Developed with technology from the US, air filter pre-cleaners are designed to keep engines’ air filters cleaner for longer, enhancing performance and fuel efficiency, cutting filter replacement costs and reducing maintenance downtime.

Heavy duty cooling and air conditioning specialist Booyco Engineering recently installed four Sy-Klone Series 9000 engine air filter pre-cleaners on two drill rigs at a South African coal mine, where drill rig engine air filters were clogging up with fine coal dust every couple of days.

“The result is that these Sy-Klone engine air filter pre-cleaners can collect and expel 92% to 95% of the ambient dust before it even reaches the engine’s air filter,” says Booyco Engineering sales manager Gordon Postma. “The scientific design and robust manufacture of the pre-cleaners – using hard polymer plastics for strength – ensures they need little to no maintenance, and can withstand operating in harsh mining conditions.”

The operating principles of these air pre-cleaners make them remarkably effective, explains Postma. Air enters the underside of the dome design through screened louvers. This prevents any large debris from entering the pre-cleaner which could cause restriction in airflow. Curved particle-accelerator blades push dirt against the sidewall, and strakes – or angled fins – along the interior surface move all heavier-than-air debris towards the ejection slot. This leaves the clean air to continue swirling to the centre of the dome and through to the engine air filter inlet pipe into the engine’s air filter housing through the filter and then into the engine.

“By installing the Sy-Klone engine air filter pre-cleaner, the mine can significantly extend the service life of its engine air filters,” emphasises Postma. “While the savings on the costs of these filters will be important, the real cost to the mine is in drill-rig downtime while the filters are changed. The operation will now benefit from better efficiency and productivity due to less maintenance.”

The company notes that the Sy-Klone distributorship is a relatively recent addition to its offerings  and is showing  considerable potential in South Africa’s mining sector, as well as in other applications where machinery operates in environments with high levels of dust.