New Danfoss VLT® Decentral Drive E cient, reliable and powerful

TECHNOLOGY
IN BRIEF
The OPC Foundation and the
MTConnect Institute are cooperating
to develop a set of
standards – called MTConnectOpcUa –
that will ensure interoperability and
consistency between MTConnect
specifications and OPC specifications,
as well as manufacturing equipment,
software and other products that
implement these standards. OPC
Foundation president Tom Burke says
the collaboration will provide the
infrastructure to revolutionise
interoperability for all manufacturing
technologies.
TT Electronics has won a contract to
develop micro-inverter and power
electronics modules for use in inwheel
motors being developed for
hybrid and electric vehicles by UKbased
Protean Electric. The rugged
modules, to be built by TT in Austria,
are designed to withstand water, dirt,
shocks and vibration.
FDT Technology – which allows any
fieldbus, device or sub-system
software tool to be integrated in
lifecycle management tools – looks
likely to be adopted in standards being
issued by the ISA (the International
Society of Instrumentation) and ANSI
(the American National Standards
Institute). Last year, it was approved as
an international standard (IEC 62453).
US–based membrane switch specialist
Pannam Imaging has developed a
patented circular switch technology
that mimics the light actuation
behaviour of capacitive switches, but
can be operated using gloves. The
SimScroll switches are said to be
cheaper than capacitive switches.
The Austrian semiconductor specialist
SensorDynamics has developed a
failsafe inertial measurement system
that detects angular rates and
acceleration in three axes and
transmits the data wirelessly to a
receiver up to 150m away. The system
can be used to detect motion
wirelessly or to avoid connectors and
cabling.
ON Semiconductor has announced a
combined stepper motor driver and
CAN transceiver device which can
control multiple similar motors on one
bus. The space-saving 1Mb/s ANIS-
30523 device offers seven step modes
from full-step to 32 micro-steps and
can provide programmable peak
currents up to 1.6A.
Performance Motion Devices has
produced a motion control chip which
can capture real-time variables such as
encoder position, motor commands
and position errors and store them in
on-board buffers for later retrieval and
analysis. The 58000 series Magellan
Motion chip can monitor up to 64
variables and send the data via RS-
232/485, CANbus or parallel ports.
‘Virtual engineer’
warns when machines
need maintenance
RESEARCHERS AT THE University of
Portsmouth have created a “virtual engineer”
which uses artificial intelligence to predict
when machines need maintenance. The
technology learns how a machine works and
uses this to make accurate predictions about
when it needs maintenance, thus avoiding the
need for regular maintenance shutdowns or
waiting for a machine to fail before calling an
engineer.
Sensors are placed on vulnerable parts of
the machine, such as the bearings. Predictive
software monitors and analyses the signals,
alerting technicians when it detects that a part
is not working properly or needs replacing.
“The machines in many processing plants
and factories are running day and night and
an unscheduled stoppage can cause havoc
and can result in huge costs,” explains Dr
David Brown, head of the University's Institute
of Industrial Research (IIR). “This new
diagnostic system prevents potential
mechanical failure by identifying the faulty or
worn-out part before it causes a problem.
“It's the first time this kind of technology
has been used on this scale in the processing
industry,” he adds. “The traditional approach
to machine maintenance is being blown out
of the water by real-time diagnostics.”
According to Brown, the clever part is that
the system is adaptive. “During the process of
monitoring the machine, the software learns
more about how it works, which parts are
becoming worn, and anything else that could
potentially cause mechanical failure,” he
explains.
This is particularly important for custombuilt
machines. The IIR diagnostic system can
learn the particular behaviour of each
machine.
The diagnostic software can direct an
engineer to a specific fault which might
otherwise take days to identify. “Human
beings are highly intelligent and a good
engineer might sometimes spot if something
is about to break, but this system will help
speed up the time it takes to fix,” says Brown.
He predicts significant costs savings to
industry, because keeping a specialist engineer
on call around-the-clock is expensive. “The
entire process becomes very much easier if the
company knows when to schedule machine
repairs and maintenance in advance,” he
points out.
IIR has been working with Stork Food &
Dairy Systems (SFDS) to test the new system at
some of its plants. SFDS develops and supplies
processing equipment for the dairy, juice, food
Brown: blowing
traditional
maintenance
out of the
water
and pharmaceutical industries. Its customers,
which include milk suppliers, run their
machines around the clock and need their
machines to be mechanically reliable.
“An unplanned stoppage on a production
line can be a total disaster,” explains SFDS’
general manager, Luke Axel-Berg. “It can spell
chaos for a processing plant, especially a dairy
plant where milk is arriving every single day.
The cows don’t stop producing milk because a
machine has broken. Instead the milk must be
sent to an alternative location, putting
unexpected pressure on another plant.
“In the event of a major breakdown lasting
several days, we could even risk losing a
customer,” he adds “How do you put a price
on that?”
Planned downtime, on the other hand, is
less disruptive because users can build supply
and delivery around it and arrange in advance
for other plants to take over production. “It's
an entirely new way of looking at downtime,”
says Axel-Berg.
“Our customers are already calling for a
zero fault levels on their machines,” he
continues. “Until now, it's been impossible to
guarantee that level of customer service, but
this new diagnostic system looks set to
change all that by taking away the risk. It will
benefit any business which relies on machines
to keep its operation turning over – especially
if they want to minimise costs and guarantee
customer satisfaction.”
The IIR is collaborating with Stork as part of
a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), a
government scheme which helps businesses
to improve their competitiveness and
productivity by partnering with academic
institutions.
www.port.ac.uk/research/iir
16 November/December 2010 www.drives.co.uk