IoT-Based Remote Sensing Service to Monitor Industrial Dust Collectors

In Booth B-17062, Donaldson Company, Inc. (Minneapolis) introduces an industrial IoT remote sensing subscription service that provides real-time information and maintenance alerts directly to facility management teams. With automatic sensing and broad compatibility in dust and fume collectors, this service is designed to help factory personnel gain visibility to data to support production uptime, while helping to reduce maintenance costs for new and existing collectors, regardless of collector brand. The new technology provides value far beyond what traditional non-connected gauges can provide. Facility management teams can access a detailed dashboard showing equipment performance and receive automated reports and simple, actionable alerts on their laptops or mobile devices. The subscription service can be tailored to the needs of each facilities’ applications, and includes hardware, email reports, and maintenance alerts set by each facility to best suit their needs and deliver value to their teams.

In an independent survey that was conducted by Plant Engineering and sponsored by Donaldson, 38 percent of plant engineers said a dust collector disruption would shut down their operation, at an average estimated cost of $3,371 per hour. Despite the high cost of unexpected downtime, nearly half of the survey respondents said that their equipment had not been thoroughly evaluated within the past three years, or the date of the most recent evaluation was unknown. “Facility managers tell us that actively monitoring their dust and fume collectors’ performance is a challenge, in terms of both time and technical knowledge,” said Wade Wessels, the director of connected solutions strategy for Donaldson. “Our remote sensing service addresses this challenge by presenting real-time, actionable data through an online dashboard.” This technology was publicly introduced in late 2018 and, between pilot and early adopter customers, facilities across a wide range of industries have already benefited from the service. Initial users have reported results in three main categories:

• Reduced downtime for dust collection equipment.
• Lower maintenance costs, including reduced filter replacement intervals.
• Better management of dust collector tasks and compliance reporting data.

In a recent case, alerts from this remote sensing technology reduced the time required to resolve an obstruction within a collector’s hopper from two hours to just 15 minutes for each occurrence. In this case, early detection allowed for a much faster and more efficient resolution. At another facility, filter life was extended from six weeks to approximately one year because the cause of premature filter wear was accurately diagnosed and addressed. Here, visibility to the data from a remote location helped identify an accurate cause more quickly and efficiently. “This new service connects our customers’ facilities more directly with Donaldson, allowing the development of a new, ongoing relationship that goes beyond the initial sale of a collector,” said Rick DeJong, senior director of product technologies for the Donaldson Torit® line of filtration equipment. “In the near future, this connection will allow us to offer additional kinds of product support, which will bring significant value as industries are increasingly struggling with gaps in manufacturing labor and experience.”

Donaldson Torit | Donaldson Company Inc., PO Box 1299, Minneapolis, MN 55440, 800-365-1331, www.donaldsontorit.com.