Capital Equipment News November 2021

The Wi-care 100 ExpertKit is a plug & play monitoring solution that can be installed and set up in just a few minutes.

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In the past few years, there has been a notable spike in online installations in all industries driven by Industry 4.0

The addition of sensors makes machines ‘smart’ and enables them to collect data, store it and transmit it over the internet to analytical software applications

monitor the data.” The sensors built into the machine gather information about its condition in terms of vibration, load, lubrication contamination, temperature, speed and others, and then transmit this information either locally, to the machine, or to the plant. WearCheck’s reliability solutions division measures vibration using IIoT to gather and store data about machine condition, and then analyses the data to identify remedial action. “For example,” says Willer, “bearings can be viewed as the heart of any rotating machinery. Using bearing-embedded sensors, the machine can collect information about its lubricant condition, vibration, load and other data.” IIoT versus IoT In terms of the Internet of Things (IoT), he says almost every product available to the end-user today is equipped with

Sensors can be installed on older equipment without internet connectivity to make it compatible with the software

With WearCheck’s sensor network, data is constantly gathered and analysed and remedial action such as oil changes are performed only when necessary

an IP address. The Google Nest home automation system, for example, enables home cameras to be viewed from mobile phones, or even allows for the car to be started from an app. “When it comes to the Industrial Internet of Things, these same ‘smart’ capabilities are enabled, but for larger equipment or machinery. It usually necessitates

integration into corporate software such as manufacturing resource planning (MRP), product lifecycle management (PLM), or asset management software.” Sensors can be installed on older equipment without internet connectivity to make it compatible with the software. “There are numerous sensors available on the market that can make older assets

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS NOVEMBER 2021 17