Bench Talk

Join journalist Tommy Cummings for a weekly look at all things interesting, new, and noteworthy for design engineers.

Predictive maintenance (PdM) is a real-time maintenance strategy that tracks the health, status, and performance of machinery. Data-driven proactive maintenance methods can analyze the condition of equipment and help predict when maintenance should be performed. This is important, of course, because manufacturers want to get the most value from their equipment investment. Replacing machinery is expensive and disruptive.

By retrofitting existing equipment with a sensor network that has data analytics and machine-learning capabilities, manufacturers can improve their maintenance processes, save money and maximize the value of their current machinery.

For example, Internet of Things-connected sensors can measure temperature and vibration and feed a stream of data to a bridge for cloud storage and analysis to develop insights that managers need to optimize maintenance.

Design engineers have plenty of analytical and testing equipment available for PdM needs.

In this week's New Tech Tuesday, we'll look at evaluation kits from Analog Devices, STMicroelectronics, and Microchip Technology that help deploy PdM strategies.

Analog Devices Inc.'s IEPE Data Acquisition Board (EVAL-CN0540-ARDZ) demonstrates vibration sensing for Condition-based Monitoring (CbM). By tracking vibration analysis data over time, a fault or failure can be predicted, along with the fault's source. The board has a high-resolution, wide-bandwidth, high-dynamic-range Data Acquisition (DAQ) system that interfaces with Integrated Electronics Piezoelectric (ICP^®/IEPE) sensors. The board can be interfaced and powered directly from most Arduino-compatible development boards.

The STMicroelectronics STEVAL-IOD04KT1 Industrial Smart Sensor Kit evaluates the features of the L6364W IO-Link dual-channel device transceiver. The kit acts as a modern smart industrial sensor to be connected to a master IO-Link hub (or a suitable PLC interface). The kit consists of the STEVAL-IOD004V1 mainboard, the STLINK-V3MINI programmer and debugger tool, a 14-pin flat cable, and an M8 to M12 standard industrial connector adapter. The 45.8mm x 8.3mm mainboard can be integrated into industrial sensor housings.

The Microchip Technology ATSAMA5D27-WLSOM1 Evaluation Kit (DM320117) is an embedded platform for building end products. The kit is a prototyping platform for the SAMA5D27-WLSOM1 Wireless System On Module (SOM) and the SAMA5D27C-LD2G LPDDR2 System in Package (SiP). The evaluation kit is an industrially certified Single Board Computer (SBC) designed for integration into customer applications. The kit comes in a small form factor and is complemented by many connectivity interfaces.

Predictive maintenance can deliver many types of cost savings but extending the life of existing equipment can also be important. Identifying problem areas early in the process can result in cost savings for manufacturers.