Condition-based monitoring (CBM) is a maintenance strategy that schedules systems for maintenance based on their condition and not on a predefined schedule. Maintenance is carried out when necessary. CMB achieves higher system availability and prevents unplanned machine/system downtimes. Condition-based monitoring therefore contributes to more efficient and cost-effective maintenance.
Comprehensive data collection and analysis helps to identify problems at an early stage and plan suitable countermeasures and maintenance work. This means that unplanned system downtimes can usually be avoided and the availability of production lines increased.
In the beverage industry, CBM is used to make operations safer and more efficient. By monitoring load curves, operators can also detect creeping changes in the system, such as dirty filter mats on fans, and replace them in good time, which reduces energy consumption.
In the context of Industry 4.0, CBM enables machines and systems to be monitored in real time. Data from internal and external sensors is collected and stored and evaluated by the frequency inverter with its edge intelligence. The results are then transferred to the cloud or a local control system. The data collected enables predictive, condition-based maintenance, which increases the performance, efficiency and uptime of systems, extends the service life of system components and reduces complexity at the same time.
Condition monitoring with intelligent frequency inverters can maintain the systems proactively. This principle offers many advantages over other corrective and preventive maintenance concepts. Among other things, unnecessary costs due to system downtime or increased wear can be saved. Installation is also very simple: either the inverter learns automatically over a defined period of time and in parallel with operation, or the industrial user carries out an identification run, also known as a baseline run. In this case, the inverter is guided through the entire speed range and then forms a model for monitoring.
This is how CBM works:
- The inverter takes a measurement to determine the current status
- After the measurement, two warning and alarm limits are set
- After the learning phase, the inverter monitors whether the defined limits have been violated during operation.
Condition-based management offers a number of advantages in the industrial environment:
- Early fault detection and rectification
- Minimizes machine and system downtimes
- Increased productivity and efficiency of machines and systems
- Avoidance of unnecessary maintenance work
- Extending the service life of the devices
- Protect the application by processing the data and displaying the status via various interfaces
- Implementation of predictive maintenance
- Use of sensors and monitoring systems
- Analysis via cloud or other systems
- Universal and compatible
- Fast amortization, regardless of whether new or existing device
Intelligent drives from Danfoss:
Danfoss VACON® and VLT® frequency inverters are evolving from pure speed controllers to intelligent drive systems because they are increasingly being equipped with more intelligence in the drive. They are able to collect data from a wide variety of sources. To do this, they combine signals from internal and external sensors, such as vibration and pressure sensors, and with their edge intelligence are able to store valuable information in the device or in the cloud and/or send the evaluation results to the company’s internal system. This means that the data is available where users need it.
