Air Quality and Dust Monitoring

Environmental compliance obligations to limit dust and monitor air quality are becoming more stringent. Weather Stations which monitor temperature, rainfall, humidity etc are common. Weather authorities provide public information on these parameters. A local Tier 2 weather station can be set up to specifically monitor specific industrial areas.

Application Details

There is also a need to monitor air quality and dust levels as well as weather parameters in industrial areas.
Factories and industrial plants need to monitor dust levels on an immediate needs basis, to close down operations when levels exceed the regulatory limits. Local authorities themselves may also need to monitor air quality generally to alert local residents of any immediate unsafe conditions.
These organizations also need to complete weekly / monthly/quarterly reports on environmental compliance generally, and to determine long term trends.

There are several brands of dust / particulate monitoring instruments and systems. One such brand is the Dust Track monitor, which provides an automated, regular dust measurement.
Typical systems would be set up on the site, perhaps at central and perimeter locations within the industrial area with a solar panel and battery to make the installation easier and to ensure there is a battery backed-up power supply, so measurements are maintained in the event of a primary power failure.

Combining a Dust Monitor Instrument and a Neon Remote Logger allows factories and industrial plants to maintain dust compliance and to alert operators of any out of limit dust condition.
There may also be a requirement to monitor the weather in the area using Tier 2 weather station equipment to record the ambient conditions, especially wind speed and direction, so there is good knowledge of the general wind conditions to make sure dust and other emissions from the plant are not being carried by the wind to areas of population, such as a local town or city.

There may be the need for one Tier 2 to be installed at the plant and at each perimeter fence of the facility to get a good reading for the local area. These systems are usually enclosed in a rugged housing, and mounted on a pole with a solar / battery power source and a Neon Remote Logger to obtain readings from the Dust Track and routinely (5, 10, 15 minutes) send that data to a central Neon Server.

Alarms can be set up to immediately notify authority by email or text of any out of limit condition. Long term routine data can also be examined to determine any long term trends with dust conditions at the site, and to also provide for a long term store of the routine data, to assist with environmental compliance requirements.