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Clean Air Solutions for Dust & Mist Processes

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VALVE: In baghouses, frequently the pilot valve and the diaphragm valve pulse are considered as one, simply called “valve.”

van der Waals: Adhesive forces that exist between the particle and fiber.

VANEAXIAL FAN: Axial fan with either inlet or discharge guide vanes or both, includes fixed-pitch, adjustable-pitch and variable-pitch impellers.

VAPOR: Substance in gaseous form.

VAPORIZATION: The change of a substance from the liquid to a gaseous state. One of the three basic contributing processes of air pollution, the others being attrition and combustion.

VAPORS: The gaseous form of substances which are normally in the solid or liquid state, and which can be changed to these states, either by increasing the pressure or decreasing the temperature alone. Vapors diffuse.

VARIANCE: Permission granted for a limited time, under stated conditions, for a person or company to operate outside the limits prescribed in a regulation. Usually granted to allow time for engineering and fabrication of abatement equipment to bring the operation into compliance.

VELOMETER: A simple instrument for for determining the velocity of gas in a duct. Its operation is similar to an inclined manometer, except that it automatically converts the reading to velocity.

VENA CONTRACTA: The smallest flow area for flow through a sharp-edged orifice.

VENTILATION: Supplying and removing air by natural or mechanical means to and from any space.

VENTURI: Device used to theoretically increase the efficiency of a compressed air pulse. Designed with converging circular sides to a throat and then diverging sides. Designed such that when a pulse is introduced at the top, a negative pressure zone is created outside the top, and secondary air is induced into the venturi, increasing cleaning energy.

VENTURI SCRUBBER: A wet type dust collector that can obtain very high efficiency, but requires large horsepower to do so. The gas and dust particles are accelerated in a venturi throat, where finely atomized water is introduced and water/dust collisions take place.

VERTICAL CARTRIDGE COLLECTOR: A cartridge-type dust collector where the cartridge filters hang vertically. The contaminated air typically enters the bottom of the unit and moves in an upward airflow pattern. Vertical cartridge collectors have been shown in an EPA-sponsored research project to cause particle redisposition during pulse cleaning and are less effective than downward airflow collectors.

VIBRATION: Alternating mechanical motion of an elastic system, components of which are amplitude, frequency and phase.

VISCOSITY: The characteristic of all fluids to resist flow.

VOCs (VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS): A group of chemicals that react in the atmosphere with nitrogen oxides in the presence of heat and sunlight to form ozone; does not include methane and other compounds determined by EPA to have negligible photochemical re-activity. Examples of VOCs include gasoline fumes and oil-based paints.

VOLT: A unit of electrical potential or pressure. 110 or 230, 460 volts are normally found in the U.S.

VP (VELOCITY PRESSURE): The kinetic energy pressure of air in motion. VP is used to get the velocity of a gas stream.
Velocity (SFPM) = 4005 vVP
Velocity (AFPM) = 1096 vVP/?
? = Actual density of the air (lb/ft3 )
VP = Inches of water column