The benefits of smart and communicative filter systems

IoT technology and artificial intelligence are reshaping industrial processes. By gathering data, applying analytics and extracting insights, companies can understand, monitor and maintain the performance and quality of their systems like never before. This is certainly the case with industrial filters as well.

Lack of knowledge about one’s filters can have costly consequences

Companies who invest in air filtration units are rarely filter experts themselves, and want to focus on production – not filter maintenance requirements. Manual inspections of their filter systems can prove time-consuming and laborious, and thus may not be prioritized. Insufficient knowledge of one’s filtration system may result in inadequate filtration, shortened filter life, and unnecessary costs pertaining to everything from energy consumption to compliance breaches and production stops. As such, the filter system is not necessarily used to the best of its ability, and customers may be unaware of how it is performing and how it can be affected by changes in the production process.

Receiving concrete and intuitively presented filter system data is key

Equipping a high vacuum filter unit (HiVac filter) with a smart data collection and filter performance monitoring system will provide lots of useful information, and improved knowledge of one’s filter system overall. Nederman’s contribution in this field is Nederman Insight, a solution which allows the user to gain just that – insight into his or her filters, and their performance. Industry-specific sensors monitor the conditions in the filter system, obtaining data which is uploaded to a storage cloud via an IoT gateway. The data is safely stored in the cloud by means of comprehensive security features, and can be accessed by the user through a web-based dashboard interface (on your smartphone, tablet or computer) called Insight Analytics, where it can easily be read and interpreted.

Remote monitoring makes filter supervision easy and effortless

Studies of industry attitudes toward industrial IoT, also known as IIoT, solutions have indicated that remote monitoring is an especially welcome new feature. Being able to access the system on a phone or tablet, for example, means that filters can be conveniently checked and supervised remotely. This can prove to be just as beneficial inside the factory as outside of it, as filters may be difficult to access. As such, remote monitoring can save a lot of time, money and resources by simply offering continuous access to your filter system data.

IoT solutions raise filter system performance awareness while decreasing costs and maintenance needs

In addition to the benefits of remote monitoring mentioned above, having a smart and communicative filter system in place comes with numerous other advantages: 

• Easy access to both real time and historical data.
• Operators will know the status of a filter, and will be able to predict and streamline maintenance. As such, potential problems can be detected early, preventing emergency repairs and unplanned downtime.
• Time and resources can be saved, improving productivity and leading to a smoother, safer work environment.
• Decisions can be made faster, based on actual, clear and coherent statistics.
• Energy consumption can be reduced, saving money and improving company sustainability. As environmental regulations are likely to become stricter in the future, companies will need to be able to present data in order to support environmental policies and strategies.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact our industrial air filtration experts. You can read more about Nederman Insight here, and will find other articles on our work – such as oil smoke and oil mist filtration and vehicle exhaust extraction – here in the Nederman Knowledge Center.