Vibration analysis of machines, specially rotor, is nothing new. By 1995, as computers with 1GB+RAM became available in the market, FFT based vibration analysis became popular as harmonics of vibration signature could identify a particular bearing defect or a gearbox defect. Over time, this method became popular and experts who understood FFT signature of machine failure, started advising on the maintenance issues all over the manufacturing Industry.With the advent of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) , couple of start-ups like Augery and Petasense, tried to automate this process via cloud so that machines could be monitored 24x7.However, there is a...

2018 marked the year of edge computing in IoT world.  Satya Nadela, CEO of Microsoft sent a memo to all Microsoft employees, emphasizing why edge computing and edge cloud were going to be vital to success going ahead. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, also emphasized the emerging role of edge computing in the Google I/O conference in May 2018. Siemens and Microsoft delivered a joint demonstration of Edge Cloud capability at Hannover Messe in April this year.  What is Edge Computing?  Edge computing technique makes IIoT-based predictive maintenance more efficient and effective. Here the analytics is done close to the...

If we look at human society, some of us live beyond 90 whereas many productive individuals die prematurely before 50, either due to heart attack or cancer. Most of us tend to believe (rightfully so looking at the large number of surveys that have been published), the longevity of human life is a result of their healthy lifestyle. They eat unadulterated quality food, never deprive themselves of a good eight-hour sleep and drink a lot of clean water to keep their kidney healthy. However, when it comes to machines, premature death is always blamed on the manufacturer. Despite the fact,...

1. Introduction: Relay/fuse/breaker is used as a safety device in every electrical installation. This prevents fire hazard when an electrical short circuit is triggered. These switchgears work below certain peak amplitude of current rating. If it crosses that limit then dielectric insulationgets broken and it opens up the closed contact points to provide the electrical isolation from incoming supply. 2. Common causes of relay/fuse/breaker failure: a. High peak amplitude of the phase current that the device is carrying b. Presence of high current harmonics( Measure with MachineSense PA ) which indirectly increases peak amplitude of the phase current. Effect of...

PLC is at the heart of SCADA and control system in the manufacturing plants. If the factory power distribution is designed poorly or if the factory runs large VFDs or DC drives motors, PLCs can burn out frequently or will lose memory quite often. To understand this, we have to look at the power supply mechanism of PLC. Typically it is 24V DC or 220/110V AC to DC SMPS. In either of the cases, if AC input power is corrupt beyond a certain limit, electronics components of the PLC can be damaged easily. Permanent memory can be reset. Typically, 24V...