Fike Corporation

Jim Vingerhoets

Jan-Bart Seymortier

A system () and method () for detecting and suppressing a dust explosion occurring in a process enclosure (). A sensor () generates a pressure signal indicative of a pressure within the enclosure (). A processing element () analyzes the signal to determine whether the dust explosion is occurring. The signal is sampled at a higher frequency, and then converted to a lower frequency by averaging, then filtered with first and intermediate filters to remove portions of the signal having rates of increase that exceed pre-established maximum magnitudes, and then filtered with a second filter having an appropriate cut-off frequency, stop band attenuation factor, and end of passband frequency. An alarm and a suppression system () are activated if a static pressure exceeds a limit, a rate of pressure increase exceeds a limit, or a total suppressed pressure exceeds a limit, each of which indicates occurrence of the dust explosion.

System and method for detecting and suppressing dust explosions

A system () and method () using decentralized trace gas sensors () and a central control element () to detect smoldering material in particulate material processing equipment () with continuous air flow (). First and second sensors () measure gas concentrations at an air inlet () and an air outlet (), respectively. The control element () receives the measurements from the sensors () simultaneously, considers the first and second concentrations simultaneously to determine an amount of gas being produced in the processing equipment (), determines whether the amount of gas being produced exceeds a threshold value indicative of smoldering, and if so, activates an alarm. A user interface () allows a user to interact with the control element (), including resetting the alarm, viewing current and stored sensor and system information, and initiating a test of the system by exposing the sensors () to gas released from a gas reservoir ().

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Rijkevorsel, Belgium

Jim Vingerhoets