Get a Countdown to Downtime With Drive-Based Predictive Maintenance

June 27, 2019

Do you have a countdown for when your critical assets are expected to fail? What could you do with one?

What if, rather than scrambling to resolve asset failures when they happen out of the blue, you could see them coming and make plans to address them? You would probably herald in greater peace of mind, with less agonizing over surprise failures and the unplanned downtime that comes with them. You would also most likely realize financial savings by reducing your spending on maintenance and replacement parts.

Now, a “countdown to failure” capability for your production assets isn’t just wishful thinking. It’s something you can deploy using new AC drives that have advanced, built-in predictive maintenance.

Agnostic + Adaptive = Accurate

Predictive maintenance can offer different levels of accuracy.

For example, some products are configured to make certain assumptions, like the operating conditions in which they’ll be used. However, if a product is configured for the hottest possible conditions but used in a cooled facility, then it will likely alert users of servicing or replacement needs sooner than they’re actually required. And while that’s a better maintenance approach than waiting for assets to fail, it doesn’t allow you to get the most performance or value from your capital investments.

New AC drives with predictive maintenance are configured with agnostic algorithms. This means the drive will make no assumptions about the application or operating conditions in which you deploy it.

Instead, the drive spends its first 30 days of operation learning its applications stresses. It uses built-in sensors to monitor stressors like temperature, voltage, current and speed. It then uses models to convert those stressors into rate-of-life consumption data for critical components like fans and capacitors.

After 30 days, the drive will have an established understanding of your application based on actual – not assumed – stressor parameters. Even after that, the product will continue relearning and updating its use-case model at least once per hour.

The AC drives with advanced predictive maintenance are also adaptive. So, if a new shift is added to production or if a drive is swapped from one machine to another, the drive will relearn how it’s being used and adapt its predictions for when its components will reach their end of life.

These agnostic and adaptive learning capabilities can help you understand the true remaining life of the drive’s critical components. This allows you to run them to their full potential and only replace them or their critical components when necessary.

Better Insights to Optimize Maintenance

AC drives with advanced predictive maintenance can help you make smarter, more precise maintenance decisions.

Operators and technicians can track end-of-life data down to the hour for each critical component to better plan maintenance activities. And they can be notified by an alarm when critical components reach a certain percentage of their predicted remaining operating life. Then, they can create a maintenance plan for the exact day or shift when they will replace the component.

The drives can also help you learn from and optimize their performance across your operations.

For example, you may notice that AC drives running in an air-conditioned facility have a longer rate of life than those in an uncooled facility. Specifically, the bearings in the drive’s heat-sink fan may be wearing out faster in the hotter facility. You may then determine that extending the life of the drive and reducing your maintenance makes enough financial and operational sense to add air conditioning in facilities that lack it.

Built-in Predictive Maintenance

One of the most appealing aspects of AC drives with predictive maintenance is they offer the capability as an inherent product feature. They require no add-on or extra charge to access the predictive insights.

Remaining life component data can be read directly on the drive. You do have the option, however, of scaling up the data into your plantwide visualization software or to the cloud. This allows you to build a predictive-maintenance strategy that corresponds with the size and needs of your operations.

For more information, visit HERE.

Put to the Ultimate Test – Part 1: Torsion Tests by HELUKABEL

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Cables and wires in industrial robots and other moving machine parts are often required to withstand extreme stresses caused by torsion. Constant repetitive movements put materials under considerable strain. At the same time, operators expect components to function perfectly and reliably throughout their entire service life to avoid disruptions, outages and safety hazards.

For this reason, at HELUKABEL, we simulate intensive and continuous torsion stresses under realistic conditions with our high-tech testing equipment in Windsbach. We have several types of apparatus for doing this because some of our customers, for example those in the automotive industry, have very precise specifications for how a torsion test is carried out. The tests show that our cables and wires withstand speeds up to 1,000°/s, accelerations up to 2,000°/s² and torsion angles up to 720°. Hence, we make sure that each product always meets our customers’ high standards, and that they receive the impeccable quality they rightly expect from us as a leading supplier of cables, wires and accessories for more than 40 years.

What Is Torsion?

To learn the answer, click here

30 Minute Live Webinar 2:30 PM ET January 19th, 2023

With PC-based automation, you can implement applications and solutions that far exceed the functions of a classic controller. SIMATIC PC-based products offer you a flexible, innovative platform with long-term availability that give you a home field advantage when meeting the challenges of the digital factory for your machines and plants.

Festo Didactic at the Forefront of Developing Canada’s Future Work Force

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With Canadian manufacturing suffering from a growing labour shortage, the participation of industry in skills development is emerging as a vital component in hiring and retention.

The needs are stark: The Canadian Exporters and Manufacturers Association says almost 40% of its members have jobs they can’t fill. Five years from now, 60% expect to be short-staffed, especially when it comes to skilled trades. Statistics Canada forecasts the country’s labour force growth rate will remain below 0.2% for the rest of the decade, below replacement levels.

This growing shortage is affecting companies of all sizes. Already, some manufacturers acknowledge losing out on contracts because they can’t find the manpower to fulfill them.

In reality, the challenge is two-fold: to replenish and expand the workforce to help close the gap between the number of job seekers and vacancies through 2030 when the last baby boomers reach age 65, and ensure workers get opportunities throughout their careers to upgrade or add to their skillset as current technologies evolve and new ones emerge. Festo, through Festo Didactic, one of the world leading provider of equipment and solutions for technical education, intends to help Canada meet this challenge on both fronts. In essence, the approach Festo has always taken is that the learning never stops.

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