Audi/Volkswagen has appointed the Swedish air treatment company AB Ph Nederman & Co as an approved supplier of high vacuum systems for use in surroundings where explosive aluminium particles could cause severe damage. A reference plant is to be built at one of the Audi/VW service facilities in Germany, and the Swedish company hopes that their system, which is claimed to absorb 99,95% of particles, will come into use at similar Audi/VW service centres world-wide.

Audi's A8 and A2 car models are manufactured in aluminium, and there is a trend within the automotive industry towards increased use of this material, among other things to reduce vehicle weight. The possibility of more effective handling of aluminium dust could accelerate this development.
"AB Ph Nederman & Co has one of two allowed high vacuum solutions for aluminium particles, and a world-wide representation. Each car body shop for Audi A8 and A2 must have such a suction unit." says Mr. Dirk Zehnpfund, responsible at VW/Audi for the agreement. "We therefore recommend that our service centres adopt this system, which could also be installed in our car manufacturing plants."

When dust and oxygen levels reach a critical point, any spark, such as from static electricity, can ignite the aluminium dust and set off an explosion that could destroy a large workshop.
"Many people believe that existing extraction systems eliminate the risk of explosion, which is far from always the case," relates Stefan Lind, High Vacuum Systems Sales Manager at Tedak AB. "Our system traps up to 99% of the dust immediately at the grinding stage. This drastically reduces the explosion risk, and also speeds up the painting process, since the time-consuming work of removing aluminium particles from the body is eliminated.

No static electricity
"The grinding machines can be equipped with hoods or integrated extraction," Stefan Lind continues. "The dust is then collected in a dust collector and stored in a safe place. All static electricity is eliminated - from the grinding machine to the dust collector - by such items as special hoses, a grounding system and filters." According to the company, should an explosion occur by accident, e.g. due to a cigarette, it can be controlled and directed into a non-hazardous direction by means of a pressure relief device.
"Our concept, which includes such components as the vacuum source, dust collector, piping system, valves, hoses and connections, is already in use in the aircraft and space industries, and can also find applications in many other areas, such as shipyards," concludes Stefan Lind.

AB Ph Nederman develops products for removing smoke, dust, aerosols and other unhealthy particles, along with equipment to shield against disturbing light and to reduce noise. Last year the company had a turnover of SEK 800 million. It has 12 own sales companies world-wide, 70 or so partners and almost 6 000 local distributors. The proportion of exports is over 90%.


For further information, please contact:
Stefan Lind, Sales Manager
Tedak AB
Svista
SE-635 02 Eskilstuna, Sweden
Telephone: +46-16-16 07 00
Fax: +46-16-14 26 27
E-mail: support@tedak.com
Web site: www.tedak.com