Condition monitoring for automotive engine plants

smart plastics avoid failures through continuous condition monitoring

In the automotive industry, reliability is of the utmost importance. Whole vehicles as well as individual components, such as 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. For this reason, an Austrian engine manufacturer relies on smart plastics from igus®. These smart plastic sensors measure wear during operation and notify the user early enough to plan a repair or an exchange.

Profile

What was needed: e-chain ® cable carriers, abrasion monitoring i.Sense EC.W, and breakage detection i.Sense 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 allows data on the condition of the components can be obtained continuously before a system failure can occur.

Learn more about smart plastics

Problem

At the largest and most important engine plant of a major German car manufacturer located in Austria, an engine comes off the assembly lines on average every 14 seconds. At its peak, more than 6,000 engines are produced each working day. This 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 also apply to the energy supply system of the indoor gantry which has to work continuously in 18 to 19 shifts per week with high dynamics. Future energy supplies can quickly reach millions of cycles.

Solution

In order to minimize weight and noise compared to the steel chains used to guide the moving cables on the linear robots, the manufacturer relies on high-quality polymer e-chains® from igus®.

Due to the increasingly important topic of 'predictive maintenance' in the industry, igus® has been developing smart plastic solutions for many years. "This product family is comprised of various sensors and monitoring modules with which, for example, the energy chain systems from igus® can be equipped," explains Michael Blaß, the Vice President of 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.

Products in this Application

e-chain® cable carriers

EC.B break detection

EC.W wear monitor

Twice as safe: abrasion and breakage monitoring

The i.Sense EC.W ("W" for "wear") abrasion monitoring system was used in the e-chain®. This is a sensor chip installed in the crossbar which continuously measures the condition of the gliding e-chain® as it travels. If the abrasion level indicates chain's service life is approaching, the sensor reports this and triggers a signal.

The use of the i.Sense EC.B modules ("B" for "break") is much more decisive here. They monitor the condition of the chain using a polymer wire inside the energy chain and a sensor unit. In the past, visual inspections of cable management systems could show no issues, but two weeks later, a breakage could occur. These situations can be prevented by the breakage monitoring system. However, a lot of fine-tuning still had to be done at the start of the beta phase. This is because the temperature in a factory has a major influence on the length of the chain as well as the pretension of the polymer wire. It was necessary to determine limit values in order to distinguish between "normal" expansion and actual incidents.

At the Austrian engine plant, the i.Sense modules from igus® were named the innovation of the month with considerations and plans to equip around 50 to 60 additional e-chain systems from igus® with breakage monitoring. The three test systems are already at the point where the system stops in the event of a reported breakage and the responsible machine setters have to take action. After a visual inspection, they can decide whether it was a false alarm or whether there is an actual need for action. This means that even during the current beta phase, expensive, consequential damage can be avoided and the gantries can be moved safely.

A polymer wire inside the e-chain® and sensor unit, i.Sense EC.B modules monitor the condition of the chain. In the event of a chain breakage, the machine is stopped automatically to prevent damage.

i.Sense EC.W modules have also been integrated in this solution. 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.