In this episode of the DustSafetyScience Podcast, Casey Shockey, President of Chief Engineering PLLC in Memphis, Tennessee, talks about the ways that 3D scanning can make a positive difference in safety at processing facilities.
3D scanning is a LiDAR technology which issues a small beam and captures millions of points with each rotation. Casey and his team at Chief Engineering use 3D scanning to achieve engineering analyses that are more detailed and precise than other methods.
In this interview, he answers the following questions:
- How does 3D scanning benefit processing facilities?
- How can it be used in facilities handling combustible dust?
- How can facilities prepare for a scan?
How does 3D scanning benefit processing facilities?
“Typically, in any type of manufacturing environment where we’re doing work on the engineering front, we almost always require a scan because it just eliminates all the guesswork,” Casey explained. He added that when his team does a walkthrough of a customer’s facility, they scan everything to capture a real-world representation of their facility or process that’s accurate to within a 1/32nd of an inch.
Although he general scans only the section of the facility necessary to meet project requirements, Casey admitted that he and his team like to help customers realize their future goals.
“If they’re starting to tell us about situations that they have in other areas, maybe I’ll position that scanner a little bit differently to make sure that I’m capturing enough detail over there that when they say they want to pursue something in that area, we have that data already. That little bit of money you spend on the front end to capture that scan data will pay dividends as you move forward with different processes in different areas.”
The scanner used by Chief Engineering collects data over a length of 300 feet. When he is scanning a processing row for a piece of duct work, he is typically also getting other processes as well as the structure of the building itself.
“It just gives you everything in such a real textured fabric that you can use it for really anything you need to do.”
Once all concepts are in, he does a study before moving to the concept stage. Chief Engineering prepares three concepts and shares them in real-time with the customer’s preferred contractors, in order to get budget estimates and magnitudes of cost that will determine project feasibility.
“To that point, we can not only select valid options, we can also set them up in such a way that we can eat the elephant one bite at a time,” he explained. “Maybe if we change this section over here, we can improve the performance while knowing that we’re going to step our way back to the dust collector to basically overhaul the entire system without having to shell out all the money up front to completely redo it.”
How can it be used in facilities handling combustible dust?
Casey said that he often uses 3D scanning to do hazard assessments.
“You can really take a hazard assessment to the next level by literally seeing the equipment, seeing how it’s arranged, pointing out everything that needs to be fixed, and pointing out the things that are right with the system. Because a customer knows generally where their gaps are and they don’t really get praise on what they’re doing right. But this gives you the ability to get that all into one place.”
He has worked with customers who have poor hoods or manifolds or undersized dust collectors. By obtaining a scan with the actual dimensions of the customer’s dust collector, he can calculate what the system is capable of doing and compare the results to performance specs in order to identify gaps in the system.
“On the assessment side, it’s giving you that real data, giving you the ability to show it in a way that makes sense to your customers so you can easily tell them, ‘Hey, this is what we need to fix. And here’s why.’”
3D scanning can be used to validate all of a customer’s protection systems. Even the smallest sensor can be captured and assessed for proper placement, so that the customer can stay on top of compliance requirements.
How can facilities prepare for a scan?
Depending on the hazard rating of the process involved, 3D scanning can be started within minutes. Setup consists of turning on the scanner, getting it positioned correctly, and running. Each scan normally takes four to 15 minutes, depending on the level of detail.
“You really have to understand the environment you’re in,” Casey explained. “Is there dust in the air? Is it raining? Is there steam? Because that’s going to change how you have to set up the scanner to capture the data you want.”
Afterwards, the customer is given access to the data in whatever file type meets their requirements, such as ReCap or Navisworks. They can use it for preventative maintenance, employee training, and other operations that call for detailed facility data.
Which industries can benefit from 3D scanning?
Casey confirmed that 3D scanning can be used across a wide range of industries, from metalworking and pharmaceuticals to woodworking and food processing.
He recalled one food industry customer whose dumping process created a huge dust cloud that blocked out the light. Using 3D scanning, he was able to look at the process, understand the containment requirements versus what was available for air flow, and design a custom pneumatic hood that would provide adequate dust collection with the available performance without having to change fan speed or redesign the duct.
“With our scan data, it took us four hours. We literally bored six holes, tapped them, hung our hood and let it run.”
Conclusion
In Casey’s opinion, one of the biggest benefits of 3D scanning is the way that it puts consultants and clients on the same page.
“Our customers are always involved with our designs. They’re always involved with approving the approaches we’re taking. Having insight on how maintenance is going to actually maintain what we design. That collaborative capability that a scan allows you to do on the engineering side, to me, it’s almost more important than the scan data itself.”
If you would like to discuss further, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach Casey Shockey directly:
Website: https://www.chiefengineering.us/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casey-shockey-8b8aba25/
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 901-574-3403
If you have questions about the contents of this or any other podcast episode, you can go to our ‘Questions from the Community’ page and submit a text message or video recording. We will then bring someone on to answer these questions in a future episode.
Resources Mentioned
Dust Safety Science
Combustible Dust Incident Database
Dust Safety Science Podcast
Questions from the Community
Dust Safety Academy
Companies
Chief Engineering PLLC
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DSS094: Use of 3D Scanning in Processing Facilities with Casey Shockey
