Ecogate System Advantages
How Ecogate Stands Out in On-Demand Dust Collection
Choosing Ecogate as your On-Demand Control System means selecting reliability and tailored innovation designed for the rigorous demands of industrial environments. It's not just our system's robustness that sets us apart; it’s our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of modern industries with specific, measurable advantages.
Least Expensive Way to Operate Ventilation Systems
Ecogate’s On-Demand Control System is designed to optimize your dust collection system resulting in electricity savings of 50% to 75%. The reduction in electricity, operational, and maintenance costs with Ecogate significantly exceeds the initial setup cost, leading to an average return on investment (ROI) within 2 years. Beyond this, it effectively generates savings annually, directly benefiting your bottom line.
Can Manage Multiple Dust Collection Systems
The greenBOX control unit can manage all dust, fume, and mist collection systems within a factory or building, regardless of the number of systems. This means you no longer need multiple control units for your dust collecting systems. It's also highly scalable to accommodate future system expansions or adding additional dust collecting systems.
Software As Intuitive as a Smartphone
The greenBOX software's user experience feels as intuitive as a smartphone. Because the web server is built in, the user can access the system from any connected device, from anywhere.
Entire System
is Fully
Automated
The system is fully automated - the greenBOX control unit opens and closes workstation gates, starts and stops ventilation fan(s) and dust collector(s), adjusts the fan(s) speed via Power Master VFD, and maintains minimum transport air velocities in the duct system. Workers can simply focus on their work–not managing the dust collection system.
Quick and
Smooth Deployment
The integration of an Ecogate greenBOX controller, known for leading the industry in air velocity and volume accuracy, alongside a swift one-minute setup for our Power Master VFD, ensures the deployment of our On-Demand Control System is both rapid and risk-free. This efficiency in setup and commissioning is vital for minimizing downtime across projects of any scale. This is a standardized commercial product (i.e. not custom made on a project to project basis), installed with the same software in hundreds of locations. This means the software is fully tested and does not need any last-minute improvisations or commissioning delays. Delays can be costly, directly impacting production and profitability.
Safe
Transport Air Velocities
Ecogate prioritizes your safety by ensuring the maintenance of minimum air transport velocities within your duct system, a critical measure to prevent hazardous dust accumulation and significantly reduce the risk of fires or explosions. Given the combustible nature of dust and particulates, our system's design is rooted in strict adherence to key safety standards, including NFPA standards 664 and 652, UK's HSG258, among others, safeguarding against potential ignition sources.
Designed with
Closed-Loop Regulation
Traditional ventilation systems are typically designed and installed with the assumption that they will run correctly indefinitely, even as workstations are added, removed, or relocated. Regrettably, this is rarely the case. Many existing dust, fume, and mist collection systems are either not working properly or operate inefficiently, leading to energy waste and potential safety hazards.
Ecogate addresses this by continuously monitoring pressure, air volume and velocity in a closed-loop and adjusting the fan to match the engineer-defined design air volume. For instance, if the system is designed to ventilate active workstations at 10,000 CFM, the greenBOX (the brain of the Ecogate System) will calculate based on real-time measurements and adjust the system to maintain precisely 10,000 CFM, with a tolerance of +/- 5%. This degree of accuracy ensures top-notch ventilation performance and energy efficiency, regardless of any modifications to the system over time. With Ecogate, you can have confidence that your ventilation system is always operating at peak performance.
Cascading,
Lead & Backup
Fans
In a Cascading Fan system, multiple clean-side fans work in tandem to pull airflow into a single dust collector. These fans operate in parallel, but not all fans are constantly active. When only a few machines are in use, the air volume needed for effective dust collection is minimal, so only one fan may be operational. As more machines come online requiring dust collection, additional fans are activated.
The Ecogate On-Demand Control System can operate fans in series, parallel, cascading, and lead & backup configurations. Our system automatically activates the necessary number of fans to maintain optimal air volume for dust collection. This approach conserves energy and reduces wear and tear on the system.
Building/Process Automation Integration
Ecogate systems can communicate with Higher-Level Control systems (Building Automation System, SCADA, Process Control System) via Modbus Gateway. Ecogate On-Demand Control System seamlessly integrates with the Building/Process, providing updates on ventilation system performance, warnings, and errors, and enables users to see ventilation values, modify settings, monitor system status, and detect potential performance issues. For example with this integration the HVAC in the shop is adjusted to replace exactly the air ventilating outside the building by dust/fume/mist collection, offering significant savings compared to HVAC systems that are running all the time at full ventilation capacity.
User-Friendly
Calibration
Wizard
Fan curves, provided by the fan manufacturer, are based on measurements or calculations under ideal conditions defined by AMCA (Air Movement & Control Association). As installed in real duct systems fan efficiency drops (especially if installed with “system error”), leading to uncertain fan performance. During the Ecogate calibration process, fan and system curves are measured, optimally mapping the system to the fan curve. This data is analyzed to match the fan curve with the system curve. The fan is also evaluated to determine the maximum air volume needed to operate all workstations while maintaining the duct system's minimum airflow requirements.
Open, Modern “Silicon Valley” Software
At Ecogate, we employ Docker containers as the foundation of our software stack. This approach enables more efficient use of computing resources and expedites product updates. Our software undergoes automated compilation and built-in tests to detect potential issues, ensuring reliable, top-notch performance.
Built on established open-source technology, our software comprises manageable, testable modules that are tightly integrated. The comprehensive web server for our user interface facilitates easy access from any device, anywhere. Furthermore, our greenBOX control units offer automatic, swift, over-the-air operating system and application updates, keeping your system current without the need for manual intervention or production delays.
Heavy-duty, Advanced
Blast Gates
Many industrial ventilation systems rely on pneumatically operated gates, which can be expensive to buy, install, and operate. Ecogate gates offer superior performance and efficiency, while also being cost-effective and easy to use. Compared to all other gates on the market, our Smart Gates are more robust and advanced, ensuring reliable and long-lasting performance.
Powered by a 24V DC motor, our Smart Gates are equipped with an embedded processor capable of measuring pressure, air velocity, and air volume, as well as Modbus communication. Open and Close limit switches relay information to the greenBOX controller to ensure proper gate functionality. The gate Modbus addresses are assigned automatically during setup to simplify and speedup the system installation. We offer different gate styles to suit different applications, including rotating blade and butterfly-style gates, available in either zinc-plated metal or stainless steel.