Predictive Maintenance Efficiency Study Using Wireless Sensor Clusters (WSCs)

This article presents a predictive maintenance method using wireless vibration and temperature sensors. More-over, we also describe the advantages and disadvantages of this method of predictive maintenance and include a comparison with wired sensors and the classic method of measuring speed and vibration using a portable vibrometer. The tests are performed on ventilation systems, hydraulic pumps and industrial motors. These tests were performed using a system consisting of 30 wireless sensors, a gateway (GW) and a central server (S), where all the data from the test area is gathered and stored. Depending on the problems found, an error message is sent on the paired mobile devices. Additionally, the data can be accessed in real time by the maintenance person designated by the system administrator. With the help of this platform you can study waveforms, diagrams, alarm history and create reports that can be useful. This can help the maintenance personnel understand the subsequent errors.

I. Introduction

Manufacturing industrial activities have developed a lot in the past decade and the global industrial output has produced ever more goods at the best possible quality and with lower and lower costs. This has determined industrial manufacturers to take some measures to reduce the downtime of the production lines as much as possible, since profitability is directly impacted by this. The maintenance process aims at maintaining all the production lines in a state of operation, hence its main focus, as the name suggests, is maintenance and repair of industrial equipment.