Digital Retrofit
Digital retrofit is a concept of how old machines and systems can be integrated into modern IT systems. This enables modern condition monitoring and thus predictive maintenance.
Idea[edit]
Industrie 4.0 and IIoT describe future visions of modern production. However, many machines and systems have life-cycles of many decades. The term retrofit or refurbishment has long been established. The digital retrofit describes an extension of the classic retrofit, how old legacy machines can be subsequently networked and digitized. The so-called dual strategy has already been mentioned as part of the German Federal Government's digital strategy and Industrie 4.0 platform [1]: Companies should take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Industrie 4.0 and at the same time to think about new products and services.
Benefits[edit]
There are various aspects under which the digital retrofit can be considered:
• Extension of the life of machinery and equipment
• Improve product quality
• Improvement of production output
• Reduction of production costs
• Reduction of downtime
• Environmental protection by prolonging machine life
Best practise[edit]
In many cases, the same procedure is frequently used to achieve the improvements:
1. Networking the machine
2. If necessary, retrofit the required sensor system
3. Data collection (collection of sensor data)
4. Data analysis (Analytics)
5. Derive measures and actions
Examples[edit]
As there are many different machines and systems, here are some examples.
A) Companies that produce plastic parts by means of plastic injection molding often have a heterogeneous machine park with machines that are very different in age and come from different manufacturers. In most cases older machines also offer a so-called [www.euromap.org Euromap] [2] interface. The partly very old byte-based protocol can easily be translated to modern IT protocols such as MQTT, REST, OPC-UA or JSON using modern IoT gateways. Through these modern software interfaces, old machines can be seamlessly integrated into modern IT and software systems. The basis for Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance is laid in the sense of the above-described procedure.
B) Many manufacturing companies have a variety of tools, e.g. aluminium die-casting tools, plastic injection molds, punches for punching or sheet metal forming. These tools provide a significant monetary value, which is why they are regularly recorded and checked by inventory. Using RFID, these tools can very easily be automatically identified and tracked. Search times are minimized and the history of the tool can be documented and documented seamlessly. Thus, objects that do not contain electronics and software also have a one-to-one identity and memory.
C) Many machines use electric motors for moving and transporting tools and workpieces. By means of a digital retrofit, the energy consumption of these motors can be easily detected and monitored. On the one hand, this increases the transparency of energy use and energy costs. In addition, the energy data can be used for condition monitoring. For example, when a bearing is worn, the friction is increased and the motor consumes more energy to achieve the given motion sequences.
Hardware[edit]
Frequently, additional hardware is required for the digital retrofit. This is mostly due to the fact that the existing and installed PLC controls should not be changed or allowed. In these cases, so-called IoT gateways are often retrofitted: these are often Linux-based embedded computers that allow easy communication with the machine.
- Single board computer (e.g.. Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone Black)
- Siemens IoT 2020[1]
- HARTING MICA[2]
References[edit]
https://www.bmbf.de/files/Umsetzungsempfehlungen_Industrie4_0.pdf
External Links[edit]
- ↑ "Industrial IoT - PC-based Automation - Siemens" (in German). Retrieved 2017-08-25.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ "MICA Computing System - HARTING MICA Computing System" (in German). Retrieved 2017-08-22.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
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