IoT in Manufacturing

Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) & Monitoring Software

1 INTRODUCTION:-
Abnormal operations induced by gear or bearing failures should be detected as early as possible to avoid
serious and even fatal accidents. A variety of methods have been applied for the diagnosis of rotating
machinery based on vibration and acoustic signals, thermal features, oil debris, etc. Among these the
vibration based analysis is one of the most commonly used technique. According to the characteristics of the
data, it is feasible to detect abnormalities in vibration signals and make decisions about the health conditions
of gear or bearing by employing appropriate data analysis algorithms. Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques,
which can effectively analyze massive amounts of fault data and automatically provide accurate diagnosis
results, have been widely applied to fault diagnosis of rotating machinery. Conventional AI methods are
applied using features selected by a human operator, which are manually extracted based on diagnostic
techniques and field expertise.

Most modern CNC machines come equipped with SELF DIAGNOSTIC features to do a health check of the
machine, when switched ON. They are capable of providing required warnings and provide detailed status
about the health of the machine/equipment. These machines generally provide a wired or wireless
communication to a computer which is running a custom software. The communication between the
machine and the computer is generally highly customized or proprietary in nature. We will refer them as
TYPE-A machines.

But, most CNC/Lathe machines found in the field are not having the SELF DIAGNOSTIC feature. This
feature needs to be built / incorporated by fitting additional sensors to monitor the health of the machine. We
will refer them as TYPE-B machines. The gear-box assembly is the heart of the CNC machine, and hence
monitoring the performance of this would mean checking the performance of the machine itself. A minimum
set-up for a gear-box assembly diagnostics would be...
1. Two - Accelerometer (Fitted one each on the input side and the output side of gear-box to measure
vibrations)
2. One - Tachometer (on the output shaft to measure the output speed)
The digital outputs of these need to be connected to a SOC/uC/uP based board with DSP capability. The
vibrations caused in the machine when performing the machining job is used as a gauge to check the
behavioral state of the machine. The tachometer is used to measure the shaft speed of the machine. We will
use an LED and a photo diode combination to generate the pulses based on the revolutions. The
accelerometers are used to check the vibration level of the gear-box assembly. Two opposite sides are used
to remove any anomalies between the sensors, as well as to even out variations caused due to the job/work.
The accelerometers produce voltage proportional to the vibration level. The voltage level at a given speed is
compared vis-a-vis the vibrations of the reference/expected data, already stored in the system to conclude if
the system is abnormal at any given time.

These boards can be interfaced to 4-Segment LED display for displaying the status of the machine along
with a speaker for audio alarm. The uC/uP/SOC board can be connected to the to a computer using wired or
wireless communication with a proprietary protocol. A custom software will collect the data from the GB
module and connect to the internet/cloud for remote access. This would then behave similar to the TYPE-A
machines.

We shall consider TYPE-B machines in the following discussions as we want to learn IoT design....
2 SPECIFICATIONS OF THE SYSTEM:-

Development of Condition Based Maintenance System and monitoring Software for Gear-Box
assemblies found in machines system shall contain two separate modules (Gear-box module near
the machine and an Aggregator module near a centralized host computer) which are inter-
connected using wireless modules as shown below...

Cloud
Host Aggregator
Ethernet Computer USB Wireless
Module

Gear Box Gear Box Gear Box Gear Box

Wireless Wireless Wireless Wireless
Module-1 Module-2 Module-3 Module-N

Monitoring Software Application running on Computer shall provide ...

Sl no. Type Description
1. Module Status of all connected Indicate the status of each Gear-Box with...
Gear-Box modules  Module ID
 Module description
 Status code (OK/Error)
 Status description
2. Gear-Box module selection Provide options module-wise to...
 Add a GB module to network
 Remove a GB module from network
 Add a GB module to monitor
 Remove a GB module from monitoring
3. Web based status indication Provide option to remotely monitor Gear-box status with
their ID and Fault Codes along with their description

Aggregator Hardware Module connected to Computer shall contain...

Sl no. Type Description
1. Wireless Module  Wireless TxRx (2.4 GHz), ZigBee module with
built-in antenna
 Connected to the computer through USB
 Wireless range 10m in walls obstructed
environment
2. Module power input 5.0V ±10%, 1A supplied from USB
3. Module Dimensions 50 X 30 X 20 mm Max.
3 COMPLETE DEPLOYMENT DIAGRAM:-

Host Host Host

Computer Computer Computer
1 2 3
Ethernet

Ethernet

Ethernet
World Wide Web

Ethernet

Ethernet
Remote Remote
Computer Computer
N N+1

Fig1 – Field Deployment Diagram

Tachometer

Accelerometer-2
32T
Bearing

Bearing
Input shaft or Input shaft
16T

96T
Bearing

48T
Bearing

or Idler shaft or
48T 24T
Accelerometer-1

80T
Bearing

Bearing

Output shaft or O/P shaft

40T

Fig2 – Gear Box Sensors Deployment Diagram

4 REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF EACH END DEVICE:-

Gear-Box Module hardware shall contain...

Sl no. Type Description
1. Inputs type Two – Vibration sensors
(Connected to main module with 1m shielded Cable SPI signal)
One – Tachometer
(Connected to main module with 1m shielded Cable carrying pulses)
2. Status Indicator 4-Digit LED display (7-Segments)
3. Fault Status alarm Audio Alarm continuous beeps (1Sec-ON and 1Sec-OFF)
4. Module to Computer  Wireless connection (2.4 GHz), ZigBee,
connectivity  Wireless range 10m in walls obstructed
environment
 Proprietary protocol for status indications
5. Module power 3.3V ±10%, 1A supplied from AC-DC converter
6. Module Dimensions 100 X 100 X 30 mm Max.
7. Operating Temperature Range -10°C to +60°C
8. Input Power AC Mains - 110V/220V ± 20% Volts, 60/50Hz, 2A Max.

Gear-Box Module software shall contain...

Sl no. Type Description
1. Vibration monitoring Use SPI signals from the accelerometer, & compute the
RMS vibration level at any given time at both input and
out side
2. Shaft speed monitoring Count the pulses from the tachometer, & compute the
RPM of the shaft at any given time
3. Status determination Compare the vibrations vis-s-vis speed w.r.t. the stored
optimum levels and determine status
4. Status indication Indicate the status on the LED
 When normal as GOOD,
 When fault as E-01 to E-99 (Error with Code)
When fault Audio Alarm (1Sec-ON- 1-Sec-OFF)
Wireless status every 1Sec (Module ID and Status)
5 END DEVICES CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER AND HOW DO THEY CONNECT TO THE
INTERNET:-
Gear-box module are installed on each machine which needs to be monitored. An Aggregator
module connected to the USB port of a centralized host computer. These are inter-connected
using wireless modules. The host computer then connects to the world wide web and hence the
cloud system, as shown below...

Cloud

Host Aggregator
Ethernet Computer USB Wireless
Module

Gear Box Gear Box Gear Box Gear Box

Wireless Wireless Wireless Wireless
Module-1 Module-2 Module-3 Module-N

Fig3 – GB Module and Aggregator Diagram

6 VARIOUS REQUIREMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS:-

The gear-box module has a wireless communication with the aggregator module connected to the host
computer, which is running a custom software. The wireless communication is using a proprietary protocol.
The GB module sends the module ID and the status code. This status code shall contain the hexadecimal
number which is encoded. The encoded number shall indicate the status GOOD or Fault status with the fault
code from 1-99, which corresponds to the various types of failures expected in the gear-box assembly.

DSP Wireless Wireless Host

USB Computer Ethernet
Micro-Controller USB Module Module

Wireless communication between Gear-Box Module & Aggregator Module...

Sl no. Type Description
1. Module shall Transmit  Module ID
 Status (OK / Error with code range of 0 to 99)
The communication between the sensors and the display devices is detailed in the diagram below..

Accelerometer-1 SPI SPI LED (4nos)

Accelerometer-2 SPI PWM Speaker

DSP
Micro-Controller
Tachometer Timer
Wireless
USB Module
CLOCK

Fig4 – GB Module inter connection Diagram

7 END DEVICES POWER:-

The modules are powered as shown below...

LED
(4nos)

DSP Host
Acc-1 Micro Wireless Wireless USB Computer
USB Module
Controller Module
Acc-2

Fig5 – GB Module and Aggregator Power Diagram

8 DATA TO BE CONVERTED TO KNOWLEDGE:-
Generally, a simple RMS value of the vibrations at any given moment is compared with the expected
vibration data (which the system has stored during the LEARNING process of the machine's initial trials). Any
deviation is sounded as an alert on the health of the machine.

More complex algorithms can also be built using PRE-LEARNT DATABASE to find other details like...
1. Exact nature / type of the fault
2. Time to failure, etc.
The database must contain data which indicate the expected vibration behavior for each type of fault which
can be encountered by the machine. The DSP analyzer then compares this database with the actual
vibration reading to conclude the type of fault in the machine. This encoded status is sent to the host
computer's aggregator module.

The host computer collects the status of all the gear-box assemblies connected via wireless network. Along
with the time stamp, the data is stored in the CLOUD for access to all the systems on the internet.

The application SW displays the status of all the machines. The application SW uses this stored data to
build a history for each machine with details like...
1. When the fault first appeared
2. When the fault was rectified
3. When the machine stopped working
4. When the machine resumed operation
5. How long the machine ran without fault
6. How long the machine was under breakdown, etc.

9 RESTRICTIONS AND CHALLENGES IN BUILDING AND OPERATING THIS SYSTEM :-

Most of the shop floors are heavily cramped for space and require lot of effort to lay additional cables. Hence
use of wired communication between the gear-box assembly and a host computer is ruled out. This drives us
to use wireless communication between the GB module and Aggregator module. But lot of mechanical and
electrical noise caused during the machining interfere with the communication systems. Hence robust
wireless protocol needs to be used, with the highest RF power levels.

The GB module must contain all the fault conditions data for all the speed levels. This database must be
stored in the DSP controller. So there must be a judicious mix of types of faults, database size, memory on
the DSP uC. This needs to be thoroughly analyzed before deciding the memory size of the DSP uC.

There is no need of any Operating System on the GB module as a single serial task is carried out. Viz.,
1. Measurement of vibration using Accelerometer 1
2. Measurement of vibration using Accelerometer 2
3. Measurement of speed using Tachometer
4. Checking the expected vibration level w.r.t. speed
5. Getting the status code from reference table
6. Indicating the status on the LED
7. Sounding Alarm (if any)
8. Sending the Unit ID and the Status code to the Aggregator module via wireless module
10 DESIGN STEPS/PROCEDURES THAT YOU THINK WILL BE NEEDED TO BUILD THIS
SYSTEM:-
As shown in Fig4 – GB Module inter connection Diagram, the GB module requires sensors, LED display
module, Speaker, Wireless module to be developed. The details are...
1. The accelerometer boards need to be fixed on the gear-box and hence need to be developed as
independent boards. These are also available as read-made modules.
2. The Tachometer can be a simple LED which is beaming light on the shaft. This light can be made to
fall on the shaft's reflective surface. The reflected light can be made to fall on a photo diode which is
connected to a OPAMP comparator. The comparator output can be connected to the DSP.
3. The 4-segment LED module can be built using components or use the read-made modules can be
procured to speed-up development
4. It is preferred to use the off-the-shelf 802.15.4 modules readily available in the market for wireless
communication on both sides of wireless communication. (i.e. at GB module and Aggregator module)
due the stringent requirement on Statutory approvals for wireless modules.
5. The reference data for various types of faults on the gear-box has to be built for each machine. This
requires lot of field trials with the simulation of as many types of faults as possible. More the data in
the table, more is the intelligence of the system.

11 COMPARE THE DESIGN REQUIREMENTS OF THE VARIOUS APPLICATIONS :-

This needs to be filled after design of all the four modules
QUESTIONS:-
(a) Give the detailed specifications of the system.
(b) Draw a complete deployment diagram – showing where the end devices are to be placed, how
are they are mounted/placed.
(c) What are the requirements and specifications of each end device?
(d) Are the end devices connected to each other? How do they connect to the internet?
(e) What are the various requirements of the communication systems?
(f) How will these end devices be powered?
(g) How and where will the data be converted to knowledge?
(h) What are the restrictions and challenges in building and operating this system?
(i) What will be design steps/procedures that you think will be needed to build this system?
Compare the design requirements of the various applications.