Getting tough with SMART sensors
If you are responsible for a manufacturing plant or heavy industry facility, you will be well aware of how the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) can change the way your facility is maintained. However, it is also fair to say that facilities built, even within the last 10 years, are already considered to have old technology, with systems and sensors that can be too simple, and in some cases, already out of date.
Not only that, many facilities may have equipment that run at very high temperatures or machines may be located in damp or noisy environments. This can lead to inaccurate data being fed back by sensors which will make utilising IIoT technology, to help provide intelligent monitoring, virtually impossible.
Touch smart sensors
In these situations, what is required are sensors which are extremely robust in these unfriendly environments. They need to be:
wireless with embedded intelligence (smart)
immune to environmental noise
immune to ambient light
equipped with more rugged casing that can support very high temperatures
We can recommend retrofit sensors which provide the perfect solution to monitor and capture individually relevant parameters, when installed on existing machinery and equipment which is set in harsher environments.
Safe data transfer
Another challenge, once the data has been collected, is to safely transfer the data to be able to evaluate it. Retrofit sensors can work with patented real-time, energy self-sufficient radio transmission. This means that there is no need for complex installations for data transmission, which is often not feasible on analogue systems and machines, as well as monitoring and maintaining the power supply. The retrofit sensors can use energy harvesting, in combination with an efficient low power hardware design, to operate the sensors in the box indefinitely.
The benefits of contactless retrofit sensors
Key advantages:
Easy retrofit, do not touch the machinery
Integrated with IoT connectivity solution
Smart data processing
Immune to environmental noise
Immune to ambient light
Can be pointed to any location on the machine
Rugged casing able to withstand temperatures up to 150°C
Solve challenging monitoring targets:
Small or blocked targets
Moving components
Wet and hot surfaces
Through glass
Added benefits:
A low cost replacement to sensor infrastructure
Brings data from asset to cloud
Robust to changing requirements
Wide dynamic ranges
Connectors to support external sensors
let’s get tough
If you want to embrace the benefits of IIoT but need a solution that is reliable in a difficult environment, then get in touch with us for an initial discussion.