Ecor Research exhibited a test rig for predictive maintenance, designed and engineered by the Engineering Department, during the 2017 SPS IPC Drives, which took place in Parma from 23rd to 25th May.
In particular, the machine was located on National Instruments stand D012 (Hall 5), a manufacturer of hardware and software tools for industrial measurement and automation, with which Ecor Research has been collaborating for years. National Instruments programs are used in the Validation Center for collecting and analyzing data of test rigs testing components, subsystems and complex automated systems.
At the SPS IPC Drives 2017, Ecor Research presented the test rig for a transmission belt of a food packaging machine. This mechanism, by means of a connected mass, allows the package to exit through a conveyor with a well-defined position profile.
Thanks to the this test rig, the Engineering Department was able to collect certain data to determine the cycle of life of the belt. This activity is called predictive maintenance, or condition monitoring: it is a type of predictive maintenance performed following the detection of one or more parameters measured and extrapolated using appropriate mathematical models in order to detect the residual time before a breakdown.
Predictive maintenance allows to minimize possible machine stops, helps reduce maintenance costs and increases the safety of the plant user.
@EcorIntern