PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
PoE devices can have a
positive e ect on ongoing
preventive maintenance
programmes. “By removing the
need for electrical cables and access to
power points, it is very easy for industrial
operators to add new sensors as their
needs change, whether this is adding a
new production line or adding more data
points to a critical piece of equipment.”
As with any industrial equipment,
operators must ensure safety when
connecting to existing infrastructure, so
PoE devices that adhere to IEEE 802.3af
are required. This adds a ‘handshake’
protocol to PoE devices and establishes
how much power the connected
device requires. If this handshake isn’t
completed, the device never receives any
power. Following this standard makes
PoE technology safe to integrate with all
equipment, even those that receive power
MICRO-EPSILON EXTENDS RANGE OF
NON-CONTACT LASER DISTANCE SENSORS
Precision sensor supplier Micro-Epsilon has extended its optoNCDT ILR2250-
100 range of non-contact laser distance sensors to include a version with
IO-Link (IEC61131-9) for connecting digital sensors and actuators to industrial
eldbus or ethernet networks. “The new optoNCDT ILR2250-100-IO laser
distance sensor enables simple integration and commissioning
in industrial automation environments,
as well as faster sensor replacement with
automated re-parameterisation during
operation,” says the company.
through a traditional outlet,
protecting equipment, assets
and people.”
As Graham concludes, the
right way to create a preventive
maintenance strategy will vary from
enterprise to enterprise. “IO-Link is a
solid foundation for the strategy, while
the exibility of PoE devices means
manufacturers can remain agile as the
needs of their customers change.”
FINANCIAL PAYBACK
Craig Lentzkow, IIoT business
development manager (pictured, p54)
at Hilscher, a manufacturer and service
provider for communication solutions
and automation, points to the nancial
bene ts of predictive maintenance
monitoring as potentially dramatic. “If
failing equipment can be repaired or
replaced in a timely manner, expensive
downtime or even catastrophic failure can
be avoided,” he states. “There is a huge
base of installed machines in the world,
typically referred to as ‘brown eld’. This
represents a tremendous opportunity for
a predictive maintenance solution that can
be ‘bolted on’ to existing equipment to
provide condition-based monitoring.”
Internet and cloud technologies
have opened up fresh markets. By sidestepping
proprietary solutions and
working ‘open source’ in the IIoT/Industry
4.0 space, a new dimension in monitoring
and asset management has become
viable. According to Fluke Reliability’s US
supplier Accelix, paybacks from predictive
maintenance include:
• 10 times return on Investment
• 25-30% reduction in maintenance
costs
• 70-75% elimination of breakdowns
• 35-45% reduction in downtime
• 20-25% increase in production.
These bene ts accrue in a variety of ways.
For example, a machine builder can retro t
machines in the eld with sensors and a
sensor ‘edge device’. “The sensors may
be accelerometers to monitor vibration
or thermocouples to monitor machine
temperature,” Lentzkow says. “This
data has value – a change in vibration or
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