Takuma UCHIDA*
Yasumasa YAMADA*
Takashi SEKIGUCHI*
*
Business Development Division, Fluid Machinery & Systems Company
In recent years, a movement has emerged to work on preventive maintenance by visualizing and monitoring using IoT sensors in equipment maintenance. At present, however, this technology is not widely used in the market. We believe that the reason is that expensive commercially available sensors and condition monitoring systems and the specialized knowledge required for their introduction has hindered their introduction into the market. Therefore, we have developed an inexpensive small sensor and condition monitoring system that anyone can easily handle. The target of condition monitoring of this system is not limited to pumps, but can also be applied to variety of equipment such as blowers, air conditioners, cooling towers, and other rotating equipment, regardless of the manufacturer.
Keywords: IoT, Wireless sensor, Condition monitoring system, CBM (Condition Based Maintenance), Cloud system, Failure detection
The "EBARA Maintenance Cloud" condition monitoring system monitors and controls the conditions of a user's facility. It consists of sensor units to be attached to each applicable device, a cloud system operating on a cloud service, and the “QiDe-LINK” smartphone application.
Introducing this system can contribute to reducing losses due to breakdown maintenance, as well as labor-saving, and optimizing patrol inspection times and life cycle costs through maintenance and repairs conducted according to the condition of equipment.
Figure 1 shows a conceptual image of the EBARA Maintenance Cloud.
Figure 1 Conceptual image of EBARA Maintenance Cloud
[1] Trend monitoring
Sensing data on vibration and temperature collected from “QiDe” vibration sensor units is uploaded to the cloud system at fixed cycles and accumulated. From the time that QiDe vibration sensor units are installed, trend monitoring and facility maintenance based on relative changes in vibration and temperature data can be implemented.
[2] E-mail notifications
The conditions of a facility can be controlled by setting threshold values for each of three levels: Normal, Caution, and Warning. When the condition of any facility changes to a Caution or Warning condition, this function will send an e-mail notification to the preregistered recipient. The user can customize the threshold value settings and the destinations to whom a report on the change of the condition of any facility will be sent when it occurs.
[3] Report issuance
This function can issue equipment information, such as graphs showing the monitoring status of trends in vibration and temperature for each device equipped with a QiDe vibration sensor unit, in the form of a report, and can assist users in preparing their own reports.
[4] Utilization of the QiDe-LINK smartphone application
The QiDe-LINK smartphone application has been developed to provide the user with optimal services, in consideration for assisting with labor saving and time reduction of patrol inspection work, and cases where it is difficult to introduce and install relay units, depending on the site environment. Condition monitoring which utilizes the QiDe-LINK smartphone application enables the user to easily diagnose the condition of equipment without requiring any difficult operations.
The details of this equipment are explained in Sections 2-3, 2-4, and 2-5.
In order to realize wireless real-time sensing, we have independently developed the QiDe, an easy-to-operate and inexpensive compact wireless vibration sensor that is compatible with Bluetooth Low Energy*1, and a battery unit to serve as a power supply for the sensor. “QiDe” stands for “Quick Detector.” Figure 2 shows the QiDe logo.
Figure 2 QiDe logo
The development concepts of the QiDe vibration sensor unit are explained below.
・In addition to pumps, the QiDe can be applied to various types of devices, such as fans, air conditioners, cooling towers, and other rotating equipment, and is compatible with devices from any manufacturer.
・With a size as small as a bottle cap, the QiDe can be used even in narrow areas where commercially available sensors cannot be inserted.
・Since rotating equipment such as pumps are occasionally installed outdoors, the QiDe can also be used outdoors by waterproofing both the sensor portion and battery unit.
・Since the standard method of attaching the QiDe vibration sensor unit to devices is by using magnets, it can be easily installed without specialized knowledge.
・Wireless communication makes wiring for communication no longer necessary and allows easy handling.
・The battery contained in the battery unit is a commercially available type so that it can be purchased and easily replaced even by users.
・Separation of the battery unit and sensor portion has made it possible to miniaturize the sensor portion and allow easy battery replacement without touching the sensor portion even during equipment operation.
Figure 3 shows an external view of the sensor portion of the QiDe vibration sensor unit, and Table 1 shows its specifications.
Figure 3 External appearance of sensor portion
The cloud system consists of QiDe vibration sensor units and relay units (Figure 4).
Figure 4 Cloud system configuration
The cloud system has the following functions.
・User authentication function: Permits only preregistered users to access the system. Security is strengthened by implementing a mechanism that blocks malicious, unauthorized access.
・Device list display function (Figure 5): Enables the user to check the conditions of devices registered in the cloud system in the form of a list.
Figure 5 Device list display screen
・Dashboard function (Figure 6): Enables the user to check the most current data on vibration and temperature.
Figure 6 Dashboard screen
・Trend graph function (Figure 7): Allows the sensing data on vibration and temperature accumulated in the cloud system to be displayed in the form of a graph.
Figure 7 Trend graph screen monitoring trends in vibration
・Alarm e-mail issuance function: A function to manage the conditions of devices according to three levels - Normal, Caution, and Warning - according to judgments made on the threshold values set for QiDe vibration sensor units, and to send an alarm e-mail to the preregistered recipient when the condition of any facility changes to a Caution or Warning condition.
・Alarm history function (Figure 8*): A function to accumulate the alarm information detected by QiDe vibration sensor units in the cloud system, and display it in the form of a list. It can also narrow down past alarms to only those that are currently occurring, and display them.
Figure 8 Alarm history screen
・Reporting function: A function to report data from each QiDe vibration sensor unit, including device information.
* The information displayed on the system screens may be partially changed in association with future product improvements.
This cloud system regularly collects sensing data on vibration and temperature from QiDe vibration sensor units via relay units, and uploads it to the cloud system. Table 2 shows the specifications of a single relay unit.
We have developed the QiDe-LINK smartphone application (compatible with Android*3 OS and iOS*4) as a tool capable of visualizing the condition of a facility by easy operation, and setting threshold values for detecting equipment abnormalities.
The QiDe-LINK smartphone application has the following functions.
・Authentication function: Only allows subscribers to log in (Figure 9). The security of QiDe-LINK is enhanced by enabling a smartphone and sensors to communicate when they are close to each other.
Figure 9 Login screen
・QiDe vibration sensor unit initial setting function (Figure 10): This function can be used to set the installation locations and orientations of QiDe vibration sensor units.
Figure 10 Initial setting screen
・Peripheral device list display function (Figure 11): A function to automatically detect and display peripheral QiDe vibration sensor units. The list shows the names of sensors and devices to enable the user to identify them on the screen.
Figure 11 Peripheral device list display screen
・Threshold value batch setting function: A function to automatically set threshold values. It is possible to set threshold values for each QiDe vibration sensor unit with a single operation, even with multiple cases of sensing data. The threshold values are linked to the cloud system via relay units.
・Device condition checking function (Figure 12): Enables the user to check sensing data in real time. The user can perform a simple diagnosis of sensor conditions using the three levels of Normal, Caution, and Warning according to the set threshold values.
Figure 12 Device condition checking screen
Interviews with users have indicated that sudden failures are a cause of significant trouble, so many users wish to be able to identify abnormal conditions before the occurrence of a failure and take some sort of measures against them. If users introduce our QiDe vibration sensor units and cloud system, we believe it will be possible to provide them with appropriate support in dealing with such issues.
Below is a case of vibration monitoring conditions in which a user’s equipment was monitored, and increased vibrations were detected and appropriately dealt with (Figure 13).
Figure 13 Vibration monitoring conditions during failure detection
The blue lines in Figure 13 indicate the sensed vibration measurement values. When the threshold values for the Caution condition and Warning condition were exceeded, alarm e-mails were issued, allowing the user and Ebara to use these e-mails to identify abnormalities in the equipment. In this case, the alarm e-mail issuance function of the cloud system enabled the user to safely shut down the applicable facility before the occurrence of an equipment failure, to appropriately deal with the abnormality. As a result of introducing the EBARA Maintenance Cloud, the user was able to detect an increase in vibration and identify abnormal conditions in the equipment using alarm e-mails, before the point at which abnormal conditions or failures, which had previously only been noticeable by visually checking the actual equipment during regular patrol inspections performed by the user, would have resulted in a critical situation. This case earned us a high evaluation and trust from the user, and we have also proposed repairs for the equipment. It was a case which enabled us to verify the effectiveness of connecting with users.
The EBARA Maintenance Cloud condition monitoring system can connect to various devices such as water supply equipment and manhole pumps as well as pumps and fans. In the future, it is planned to be deployed to the "EBARA CLOUD" core system which will be capable of additionally providing failure diagnoses and energy saving diagnoses.
In order to realize the EBARA CLOUD, we will first expand the use of the EBARA Maintenance Cloud condition monitoring system which utilizes QiDe vibration sensor units at land pumps, fans, and other equipment, and we are also planning to provide various condition monitoring services which strengthen and advance the existing control and monitoring functions.
We will further evolve the QiDe vibration sensor units and establish sensing technologies other than for vibration and temperature sensing. We will enrich and expand our service menu by upgrading these functions, and intend to establish failure prediction technology by conducting in-depth analysis of the big data accumulated in the cloud system.
We are determined to provide unique solutions that utilize the EBARA Maintenance Cloud, to answer the various requests of users in the future and thereby improve user satisfaction. We then wish to continue to provide new values through connections between users and Ebara.
*1
“Bluetooth®“and “Bluetooth Low Energy” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bluetooth SIG, Inc.
*2
"LTE" is a registered trademark of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
*3
“Android” is a trademark or registered trademark of Google LLC.
*4
“iOS” is the name of an OS from Apple Inc. IOS is a registered trademark or trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and is used under a license.