New Advances in Computer Dust Protection
What if your computer failed from dust infiltration? To prevent this, personal computers have long been paired with computer covers.
Manufacturing dust is often made up of tiny particles that come from materials handled on worksites—such as metal, plastic, and wood—which can easily wreak havoc on delicate electronics. These particles land on and inside electronic equipment (e.g., computer CPUs, monitors, printers, keyboards) and can force them to overheat. Once inside, dust will insulate components, bridge connections, and clog cooling fans and vents. It will prevent the normal operation of electronics and manifest as a typical hardware failure/overheating.
Short circuiting issues resulting issues from dust accumulating and bridging connections are not always clearly attributable to dust, either. That’s what makes dust so insidious.
Dust issues that affect the internal components of a CPU will be similar to those of a monitor, where blown capacitors, failed rectifiers or related fuse problems can materialize. For printers, dust affects the precision of the moving parts that are used to produce prints.
Simple dust covers and filters can protect the electronics you’re currently using from dust. The most basic dust covers fit over equipment when not in use to prevent dust from settling inside and onto a computer or other electronics. There are also small-area filters and larger, fully encasing filter-covers you may purchase to trap dust and other contaminants before they get sucked into the fan-vent of your PSU or other equipment.
Manufacturing dust is a fine solid particulate that is generated from a broad variety of industrial activities. It can result from the cutting, grinding, sanding, drilling, and other processing of materials including metals, wood, plastics, and composite. The dust particles can range widely in size, composition, and potential for harm to electronics, which reflects the properties of the feed materials as well as the process that yields them. It can be formed wherever materials are mechanically treated and in many manufacturing settings is an inevitable part of the factory operation.
Harmful dust aerosols can be easily seen where they are produced, especially in the vicinity of welding, cutting and any other materials-handling processes. Metalworking operations cause metallic dusts. When there is wood being worked on, there will be ground wood and sawdust products, as well as solid aerosols containing fine wood particles. Dust clouds from grain-based food-processing are a problem. A wide range of other dry materials are moved in transport and shipping, during which time they are mechanically handled, or otherwise shaken with force, generating even more dust.
Dust can harm all but the most dust-resistant of all electronic components, electronic assembly or subassembly in such conditions.
Dust can severely affect computer CPUs by interfering with their operation and shortening their lifespan. Dust collects in and on the CPU tower case and the heat sinks. The layer of dust insulates the components and keeps them from cooling down. This dust collection blocks airflow and causes the inside of the computer’s temperature to rise, resulting in potential thermal throttling (slowing down the CPU to prevent overheating), and with consistent exposure to high temperatures, can damage the CPU. Problems that might show up due to high operating temperatures are random computer shutdowns and declines in processing.
Display monitors are susceptible to damage caused by dust. Dust can settle on the screens and surfaces of monitors and can be drawn into the inside of the monitor by the cooling fan or by natural convection. Dust can decrease visual clarity and image quality, and cause the monitor’s backlight lamp to fail quickly. An overheated monitor can have intermittent or long-term problems affecting the liquid crystals in the monitor. All these problems can combine to result in spots and streaks on the monitor, an abnormally loud cooling fan, or can cause the monitor to go into hibernate mode.
Printers have multiple mechanical components and many are involved in the printing process. Kinks in the mechanical operation of the printer will decrease the print quality—dust can not infiltrate these mechanisms if the printer is to last.
Keyboards are the primary hands-on device for most users. Dust can cause the keys of the keyboard to stick, affect the internal keyboard circuitry, and make for an overall poor typing experience. It is suggested that the keyboard be cleaned regularly and that a keyboard cover be used.
Dust covers are just what they sound like: covers for your electronics that protect against dust, dirt, and other elements in the surrounding environment. Most dust covers are made of some combination of plastic, vinyl, or other types of fabric and cover the electronics like a glove preventing dust from contacting it. Industry professionals use dust covers everywhere and customize them to fit the exact size of their equipment. To prevent physical wear and tear, overheating and failure of electronic equipment, the simple solution is dust covers.
However, most dust covers may only be used while the equipment is shut down. How do you protect equipment while it is running and generating heat? This is where dust filters come in. Dust filters are made of some sort of mesh or non-woven material to trap particulate matter while allowing the flow of cooling air to the equipment. Two commonly used filters include the small-area filter placed directly over the intake fans, and the fully encompassing filter-cover. In this class, the ShopShield completely encases the equipment (computer, monitor, or printer)in a breathable membrane with clear marine-grade vinyl over displays for 24/7 dust protection.
To conclude, manufacturing dust is particularly harmful to all things electronic. The microscopic particulates find their way into every possible nook and cranny on, around, and inside electronic equipment. They create a suffocating blanket that can short circuit sensitive electronics or cause sensitive electronics to overheat and fail prematurely. Simple dust covers and filters should be used to mitigate that risk.
What if your computer failed from dust infiltration? To prevent this, personal computers have long been paired with computer covers.
Dear Computer User: As a user of electronic equipment you may have arrived here with the hope of resolving a
