Smart Particle Sensing Via Computer Vision for Precise Dedusting with Water Monitors

Water monitors are used for dedusting tasks in various working areas with heavy dust emissions. They are an important part of the safety infrastructure to prevent wear of the machinery and safeguard health. State of the art solutions are designed as simple mechanical set-ups that throw nebulized fluids unspecifically. Moreover, these solutions are characterized by a target conflict between power, coverage and dynamics that limit the operating range. Considering this, the branch still lacks smart technologies for operating such fluid systems efficiently regarding resource deployment, i.e. water consumption, and efficacy. From an explorative research design a specific use case was derived and led to a cooperative research project, where a prototype was developed, empirically examined in laboratory scale, and yet applied in exemplary working grounds. Key feature is a meshed computer vision setup supported by a linked microcontroller and computer unit. It provides real-time operating data from a water monitor and it`s surrounding for condition-based actions. By this, the data enables both for online detection of current dust clouds and forecasting them. As a result, the system automatically adapts its range of throw as well as the nebulization. Moreover, an AI considers further factors, as for instance sedimentation velocity and specific surface of the spread fluid, in order to react in the most effective way. The digitized set-up enables for a broader range of operations, other than present analog solutions. Considered as a safety enhancing solution, further research will be needed in long-term field studies regarding data rates and computing requirements.