Monitoring of a roller chain at a demo setup
At present, ifm does not have an appropriate application that necessitates the use of a chain sensor. To show the full functional capabilities of the chain sensor in interaction with moneo RTM, an appropriate demo setup featuring a chain drive was installed and connected to the live moneo system.
Goal of the project
Continuous monitoring of the condition of a roller chain
The demo setup is intended to show which characteristic values are decisive for chain monitoring. The process data is to be visualised and thresholds monitored accordingly. The increasing level of wear over the actual running time is to be shown in analyses.
Implementation
The chain sensor (CCM-S-10B IWIS) was mounted on the roller chain according to the manufacturer's specifications and then connected electrically to the IO-Link master. At ifm, moneo RTM is already centrally installed on a server, while the IO-Link masters are connected to the server via an encapsulated VLAN.
After installation of the IODD of the chain sensor, the sensor could be put into operation within moneo.
In addition to the process values, the chain sensor also provides monitoring-relevant parameter values. These parameter values can be read out manually via moneo configure. The intelligent and universal data interface LR Agent is used for the automated readout of the parameter values. The LR Agent continuously reads out the parameter data of the sensor via an http protocol before transforming and transmitting it to moneo RTM.
Success
Use of the chain sensor and moneo RTM offers the following advantages:
- Visualisation of the decisive process variables (elongation, acceleration, temperature)
- Calculation of the actual chain length via ‘calculated values’
- Analysis of data to detect trends
- Monitoring of thresholds with warning and alarm levels
- Permanent monitoring of the chain condition
- Organisation of maintenance
- Prevention of extensive plant and machine downtime
- Avoidance of financial losses due to production downtime
- Extension of the total running time due to optimised maintenance
- Optimisation of roller chain driven applications
System structure
- Chain sensor
- IO-Link master
Dashboard
Get the big picture on the moneo dashboard. The process values of the chain sensor can be visualised via the dashboard. The current condition of the chain can be viewed at a glance in the dashboard.
- Comparison of total elongation and maximum single link length
- Position of the chain link with the maximum elongation
- Running time of the roller chain
- Total length of the chain
- Number of chain links to pass the sensor since the start
- Current speed of the roller chain
- Average acceleration Current temperature of the roller chain
Analysis
The recorded history data can be accessed via the analysis. In this example, the total chain length is compared to the maximum single link length.
- Green = total chain elongation in %
- Blue = maximum single link elongation in %
Settings & rules: Manage thresholds
Static thresholds
Automated warnings and alarms for overshooting and undercutting process values can be defined via the static thresholds. In this case, thresholds are set for the corresponding values.
The time it takes to respond to a warning or an alarm is configured via the response delay.
Ticket processing rules
This function can be used to easily define what should happen after a warning or alarm has been triggered, e.g.:
- Email notification
- SAP integration
Calculated values
Additional process values can be determined using the calculated values.
Total length of the roller chain in mm
The theoretical length of a roller chain is determined from the number of links and the pitch of a link. The actual total length of the roller chain is calculated in millimetres through multiplication with the chain elongation + 100%.
TOTAL ELONGATION = PITCH ∗ LINK ∗ (CHAIN LENGTH + 100)
Elongation of the roller chain in mm
The theoretical length of a roller chain is determined from the number of links and the pitch of a link. The actual elongation of the roller chain is determined in millimetres through multiplication of the chain length.
ELONGATION = PITCH ∗ LINK ∗ CHAIN LENGTH
