Sweepers work by using a rotating brush to agitate dirt, debris, and other particles from a surface, into an internal dustpan. The dustpan then collects and stores the debris for later disposal. Sweepers are an efficient and cost-effective way to keep a wide variety of surfaces clean.
Direct throw broom sweepers are prevalent in Australian factories. The mechanism involves a rotating broom that flicks debris into a front-mounted hopper. Once sweeping is complete, a trap door ramp seals the load, allowing it to be lifted and emptied over a bin.
Popular brands offering this type include Fimap, American Lincoln, Tennant and Nilfisk.
Similar to direct throw sweepers but with a different hopper placement—right at the rear of the broom. This design allows for litter to be thrown over the broom into the hopper.
Choosing between the two largely depends on your specific needs, including the type of debris you’ll be collecting and the layout of your facility. Both options have their merits and drawbacks, so it’s vital to consider what’s most crucial for your operation.
Feel free to consult with us to find the best match for your needs. Our extensive knowledge in factory cleaning equipment can help guide you through the selection process.
Vacuum or suction sweeper: This type of machine comes in a range of sizes from small walk behind to large road machines and generates air suction by a fan. The small walk behind sweepers usually vacuum via a mulching fan into a bag, these are very effective in light litter and leaf and where one of the first footpath sweepers used Australia. As they will emit fine dust they are not a healthy choice for pollutant-laden material or continuous fine dust.
The litter is scavenged towards the suction head either at the roadside of the truck or in the centre of the sweeper than drawn by air as a vacuum into the debris hopper. As the air and debris flow up the suction pipe water is injected to suppress dust and wet the debris so that it will settle out of the air stream once it spins in the hopper. The air is then drawn through screens or filters before being pumped to atmosphere. There are three types of air suction machines
A mulching fan where the air and debris is passed through a mulching fan which crashes the debris before it goes into the hopper, these machines are good for bulky light weight litter such as papers and cans and bottles.
Clean fan suction sweepers have the fan above the hopper creating a clean vacuum, which draws the debris into the hopper and it is compressed by air movement and wetting. These sweepers can be cleaner and are advantageous where particles are best kept un-ruptured, such as seedpods from trees, which can create allergies. The clean fan should be quieter in operation as it is a larger diameter hence needs to spin less to create the same vacuum and does not have the mulching noise.
The third type of vacuum or suction sweeper is commonly referred to as regenerative air. Some do not consider these as a suction sweeper, although this is misleading as the debris is carried to the hopper by suction. The only difference is that the scavenging of the litter towards the suction head is done in an enclosed box or sweep head and the debris is moved by recycled air rather than a broom.
This has several advantages over a broom. There are a few moving parts under the truck and the sweeping action is carried out by air, which on other designs normally is wasted to atmosphere. This air can reach fine holes and cracks that a broom cannot. No broom wear, because there is no main broom only side brooms.
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