particles (<1 µm), however, are the most numerous in the case of closing the hood.

The Machinability of Flat-Pressed, Single-Layer Wood-Plastic Particleboards while Drilling—Experimental Study of the Impact of the Type of Plastic Used

“…The experimental results were used to determine the relative machinability indexes based on the following criteria: machining quality and on the cutting forces as criteria. Machinability testing procedure and definitions of relative machinability indexes were generally in line with the procedure suggested and tried by Podziewski et al [1]. The only slight difference was that the research was limited to one (most recommended in practice) aforementioned feed per revolution value (0.15 mm/rev).…”

“…There are many ways to machine particleboards [1,2] and therefore the machinability of these materials can be tested in many ways. Despite this fact, the machinability of any type of particleboards in the case of drilling is one of the most important issues from the practical point of view.…”

Wood dust and asthma

“…The degree of wood dust generation is dependent on a number of upstream factors including the type of material, the machining, and the method of processing. Various studies show that MDF planing and milling creates up to six times more dust than pine wood machining; beech wood is almost 50% dustier than pine wood; and sawing of particleboard and tropical hardwood plywood is dustier than sogi wood ( Cryptomeria japonica ), softwood plywood and MDF [16 ▪ ]. Whilst certain exotic woods such as Lebombo-ironwood have also been associated with higher dust production during processing [17].…”

Characterization of the explosiveness of wood dust

“…Smaller particles are more dangerous than coarse ones because of the larger total surface area and also smaller particles can be lifted into the air more quickly (Dobashi, 2009). This poses a health risk to workers, especially when the dust has a particle size of less than 100 µm, which can remain suspended in the air and be inhaled by workers causing diseases such as pneumoconiosis, asthma, chronic bronchitis and nasal cancer and also risks in the workplace related to increased fire or explosion hazards (Očkajová et al, 2020;Pałubicki et al, 2020;Yuan et al, 2015).…”