Sensors monitor energy chains in engine plants in the automotive industry

An intelligent energy supply avoids failures by means of continuous condition monitoring

In hardly any other industry is reliability as important as in the automotive industry. Entire vehicles or even individual components such as engines pass through the production line with a very high degree of automation. If a part comes to a standstill, it can quickly lead to expensive production downtime. It is therefore important for vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to be able to rely on dependable components. An Austrian engine manufacturer therefore relies on 'smart plastic' from igus®. Sensors detect wear during operation and issue an alarm in good time as soon as a repair or replacement is required.

Profile

What was needed: plastic-energy chain, abrasion monitoring isense EC.W, breakage detection isense EC.B
Requirements: High output of the system requires particularly reliable energy supply under continuous load
Industry: Automotive industry
Success for the customer: intelligent "smart plastic" solution, i.e. data on the condition of the components can be obtained continuously before a system failure can occur

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Products used

Energy chains

i.Sense condition monitoring

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► Sample box pre-assembled readychain® e-chain®

Problem

Location: Engine plant in Austria. Application: Hall gantry for the automated handling of engine blocks. At the engine plant in Austria, the largest and most important engine plant of a major German car manufacturer, an engine leaves the assembly lines every 14 seconds on average - at peak times, over 6,000 engines are produced per working day. This extremely high output can only be realised with a high degree of automation and particularly reliable components. The aim of the operators is to avoid breakdowns and system downtimes wherever possible. These high standards were therefore also set for the energy supply to the hall gantry. In fact, this will later have to work continuously in 18 to 19 shifts per week with high dynamics. The future energy supply systems will therefore quickly reach cycles in the millions.

Solution

To minimise weight and noise compared to steel chains for guiding the moving cables on the gantries, the manufacturer relies on plastic-energy chains from igus®. But these are not its only advantages: Due to the increasingly important topic of "predictive maintenance" in the industry, igus® has been developing so-called "smart plastic" - intelligent plastic products - for several years. "This product family, which we have summarised under the brand name 'isense', comprises various sensors and monitoring modules with which, for example, the energy chain systems from igus® can be equipped," explains Michael Blaß, Vice President 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 report as soon as a repair or replacement is required." This makes it possible to avoid unplanned system downtimes and thus expensive production losses.

Energy chains

Predictive maintenance in automotive production

"Thanks to the digital networking of machines and products, it is possible to continuously record the condition of the components and report as soon as a repair or replacement is required."

Michael Blaß, Vice President e-chain systems at igus®

smart plastics general overview

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Topic overview:

Condition monitoring (i.Sense)
Condition monitoring products
Application examples of condition monitoring
predictive maintenance (i.Cee)
Application examples for predictive maintenance
How does the data flow with predictive maintenance?

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Twice as safe: abrasion and breakage monitoring

The isense EC.W ("W" for "wear") abrasion monitoring system is also used in the energy chain: A sensor chip installed in the crossbar of the e-chain® continuously measures the condition of the sliding e-chain® as it travels: if the abrasion is so advanced that the end of the chain's service life is approaching, the sensor reports this and triggers a signal. However, the abrasion of the energy chain made of high-performance plastics is not yet so advanced that a signal has ever been triggered.

The use of the isense 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 energy chain systems have resulted in no complaints, but two weeks later the chain has failed. This 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 hall has a major influence on the length of the chain and therefore also on 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 isense modules from igus® have already been named innovation of the month. There are currently considerations and plans to equip around 50 to 60 energy chain systems from igus® with breakage monitoring. The three test systems are already at the point where the system stops in real operation 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.