Throughout the history of mankind, technology has always played a great role in facilitating our lives and simplifying critical challenges for progress in every field, particularly in the area of Asset Management where we are seeing many companies investing in a good Asset Health Monitoring Solution. For good reason too! As the years have progressed and as technology has evolved, we have become more and more dependent on it every day. However, it is important to note that every era of technology has been shapeshifted by some type or revolution.
With Industry 4.0 in effect, the stage is now set for micro to macro level innovations and ideas. Vast opportunities for innovations are in front of us – it is just a matter of efficiently combining the available resources and technology to achieve uniqueness.
The journey of industrial revolution started from transformation of natural energy resources like coal to efficient consumption with the help of technology, which resulted in the invention of the steam engine. Then came electricity, gas, and oil with advancements in communication systems like telegraph and telephone till the end of the 20th century.
In the second half of the 20th century, a boost in the course of computers, electronics i.e. Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and telecommunications was seen. Robots helped give rise to an era of high-level automation with parallel advancements in the fields like space, research, and biotechnology.
Now, let us consider 4.0 technologies. AI, IOT, Robotics, virtual reality and digital twin can be seen to add an immense rise in the industry.
The combination of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to dramatically accelerate the benefits of digital transformation and data exchange for consumer, enterprise, industrial, and government market segments.
BPD Zenith had the opportunity to work on developing a Proof of Concept (POC) for an Asset Health Monitoring system. The concept was to integrate real time data acquisition with centralized data analytics and processing to achieve a system which can deliver asset health monitoring. Each asset talks to the centralized system with no human interference making the POC an IOT capable system.
This can be achieved by developing application specific sensors, acting as real time data acquisition parts. These sensors must be capable of long-range communication with the centralized Asset Health Monitoring system. BPD’s LoveYourAsset (LYA) with MaxiCloud integration acted as the Centralized Asset Health Monitoring system while application specific sensors were developed to enhance the system capabilities for device-to-device communication.
Our sensor packs have been created to monitor Asset health by identifying and reporting all variances in elements such as temperature, humidity, and light in the operating vicinity. First, this data is communicated from the sensor to an MQTT server which is linked with node red application for data filtering and mapping with the MaxiCloud integration application. Then, this data is analyzed by MaxiCloud with provided upper and lower level boundaries with the help of data analytics and calculations.
At the user end, device health can be visualized with different asset meters and notifications. If the asset health is critical or a peculiar change had been identified, it can be communicated to the client by the help of LYA dashboards. Additionally, GSM mobile notification can be setup to update the user immediately. The location of the asset can be pinpointed by visualizing the dashboards and multiple assets can be monitored simultaneously.
~ LYA Dashboard ~
~ LYA Dashboard ~
A high-level system overview can be seen below:
~ LoveYourAsset solution ~
Below, is a photo of the BPD developed sensor. We designed the sensor top to be translucent to allow for the sensors to perform properly and at the same time, enable the user to monitor the performance and operational indicators.
~ Sensor~
The sensor can be easily setup by connecting to a Wi-Fi network and logging into the LYA dashboard. Now you have everything you need to monitor your asset health by analyzing meter readings and different graphs!
Let’s look into a simple industrial example of vehicle assembly plant.
There are multiple stages for a vehicle to be assembled and each stage is dependent on the previous one. Some stages involve robots and machinery while others involve different tools and equipment.
At the back-end there is a component inventory with all the screws and nuts etc. required for assembly.
During the whole assembly process, if one stage fails to deliver, the dependent stages will halt and the entire assembly plant will be out of production for some time which, cause huge amounts of losses to the assembly plant.
Now, consider the same scenario with asset health monitoring sensors installed for different machinery, tools and inventory. The chances of failure can be dramatically reduced.
Our system is unique and effective due to a monitoring rate of every second or a couple of seconds, enabling real time asset health monitoring for a respective asset.
If you’d like to learn more about our LoveYourAsset solution or have any questions regarding the contents of this blog, please contact us.