Knitmesh/Elmac Technologies

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to work with a company that created knitted mesh and was tasked with creating a way to connect two mesh sheets together without welding. So during my time in lockdown I branched out to the engineering company in the flintshire area called Knitmesh Technologies. Knitmesh are a company that create knitted steel mesh for various types of purposes such as:

-Animal enclosures

- fire arresters

-car engine parts

I was most interested with their fire arrester technology, so I contacted them and arranged a meeting shortly after the latest lockdown. Due to the restrictions being lifted I was able to travel down to flint and take a look at their workshops and ask them a few questions and whether they would be interested in giving me a job/internship once I have completed university.

When gasses flow through the pipes within factories, there is always a risk of an ignition, which can cause the gases to combust and set on fire. When the fire travels through the pipes and hits the end of line piping system it can cause serious damage to the factory its self and depending on where and how big, can cause deaths. Knitmesh set out to solve these problems and came up with a very simple but intelligent way. In 2007 Knitmesh created another part of their company called Elmac. Elmac are responsible for creating fire arresters for factories. Elmac have three types of arresters:

-End line arrester

-Mid line arrester

-Gravity arrester

Elmac's fire arresters use the knitted steel mesh to force the flame through the mesh causing the flame to dissipate and cool to 0 degrees. The middle and end of line arresters use the natural pressure that flows through the factories pipes to drive the flame into the arresters. But the gravity arresters are fitted to the top of the factories chimney and extinguish the flame from above using the natural gravity of the flame. from my visit to Knitmesh technologies, it has given me a different insight to the other side of our industry and I am very interested by their work and my one day work in the same field. With this in mind I have been able to make a connection with their lead engineer and may one day become useful. Overall my experience was very beneficial and I have gained a lot of knowledge through my visit.