For companies with a dust extractor, electronically monitoring the dust emission avoids dust pollution and saves costs through reducing the electricity consumption, longer life of dust bags, as well as staff productivity with significant health benefits Dust Suppression .

In the current political climate worldwide, there is a growing demand for manufacturing plants to become cleaner and environmentally responsible to make sure the benefit of clean air will be enjoyed today and for future generations.

One significant and efficient way to improve the air quality and reduce power consumption for your manufacturing plant is to look at the resources used in your production run. For many companies, electricity is a huge expense. The forecast from the power stations of an increase up to 60% over the next few years will put pressure on the companies to reduce the power consumption.

Dust collectors commonly operate fixed interval pulsing of the valves regardless of the need. As they do not have a programmable timer, there is no monitoring capability that will give you the flexibility to operate dust extraction at the time of need as opposed to continually.

Pulsing is a compressor generated high pressure air stream which goes through a valve and into the dust bags. The air stream shakes the dust of the bags and the dust falls into a bin. To generate these airstreams takes a lot of electricity to power up the compressor. Most companies use this common procedure.

The solution is to reduce the pulsing and therefore the need for electrically generated compressed air. Using differential pressure and on demand cleaning together with a on demand cleaner board will give you greater dust control over your dust extractors.

By using this method, the savings can be as high as 70% in some cases, but the average saving is between 30-40%.

The next common cause for using excesses of compressed air is through valve malfunction. There are two ways that this can occur. The first is when the valve is always open allowing a constant and uninterrupted stream of compressed air through. The second is when the valve is constantly closed. This will cause the dust extractor bags to be clogged up with dust and a significant increase in differential pressure. A message will then be sent to the dust controller to pulse more frequently. Both problems will generate a much higher demand for compressed air and therefore the power supply will be increased.

To monitor and attend to these problems right away, installations of electronic sensors will immediately indicate mechanical or electrical fault in the valves. An alarm will be send back to the master controller so action can be taken.

Another common pollution factor for the manufacturing plants with dust collectors is the leaking of dust through torn dust bags. Many companies have not installed sufficient monitoring system in place, but rely on manual checking on a regular interval. This procedure causes significant dust concentrations being sent out through the clean air stack.

To avoid any dust pollution you can electronically monitor your dust emission. To electronically monitor the dust emission a dust sensor connected to a master controller, which controls the pulsing, will give an alarm right away when dust has been detected and you can take action immediately to address the problem.

Automated preventative systems in dust extractors will give you significant savings in your production costs, you are seen as environmentally responsible and your occupational health and safety procedures become significantly enhanced.

Ptronik is a professional Industrial Enginering company specialising in design and manufacture of abrasive blasting, spray booths and dust extractor control systems. Disciplines include electronic and electrical engineering plus design of programmable timers, software and printed circuit boards.

Ptronik works closely with clients to ensure the most efficient and energy saving dust control solutions designed and manufactured for dust extraction systems.