Pleated Filter Engineering

Pleated Filters for Dust Collector Applications

The BCE pleated filter element used by BCE is nominally 6″ outside diameter, fits into the same tube sheet as a bag, and consists of a filter medium folded into numerous pleats around a central perforated core.  

Pleated filters can be either top or bottom removal, and, like bag filters, are cleaned by reverse pulse jet.  Depending on the pleat spacing, a 36″ long pleated filter can have two to four times the filter area as an 8-foot long bag!

A BCE dust collector fitted with pleated elements offers a number of advantages over conventional filter bags.

• Due to the large increase in filter area per element volume, the housing of a pleated filter is smaller, in spite of its lower operating air-to-cloth ratio.
• Whereas a pleated element filters dust on its surface, rather than in depth, as with a conventional filter bag, it is easier to clean and operates at a lower pressure drop than a bag.
• Dust penetration through a pleated element is far less than through a typical filter bag.
• Less dust is deposited on adjacent bags during a cleaning pulse, since reverse air flows normal to the pleats, not radially.

Since BCE pleated filters fit on the same tube sheet as top or bottom removal filter bags, it is possible to retrofit pleated elements to replace bags on an existing dust collector.  This filter replacement can be considered when a bag filter runs at too high of a pressure drop, when bag blinding occurs or when process changes require the filter to handle more air volume than for which it was originally designed.  Whereas pleated elements usually require more cleaning air than do bags, an analysis of the existing filter’s pulse system must be undertaken first, since the valve size, blowpipe orifices and venturis all affect the pulse cleaning efficiency.  BCE will be happy to have one of our filtration experts help you determine whether a non-performing bag filter can be remedied by a pleated filter retrofit.

BCE pleated filters have some limitations.  They should be avoided for dusts that pack or agglomerate and high-temperature elements can be quite expensive.  There is also a more limited choice of filter materials than with bags.  Typical pleated material is spun-bond polyester. Nomex and Ryton (PPS), for applications to 375°F, is available, as are special surfaces, such as PTFE membranes and oleophobic finishes for sticky or oily materials.