When synthetic fibers first appeared in the 1950s, researchers soon realized that most of those materials carried an inherent electrostatic charge. For example, this charge can make plastic materials feel fuzzy to the touch, make balloons stick to walls or hair stand on end when a plastic comb is run through it.

In 1957, Permatron was founded to manufacture air filters utilizing synthetic fibers. According to President Leslye Sandberg, this was the beginning of utilizing charged-particle attraction to enhance air filtering abilities.

The company found that its filters were useful in high-dirt-load applications. “Air handlers near industrial processes such as a hospital laundry or paper mills could go through a disposable filter in hours, and metal mesh filters are much more difficult to clean,” Sandberg says. “They pick up things like lint or create a cake of debris on the front and you can’t get it back out. The polypropylene of our filters is monofilament with a smooth surface, so it lets loose pretty easily.”

Permatron had found its niche, and created the exclusive Accumulator Chamber construction, which is designed like a miniature filter bank including a prefilter and afterfilter.

“As a filter loads with dirt, it becomes more difficult to get air through and it’s particularly easy to load up the face of a filter very quickly in high dirt load applications,” she explains. “With any air-handling system, static pressure or resistance to air flow is important. “It determines when you must change or wash the filter, directly impacting the cost of maintenance.”

For nearly 50 years, these filters have been the company’s mainstay. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, the demand for better filtration in the residential market, led the company to develop its DustEater product for residential use, once again utilizing the unique Accumulator Chamber design.

The DustEater line continues to be sold for residential use, but the company has since expanded its offerings even further.
“In the early ’90s, we started looking into original equipment manufacturing capabilities, recognizing that residential markets can be transient in terms of demand,” Sandberg says. “In that market, most of our competitors have come and gone. We have the ability to be very flexible in our manufacturing. We actually do a lot of metal bending. We have the machining and tooling capability to frame anything, not just air filters – and have expanded our converting and assembly capabilities to meet customer needs.”

Sandberg says the Permatron name is well known in the HVAC industry. Many customers know only about one product line of the company’s filters, while some OEM customers don’t realize the company produces a line of market ready products. What’s important, she says, is that the company serves both customer groups well.

Today, the company does a large amount of product development in the equipment protection market. “We have developed, designed and tested products that are really unique in their ability to withstand hostile, corrosive environments,” she explains. “These products are flexible and can be used indoors or outdoors on machines such as earth movers, telephone boxes, strip mining equipment, outdoor HVAC equipment of all sizes including large cooling towers.”

The company recently expanded its PreVent line of equipment protection filters for commercial use. “It’s much easier to prevent damage before it happens,” Sandberg says. “Keeping dirt and debris out of heat exchange surfaces is easier than cleaning it after the fact. And proactive maintenance is key in preventing unscheduled equipment downtime or emergency repair costs.”

She says Permatron has developed a unique approach to manufacturing and is focused on meeting customer needs. “We’re small enough to be creative, and our chain of command is fairly short,” she says. “We developed this mindset that we can do anything. If a customer wants a custom item, they’ll get it in 48 hours. That’s the shortest lead time in the industry. “We have solid, long-term relationships with vendors,” she continues. “We work closely with them to maintain adequate lead times, and they maintain inventory for us so we can maintain a steady flow of pulling orders.

“Industry strategic alliances are also important, she says. “I believe one of the only ways a small business can survive is to work with, instead of fighting against, the bigger fish in the sea.”

As the company moves forward, it plans to continue to expand its PreVent line. “Filtration is a growing area of concern for a lot of manufacturing companies,” Sandberg says. “They recognize that there are efficiencies and costs to be saved by protecting your equipment. There’s no one out there who doesn’t have air intake in a building or on a production machine who couldn’t benefit from the product.”