SENSING
PROFIT
AND PREDICTION
By the time any mechanical
system indicates a need for
maintenance or adjustment
it is often already too late.
For this reason, predictive
or preventive maintenance that allows
mechanical engineers to react more
fl exibly and more economically is
assuming ever-greater importance.
A new, intelligent system from chain
vendor iwis antriebssysteme prevents
production downtimes resulting from
unscheduled maintenance and repairs: It
permanently monitors chain elongation
and provides a timely warning so that
appropriate action can be taken.
If chains stretch and wear as a result of
temperature and load or if chains running
in parallel have diff erent lengths, even a
deviation of one percent from the
nominal chain pitch can lead to problems
in a machine. To take an example from
chocolate production, which places very
high demands on chains and chain
systems, this could cause the position of
the chocolate moulds to change.
This is because where chocolate bars,
chocolates or biscuits are being made on a
production line, the drive chains used are
always subject to very strict length
tolerances and tolerances across pairs of
chains. The mould conveyor chains have
to permanently run in parallel – exact
positioning is an absolute must. Systems
and machine components must therefore
be monitored and checked regularly.
This is exactly where the smart solution
from the international, Munich-based
chain manufacturer comes in: With the
32 » JUNE 2020 » WWW.MADEIN.IE
Predictive maintenance is a key issue in the context of Industry 4.0
when it comes to getting the most out of machines and systems.
Here, we look at some of the latest developments.
chain elongation monitoring system
CCM-S (Chain Condition Monitoring –
Smart), users can permanently monitor
the elongation of chain drives on the basis
of sensors without having to compromise
production by interruptions.
The patented system measures the
elongation of chains during live operation.
It enables companies to take early
measures by providing maintenance staff
with timely information as to when
certain measures need to be taken and
whether a chain needs to be re-tensioned
or replaced. The system’s intelligent data
analysis enables service staff to plan
service activities and personnel
requirements in advance.
Being able to predict and plan
maintenance is the goal pursued by igus
with its smart plastics solutions. Intelligent
sensors, for example, measure the wear of
energy chains, chainfl ex cables, slewing
rings and linear guides. With the new icom.
plus communication module, the customer
can now decide in which form they would
like to incorporate the acquired data from
the sensors. From an offl ine version for
restricted security environments up to a
data connection to the igus server for
automatic spare parts ordering, the user is
free to integrate and access their data.
Under the name isense, igus off ers a
wide range of sensors that detect the
condition of igus components, such as
cables or energy chains. They measure
wear and tear during operation, among
other things, and alert the used as soon as
a repair or exchange is required. By
networking with the icom communication
module, the data is transmitted to an
intelligent system.
This module can be connected to all
igus sensors. For example, with sensors
for the measurement of abrasion, or the
wear measurement of the pin-bore
connection of the energy chain, as well as
sensors for the detection of break and
push-pull forces and for cable monitoring.
Once the measured values from a sensor
have been transferred to the icom
module, they have to be “interpreted”, i.e.
understood so that an action command
can be generated. So far, this has been
possible via connection to the igus cloud.
However, due to the increasing
importance of IT security, many
companies are increasingly relying on the
development of their own SCADA
systems, which is why igus has now
advanced its data collector into icom.plus.
With the new module, the customer can
integrate the data in the way that best
suits their systems.
The icom.plus is programmed via igus
online confi gurators with initial service
life algorithms. The special feature is that
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