An abrasive blasting system and associated methods are disclosed. The abrasive blasting system includes a blast enclosure that receives a component to be blasted by an abrasive media. A dust collector is fluidly coupled to the blast enclosure and collects the dust from the blast enclosure generated by the blasting of the component by the abrasive media. The dust collector includes a filter and a fan having a motor. The filter is disposed upstream of the fan. The fan draws air and dust from the blast enclosure into the dust collector and draws air through the filter to separate the dust from the air. A sensor monitors a condition of the abrasive blasting system and generates a condition signal corresponding to the condition. A controller receives the condition signal and controls the fan based on the condition signal.

A micro-abrasion sandblast device having a tank for containing a supply of abrasive media and having a media outlet on a base thereof and a cabinet attached to the tank and providing a first inlet to which an external source of compressed air is connectable and a second inlet to which an external source of water is connectable. A media valve is located adjacent the base of the tank for receiving media from the media outlet and compressed air from the cabinet. A blast hose coupler connects to and extends from the media valve for receiving the media and compressed air from the media valve.

A method for cleaning a jet engine includes introducing a cleaning medium having solid materials into the engine by way of at least one discharging device, wherein the cleaning medium exits from the discharging device at an exit speed of 80 m/s or less.

A system, apparatus and method of cleaning tubes of a heat exchanger or a tube bundle that includes disengaging the heat exchanger or bundle from a use-position in a process or a plant; moving the heat exchanger or bundle to a cleaning station remote from the use-position; positioning the heat exchanger or tube bundle in front of a cleaning apparatus; providing water jet cleaning equipment on the cleaning apparatus; responding to programming in a computing device and controlling the water jet cleaning equipment and a cleaning operation; providing a pattern of tube openings defined in an end plate of the heat exchanger or bundle to the computing device; actuating the water jet cleaning equipment with the computing device; and manually or automatically performing a cleaning operation with the water jet cleaning equipment under control of the programming of the computing device and by following the provided pattern of tube openings.

A blasting or stripping booth is provided creating a generally downward flow for treatment of fluid and particle flow, which reduces operator exposure to potentially hazardous debris. The booth comprises an enclosure defining an upper region for a workpiece, a lower region, and a separator assembly. In some instances the separator assembly includes individual separator units which are discrete units, each having a generally square or rectangular plan view configuration which are arranged in an array for providing the required process flow capabilities. Further embodiments utilize structures forming the separator which have an elongated trough-like configuration. These embodiments find a particular application in large-scale stripping or blasting booth used in production environments where workpieces may flow through a treatment system in a serial manner. Other suitable applications include batch type processing of parts.

A shot cascading apparatus for cleaning 3D printed components, generally of any surface debris, such as residue silica from the printing of the component, includes a series of vertically aligned structures, including a shot supply hopper, having a bottom regulated shot gate, for discharging through gravity of metallic shot, into a lower aligned funnel, nested within the bin of a machine base, that allows for surface cleansing of a printed component while achieving a finished product. The supply hopper has a shot gate that is adjustable, for controlling the amount of released shot, and the bottom of the funnel includes a sand separator nozzle, that separates the steel shot from the residue sand, drawing the sand back into the nozzle and conveying it by suction to a location for collection. Beneath the bin is a shot recycle pump, that returns the steel shot back into the supply hopper, for immediate reusage. Various structural support is provided for the hopper, the funnel, and the bin, to maintain the relative degree of separation between these components, to facilitate their usage and operations.

An abrasive water jet nozzle for strengthening, including a chamber, providing a mixing space; and a strengthening mixing assembly, providing a strengthening mixing of water with an abrasive entering the chamber, wherein the strengthening mixing assembly includes a fluid passage and a water stopper block, wherein the water stopper block is located at an eccentric position on one side of the chamber, and an outlet of the fluid passage faces the water stopper block. The provided abrasive water jet nozzle is capable of fully mixing high speed water with the abrasive particles after the high speed water entering the mixing chamber, so as to ensure the uniformity of the strengthening effect, and the formed abrasive water jet is a large circular fan-shaped jet, which can greatly improve the strengthening quality of the abrasive water jet.

An apparatus for treatment of a surface has a holding tank configured to mix pressurized gas from the source with an abrasive glass powder, wherein the powder has a mean particulate size of 210 microns or less. A regulator in fluid communication with the holding tank is configured to reduce output pressure from the holding tank to 20 psi or lower. A nozzle is in fluid connection with the holding tank output, the nozzle having a shutoff valve, a feeder tube fitted to the valve and formed of a polymer material, and a hardened metal insert fitted into an end of the feeder tube and having an orifice that is configured to direct the compressed gas and abrasive glass powder to the surface.

The present application provides to a media dosage unit (300) for shot peening. The application also presents methods of using and making the media dosage unit. The media dosage unit comprises a flow sensor (304) for measuring flow rate of solid particles; and a connector on the flow sensor for coupling the flow sensor to a shot circulation conduit (306). The present application also relates to a media flow valve (316) for the media dosage unit for shot peening. The application additionally discloses a method of making or assembling the microwave media flow sensor.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for improving the performance of a fluid jet cutting system by testing and adjusting characteristics of the system based on the effect of the characteristics on forces imparted by the system to a workpiece being cut. Also disclosed are systems and methods for monitoring and validating the performance of fluid jet cutting systems, and for diagnosing such systems. In some cases, the technologies described herein can be used to determine whether components of a fluid jet system require maintenance, or that characteristics of the system require adjustment.