At one of London’s largest grain import/export terminals, there are more than 50 conveyors and elevators operating every day, running at high speeds.
The elevators are more than 65m above the ground and the largest conveyors run in both directions.
The grain terminal, which is more than a kilometre long, can store more than 250,000t of grain, and has more than 300 critical sensing points.
At this site, a collapsed bearing sparked a serious conveyor fire that spread to ancillary equipment and caused several hundred thousand pounds worth of damage.
Following the fire, the terminal needed a solution that was ATEX approved and industrial Internet of Things compliant to ensure the investment was future proof and expandable.
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The Port Authority began working with 4B’s in-house installation team, who delivered a full turnkey solution, training and ongoing support.
4B IoT solution Hazardmon.com was used as the framework of this project. The company’s proprietary HOTBUS communication platform was selected as a means of connecting all the sensors together and aggregating the data.
The sensors are continuously monitored, and the resulting data is analysed in the cloud enabling predictive analysis and smart reporting.
Management and operators quickly embraced the system benefits with information being readily available via web- enabled devices both on and off-site.
This solution was selected to be flexible, scalable and robust.
Since installing the system, it has prevented at least three explosive risk incidents. It has also reduced the number of belt misalignment conditions by a factor of 20 and improved operational safety by alerting staff of hazards immediately so that action can be taken.