Condition monitoring for automotive parts suppliers

The biggest and most important engine factory for a large German car manufacturer in Austria.

In hardly any other industry is reliability as important as the automotive industry. Whole vehicles or even individual components such as the engines, go through production lines with a very high degree of automation. If production stops here, it quickly leads to expensive losses. Therefore, it is important for vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to be able to rely on fail-safe components. An Austrian engine manufacturer therefore relies on "smart plastics" from igus. Sensors measure wear during operation and notify the user early enough to plan a repair or an exchange.

Profile

What was needed: Plastic energy chain, abrasion monitoring isense EC. W, and breakage detection isense EC.B
Requirements: High output of the plant requires particularly reliable energy supply under continuous load
Industry: Automotive industry
Success for the customer: Intelligent "smart plastics" solution, i.e. data on the condition of the components can be obtained continuously before a system failure can occur.

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Problem

Site: engine plant in Austria. Application: indoor linear robot for the automated handling of engine blocks. At the engine plant in Austria, the largest and most important engine plant of a major German car manufacturer, an engine comes off the assembly lines every 14 seconds on average - at peak times more than 6,000 engines are produced each working day. This extremely high output can only be achieved with a high degree of automation and with extremely reliable components. The goal of the operators is to always avoid failures and system downtimes if possible. These high standards were therefore also set for the energy supply system of the indoor gantry. In fact, this later has to work continuously in 18 to 19 shifts per week with high dynamics. Future energy supplies can quickly reach cycles in the millions.

Solution

In order to minimise weight and noise compared to steel chains used to guide the moving cables on the linear robots, the manufacturer relies on plastic energy chains from igus. But these are not their only advantages: due to the increasingly important topic of 'predictive maintenance' in the industry, igus® has been developing the so-called 'smart plastics', intelligent plastic products, for some years now. "This product family, which we have grouped together under the brand name isense, comprises various sensors and monitoring modules with which, for example, the energy chain systems from igus® can be equipped," explains Michael Blaß, Vice President e-chain systems® at igus®. "Thanks to the digital networking of machines and products, it is possible to continuously record the condition of the components and to notify as soon as a repair or replacement is required. "That way it is possible to avoid unplanned plant downtimes and expensive production losses.

With the help of a polymer wire (inside the energy chain) and a sensor unit, isense EC.B modules monitor the condition of the chain. In the event of a chain breakage, the machine is stopped automatically to prevent damage.

isense EC.W modules have also been built in. A sensor built into the crossbar signals advanced wear of the chain. The measurement of wear data means that a chain's remaining service life can be predicted and replacement can be planned at an early stage.

Application examples with smart plastics

smart examples with e-chain®, chainflex® cables and bearings.

Industry: Automotive

Intelligent Breakage Monitoring in 22 Ton Driving Simulator

Which smart plastics technology is used?
P4.1 roller chain, i.Sense EC.B, chainflex cables

Why is it used?
Increase in plant safety and availability; complete project implementation from a single source; smart early warning system.

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Industry: Crane

Longest travel with smart roller chain system

Which smart plastics technology is used?
i.Sense EC.P for permanent monitoring of the system

Why is it used?
The system includes intelligent sensors for monitoring the pull/push forces, which can be used for an emergency shutdown in the event of increased forces.

Industry: Crane

Smart shipyard cranes in successful use for years

Which smart plastics technology is used?
Roller energy chains with the iSense EC.P pull/push force detectio.

Why is it used?
To avoid system damage and failures through preventive maintenance or remote intervention.

Industry: Crane

Complete smart plastics package on RMG crane

Which smart plastics technology is used?
EC.P for push/pull forces, EC.B for chain breaks, CF.P for measuring tensile force on cables, EC.M for movement data and EC.W for measuring abrasion and a predictive maintenance system.

Why is it used?
The customer now has full control, overview and safety.

Industry: Automotive

Austrian automotive parts supplier uses smart plastics

Which smart plastics technology is used?
EC.B sensor for breakage monitoring + EC.W for measurement of the abrasion along the e-chain®.

Why is it used?
For the customer, it is important that subsequent damage to the equipment be prevented in the event of chain breakage.

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Industry: Transport

Predictive maintenance in train washing station

Which smart plastics technology is used?
EC.M motion sensor, EC.W abrasion sensor, EC.B breakage sensor, i.Cee:plus to evaluate data, i.Cee:net to transfer to dashboard.

Why is it used?
The built-in components ensure that, if damage occurs, the machine is shut down to provide an optimum maintenance plan.

Bread wrapping machine with smart plastics

Industry: Packaging

"igus® CF.Q condition monitoring can prevent failure of machines with high output"

Which smart plastics technology is used?
E4.1L e-chains® and chainflex® cables pre-assembled as a readychain, CF.Q isense sensors, Module Connect connector.

Why is it used?
The isense sensors with CF.Q module detect core ruptures before they occur and save the user high downtime costs.

Güdel measuring machine with smart plastics

Industry: Robotics

Predictive maintenance planning for linear robot

Which smart plastics technology is used?
EC.M sensor for motion data and EC.W sensor for the measurement of abrasion along the energy chain

Why is it used?
The two sensors transfer the measured values via the i.com module (now i.Cee module) directly to Güdel's condition monitoring system, which evaluates the data and makes maintenance predictable.

Industry: Mining

Smart plastics in aluminum oxide production

Which smart plastics technology is used?
EC. P System as a cleaning or maintenance reminder.

Why is it used?
The heavy dust arising during the movement of bauxite is an enormous stress, especially for moving machine components.

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Industry: Wastewater and sewage treatment plants

Smart sensors in sewage treatment plant pipelines prevent failures before they occur.

Which smart plastics technology is used?
EC. P pull force monitoring system for the energy chain

Why is it used?
The EC. P module is used to shut down the plant in an emergency so that the damage can be rectified or total damage is avoided.

Industry: Agriculture

Smart bearings in agricultural machinery

Which smart plastics technology is used?
i.Sense bushing

Why is it used?
The smart bearings reports the current condition of components and how worn they are.

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Smart e-chain® and cables

Use smart plastics to stay abreast of how your chain is doing.

Our intelligent e-chain® systems are already reliably in use in hundreds of thousands of applications worldwide - from beverage machines and CNC machines to steel mills.

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Smart bearing technology

Don't let a defective plain bearing ruin your day.

Smart plain bearings are great for sensitive or hard-to-reach spots on a machine, since they allow the bearing's condition to be assessed at any time.

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Smart Applications

Customer application examples with smart plastics

Whether a new project for Industry 4.0 or efficiency-driven retrofitting - our smart plastics solutions are available as universal modular systems and can be individually adapted to any system.

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