Intelligent Dust Extraction

A building automation system (BAS) provides automated control for multiple building systems including HVAC, lighting, safety and security. The BAS provides a user interface that allows the end-user to adjust the settings, view the system status, and detect any potential issues related to building systems performance. Your Ecogate system seamlessly integrates into your BAS, reporting on performance, warnings and errors. The HVAC in your workshop is adjusted to replace exactly the air ventilating outside the building by dust/fume/mist collection. This offers significant savings compared to HVAC systems that are running all the time at full ventilation capacity.

ARM processors are more energy-efficient, powerful, and cost-effective than other processing units, which is why they are used in all smartphones, notebooks and desktop computers. Ecogate uses two ARM processors in its greenBOX NXT, which allows us to design advanced and robust dust/fume/mist control systems at a very low cost. greenBOX NXT users can benefit from the additional capabilities without additional costs.

Many systems use pneumatically operated gates, which are expensive to buy, expensive to install and expensive to operate. Ecogate gates are the most cost-effective while also the most robust and advanced on the market. The gates are operated by a 24V DC motor, with an embedded processor to read pressure, air velocity, air volume and to communicate over Modbus. Open and Close limit switches report to the control system to ensure proper gate functionality. The gates are available with a rotating blade or butterfly-style; made from zinc-plated metal or stainless steel.

In the Cascading Fans setup, multiple clean side fans pull airflow into a single dust collector. The fans are operated in parallel – but not all fans are necessarily active at all times. For example, when only a few machines are active, the air volume required to provide good dust collection is fairly small, therefore only a single fan may be running. As additional machines are turned on and require dust collection, additional fans will be brought online. Ecogate can operate fans in series, in parallel, as cascading and as lead and backup fans with higher efficiency compared to traditional solutions.

Traditional ventilation is set up at the beginning with the hope it will run correctly forever; in reality, it runs correctly until the first change is made to the system (adding, removing, relocating workstations). Most existing systems (dust/fume /mist collection) are not working properly or are inefficient and losing energy. With Ecogate, the greenBOX automatically regulates the air volume to the design air volume as set by the design engineer. This means that if the system is supposed to ventilate the currently active workstations at 10,000 CFM, the greenBOX will measure and adjust the system to ventilate at 10,000 CFM (+/- 5%).

If the minimum air velocities are not maintained in the entire duct system, dust will settle and accumulation of dust can act as additional fuel in the event of a fire, as it is highly combustible. To limit or eliminate fire and explosion incidents and to be compliant with NFPA, HSG258 & other standards, Ecogate’s technology maintains minimum transport air velocities in the entire duct system. Other systems simply use constant-pressure regulation, which is a fool’s approach. Constant pressure is okay to use on constant systems, but not for systems that are always changing by opening and closing gates. For example: If you blank off the main duct, the pressure-regulated system will happily regulate to set pressure, but there will be no airflow.

The Ecogate software stack uses docker containers. Containers allow us to use computing resources more efficiently and roll out new product updates faster. When the software is automatically compiled, built-in tests are checking the software for potential issues. It is built on proven open-source technology, all tightly integrated, divided into manageable, testable software modules. A complete web server for the user interface makes it easy to access from anywhere, on any device. An automatic, fast, over-the-air operating system and application updates are integrated into the greenBOX control units.

Ecogate uses open software architecture which allows us to add a new communication standard by adding a new software module as opposed to having to write the complete software. From control units managing small shops to control units controlling several industrial ventilation systems for an entire large factory, the Ecogate software can scale to any size. The user interface is similar to the modern implementation of tablets, smartphones and Tesla cars, so you do not need to learn how to use it, as it is intuitive.

Fan curves published by the fan manufacturer are based on measurements (or calculations) under ideal conditions. In an actual factory or workshop, the conditions differ, meaning the fan’s performance is generally not known. As part of the Ecogate calibration routine, the fan and system curves are measured and the system is optimally mapped to the fan curve. The data is evaluated to match the fan curve with the system curve. The fan is also evaluated for the maximum air volume necessary to operate all workstations while maintaining minimum airflow requirements in the duct system.