CAM-256

Smoke from the machine and oil on the floor

Mid-afternoon in the machine shop. A column of white smoke rises from the right-hand side of the machining center up to the extraction duct. At the base of the smoke there’s a glowing orange spot. On the floor in front of the machine, a dark oil puddle already covers four floor slabs and is still dripping. Two operators in hard hats have stopped to look; one is calling it in. IRIS sees the smoke and the puddle from the first second.

CAM-256 · MACHINING CELL · SMOKE + SPILL

What IRIS understands

What it recognizes in this scene

smoke coming out of the machine
oil puddle on the floor
machining center still running
operator calling it in
operator pointing at the machine
machine extraction duct

What this camera measures

An alert says something’s happening. The reading says how much.

2 min 10 sTime smoke has been visible
4Floor slabs covered by the puddle
2People next to the machine
3Alerts on this machine this week
16:12Time the smoke started

The figures on this screen are an example from the illustration, not any client’s measurement.

The rule

You decide once. IRIS applies it always.

smoke or a liquid patch appears around the machine

Then

alert maintenance with the camera, the machine and the time
save the video of the three minutes before the first wisp
time the alert until the smoke is gone from the shot

The instruction that set it up«Tell me if smoke comes out of a machine or a puddle appears on the shop floor.»

What changes

What changes for whoever answers for the plant

At four in the afternoon the smoke is still just smoke. At three in the morning, same spot and nobody in front of it, it’s a fire starting. A bearing running hot and a dripping hose end up the same way: in a long stoppage or in a fire. What the camera changes isn’t the repair, it’s the minute: the maintenance manager gets the alert while the smoke is still smoke, with the machine identified and the video of the minutes before. And the pool of oil stops being a slip waiting for somebody.

What people usually ask

Does IRIS detect smoke without detectors?

Yes, when the smoke can be seen. The camera recognizes a column that grows and moves where there was nothing before, and raises the alert. What it doesn’t do is measure gases or particles: that’s what a detector is for. With a thermal camera it does read the heat that shows on the outside of the machine. A fault inside a closed unit, with no smoke and no visible heat, can’t be seen from outside by anyone.

Can it tell smoke from steam or dust?

Partly, and it’s worth saying so. A cloud of coolant vapor and a cloud of smoke look very much alike in an image. That’s why the rule is tuned with the shop floor present: it is shown which clouds are normal on that machine and at what time they appear. Anything it can’t tell apart is flagged anyway, and a person looks at it.

Does IRIS stop the machine when it sees smoke?

No. IRIS raises the alert; it doesn’t stop anything and doesn’t send anybody anywhere. The emergency stop and the fire protocol belong to the plant, and a person makes the call. What the camera adds is the exact minute, the specific machine and the video of what came before, so that the person decides with more than a shout across the hall.

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