Monitoring Machine Health

The cost of downtime can be frighteningly high. In the automotive industry, for example, it is estimated at about $20,000 per minute. Sensing can provide essential information about machine health. Consider vibration monitoring. Every machine displays characteristic resonant frequencies in its vibration spectrum, which can be mapped using an accelerometer. Mechanical issues like stretched conveyor belts or worn bearings introduce new vibration frequencies. Accelerometers can create detailed vibration spectra. As part of a connected network and combined with automated data capture and analytics, they can alert maintenance to the emergence of new resonant frequencies that might indicate a problem.

Similarly, unusual heating detected by temperature sensors can warn of problems like lubrication breakdown in gearboxes or actuators.

A piezoelectric vibration sensor consists of a layer of piezoelectric material placed between a central column and a pair of test masses oriented orthogonally to one another. Vibration causes the masses to oscillate, compressing the piezoelectric ceramic to generate an electrical signal. The orientation of the axes enables the system to resolve forces into their constituent components.

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Truly realizing the promise of the IIoT requires sensors that are compact, robust, easy to deploy, and also cheap. Piezoelectric sensors cost several hundred dollars each. As a result, they’re usually leveraged as test equipment moved around by maintenance from machine to machine. MEMS technology, if it can be made practical, would be a better fit.

This post is an extraction of an article written by MCMA Tech Writer Kristin Lewotsky ‘Industrial Sensors and the IIoT.’ You can access the full article here.