Monitoring and analysis of a sorting plant related to maintenance

摘要

The industry 4.0 and digltalization projects are common in the industry. This idea aims to create a standard for connecting a logistic sorter system and additional sensors to a network and for analysing and exploiting the gathered data for the customers. This is not only an investment in competitiveness against competitors, but it will also increase the machine performance and significantly reduce the costs during commissioning and operations. The idea comprises a set of sensors mounted onto a sorter, the hardware needed for transmitting the data into the network, as well as software solutions to analyse the data and provide useful visualizations and notification of the machine conditions. This information shall assist the installation, operation and maintenance of the sorter machines, but also the development of new product generations. The idea of networked machines and processes in the context of Industry 4.0 offers excellent prospects for condition monitoring solutions. Data collection from various systems, devices, sensors and actuators can be archived in real time and with high capacity using modern communication technologies. Converting the unstructured data into knowledge by identifying patterns or correlations helps to detect anomalies and improves the monitoring of the condition of machine components. This leads to more stable and reliable operation overall. Modern sorter systems use a variety of controls that communicate via different interfaces and protocols. In addition to the control data, data from additional sensors can also be transmitted via the same communication path. Furthermore, many existing devices condition associated information that can be extracted. This data provides insight into overall health, early detection of malfunctions, analysis of machine component utilisation and many other future applications. These insights are valuable for many company departments, such as engineering. technical support, maintenance, sales or marketing.