Company Announcement - Tshwane-based Rand Technical Service’s, a company which specialises in innovative technologies and solutions to industrial problems, is realising the multiple benefits of its new spin filter technology in a variety of industries, notably mining. RTS has recently supplied spin filters to JB Switchgear Solutions for the variable speed drive panels the company has installed for a mining project in the Northern Cape.  These spin filters are purpose-designed to accommodate a variety of applications, and offer an extremely efficient answer to the problem of heat and dust build-up, according to Ian Fraser, Managing Director of RTS. “Spin filter technology is finding wide application in coal, gold, diamond and other mining environments, which include MCC rooms, control rooms, sub-stations, transformer rooms, machinery spaces and workshops, as a cost-effective solution in both ventilation and filtration,” notes Fraser.

JB Switchgear approached RTS to supply dedicated back channel cooling to the VSD panels on the mine, and, according to John Balsdon, Projects Director of JB Switchgear, the company has not looked back. “RTS’s spin filter technology is a unique ventilation and filtration system that is extremely efficient and ideally suited to many of the items that we manufacture. Electrical and electronic equipment require both cooling - through adequate movement of air - and a high degree of filtration to ensure an environment that is suitable for the sophisticated equipment used in our panels,” says Balsdon.

“Thanks to RTS, we are now able to offer an effective solution for the cooling of electrical and electronic equipment that requires little or no maintenance - at an extremely competitive price.” Spin filters, although not new technology, are becoming increasingly sought-after in the mining industry.  Based on a high-efficiency application of cyclone technology, they provide a cost-effective alternative to conventional dust filtration and air-conditioning with the added advantage of being virtually maintenance-free. JB Switchgear is already seeing the cost benefits of the technology, according to Balsdon.  “The RTS system is economical to operate – especially when you consider the alternative of air conditioning. The operating costs of air conditioning far exceed that of the RTS filtration system in terms of both power consumption and maintenance.

“Because the filter is self-cleaning, it is ideally suited to remote industrial applications where regular maintenance may be difficult or simply neglected,” he notes. “When it comes to electronics installations, particularly in a harsh mining context, the RTS system not only meets, but exceeds ventilation requirements, in an economical manner.  In addition to providing such an innovative and effective solution, RTS provides the kind of professional back-up service that is essential in these sophisticated applications,” Balsdon concludes.