When it comes to maintaining a manufacturing or processing environment, few things are as top a priority as occupational health and safety. However, one area that is sometimes overlooked is indoor air quality (IAQ) equipment.
But for health and safety professionals, indoor air quality has become a bigger focus in recent years. Poor air quality due to wildfires has become an increasing issue for indoor and outdoor workers as wildfires have been raging across Canada in record numbers. According to Natural Resources Canada, in 2023, more than 6,000 fires had burned approximately 15 million hectares of land, about six times more hectares than the average of 2.5 million hectares that are normally burned by wildfires annually.
Wildfire smoke is made up of a variety of gases, particles and water vapour, including ozone, methane, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). It also contains fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which represents the main health risk from wildfire smoke as it’s linked to a number of health effects.
But regardless of whether a facility is located near wildfires, maintaining a properly functioning IAQ system is a key component to ensuring the health and safety of workers, as well as maximizing productivity, and needs to be kept in top working order.
Tiny particles = big problems
Health risks aside, there’s another major reason to keep IAQ equipment running optimally, and that’s productivity. Poor indoor air quality in a manufacturing setting can lead to unscheduled downtime of machines, which in turn can halt production, delay orders, and even damage a company’s bottom line.
But how?
When air quality is inadequate, contaminants in the air can enter the company’s HVAC system, causing it to work harder and less efficiently while recycling dirty air back into the facility. Dust accumulation is a particularly serious issue. Industrial dust can cause electrical equipment to overheat, reduce contact in relays and switches, and cause circuit boards to short circuit. What’s more, when dust mixes with even a small amount of moisture, it can corrode crucial components, such as electrical motors, by causing abrasion and wear.
Dust management
When it comes to managing dust in various manufacturing and processing environments, maintenance staff are looking for equipment that requires little time, while providing as much data as possible. One way to do this is by using particle matter sensors to measure the quality and concentration of dust particles in the air.
“The sensors are able to capture and read how much dust you’re emitting from your filtering station,” says Samuele Oliva, a product marketing manager for dust collectors and alternative energies at Emerson Discrete Automation, a company that offers particle matter sensors (such as the ASCO dust pulse technology P152 Particle Sensor).
Not only do the sensors capture the particles that are in touch with the sensor itself, but also the particles that go around it.
“It’s something that allows you to reduce the maintenance of the sensor and keep an eye on what is going on,” Oliva says. “You can use this sensor data for multiple things when it comes to maintenance. For example, the particle sensor data can be used to understand if you have a broken filter bag.”
This can be done by installing a controller that can read the data from the sensors and match it with what is happening within the dust collection system.
“That’s either a PLC [programmable logic controller] or something dedicated to the dust collectors,” Oliva says. “This can give you a lot of insights on what is really happening within your filtering station, because sometimes it’s kind of a black box where you don’t know what’s happening until you go there and find you have a broken bag. At the same time, you have been emitting dust within the atmosphere or within an area where your workers are working.”
These types of systems can play an instrumental role in a preventative maintenance program. By reviewing the data collected by the sensors, maintenance staff can identify IAQ equipment failures before the units completely fail.
“With this kind of system, you can identify when that is happening, but you are also able to predict when it’s going to happen. Maybe it’s not completely broken, but by looking at your data, you are able to predict which lines are about to be broken, or which lines are in a very good shape,” Oliva says.
Controllers can also be used to read data about other aspects of a dust collection system, such as the valves.
If staff can get insights about pressure fluctuations and air consumption of tanks with the PLC or a sensor, they can detect when a diaphragm or a pulse valve is broken, Oliva explains.
“What does it mean to have a broken pulse valve? Let’s say the best-case scenario is the valve is just broken. It’s not operating, but it’s not leaking. You have lost efficiency in filtering… the worst-case scenario is that not only something like that is happening, but you also are leaking compressed air through the filtering system, so you are constantly losing compressed air, which is a waste of air and a waste of electrical energy to run the compressor, that translates into a waste of money,” he says.
Maintaining IAQ eqiupment
According to Samuel Lavoie, maintenance supervisor for ABB Electrification Canada SRI in Pointe-Claire, Que., the key concerns related to maintaining IAQ equipment include regular filter replacements, sensor calibration, and system leaks and corrosion.
“In some cases, those issues, if they’re not addressed, can lead to equipment failure or reduce the efficiency by a lot. So, it’s pretty important to make sure you get these under control,” Lavoie says.
The best way to ensure a plant’s IAQ equipment keeps its optimal efficiency is to follow an effective preventative maintenance schedule, Lavoie suggests.
“Replace parts when needed and train the staff to operate and maintain the system, as well as recognize some issues that could happen over time,” he says. “Make sure you’re using high quality filters that fit the environment you’re in. There’s different type of filters, so make sure you’re using the right one for the right application, and frequently optimize your system with the new available data.”
When looking to purchase IAQ equipment for a facility, purchasers and specifiers should reach out to industry experts for advice.
“Talk to people who are specialized in that kind of equipment. There are so many different kinds, it’s normal to not know them all. So, make sure to refer to your local experts. They will guide you in all of this. Make sure the equipment is the right for your kind of environment,” Lavoie says.
Rise of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is adopting roles in almost every industry, and the management of indoor air equipment is no exception.
“I’m pretty sure AI will have a positive impact on air equipment,” Lavoie says. “It will likely enhance the equipment by enabling predictive maintenance and optimizing the system with real-time data depending on what’s happening outside. All of this will improve the energy efficiency a lot for that equipment.”
Lavoie adds that there are environmental implications as well.
“If you’re on a mission to zero [emissions], that’s really great for being able to adapt the usage to the air quality outside on a day-to-day basis. It will also offer data driven insights on what’s to come and how we could improve our reaction speed for events like wildfires, as we had last year.”
Lavoie says the increasing number of wildfires is pushing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to consider this issue when designing new equipment, an area in which AI is poised to make a significant impact.
“The increase in wildfires has prompt a focus on designing equipment that can handle extreme conditions, including incorporating more robust air filtration systems while improving the ability to filter out fine particles,” he says. “There’s also greater focus on durability and reliability to maintain the equipment working during long wildfire events like we had last year, and it’s critical that the equipment can quickly adapt to fluctuation and outdoor quality. So that’s where AI will come in and really help on this.”
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