waveform data Archives - The Manufacturing Connection

Enabling The Industrial Internet of Things From The Plant Floor

by Gary Mintchell | Mar 1, 2016 | Automation, Internet of Things, Networking, Operations Management, Safety, Wireless

Enabling Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Reliability, Scalability, and pursuing Real ROI encompass the current mantra of Fluke. Maybe you only know that company for its multimeters or infrared cameras. Well, there is much more behind the curtain.

The company has focused product development on mobile solutions, wireless communications, and data. This quarter’s product releases reflect all of that.

Infrared

The new Fluke Ti450 Infrared Camera takes focus to a new level of clarity with MultiSharp Focus. An out-of-focus thermal image can give you data that may lead to misdiagnosis — potentially costing you thousands — with no way to correct it once it has been captured, short of taking new images. This new infrared camera solves this problem by delivering images automatically focused throughout the field of view.

“We are excited to announce this new technology, because it makes a real difference in situations where you have objects at multiple distances that you want in focus. Places like substations, motors driving a long production line, or electrical panels with components at varying depths,” notes Chris Rayburn, thermography business director.

MultiSharp Focus is a new technology that rapidly takes multiple images and combines them to produce one in-focus image. The advanced focusing system enables users to capture an automated, focused image of multiple targets at once, delivering the image clarity needed by professional thermographers and maintenance managers to produce top-quality results and avoid costly rework.

Waveforms

Today’s industrial machinery is more reliable and efficient, but can also be more difficult to troubleshoot because of the complexities of its advanced systems. The new Fluke ScopeMeter 120B Series Industrial Handheld Oscilloscope features Connect-and-View technology that recognizes signal patterns and automatically sets up the scope’s triggering, amplitude, and time base eliminating the typical trial-and-error setup process. Once the waveform is captured, the new IntellaSet intelligent measurement detection automatically selects key measurements based on the acquired waveform type and displays the most relevant measurement values (for example, Vrms and Hz for a line voltage signal, or Vpeak-peak and Hz for a square wave), helping technicians easily identify and characterize potential signal faults.

The 120B Series also features Event Capture function that captures and identifies elusive intermittent events and lists all those events that exceed a predetermined threshold. This lets technicians identify key events quickly, rather than combing through large data sets, reading by reading.

Fluke Connect

The Industrial Internet of Things is all about connections and data. As part of Fluke Connect— a system of wireless test tools that communicate via the Fluke Connect app, or Fluke Connect Assets software, a cloud-based solution that gathers measurements to provide a comprehensive view of critical equipment status — the 120B Series can automatically record waveform data to the Fluke Connect app on smartphones or tablets ensuring accuracy and eliminating manual recording of data. Those measurements are then wirelessly uploaded to the cloud and can be combined with measurement data from multiple Fluke Connect test tools to create and share reports from the job site via email and collaborate in real time with other colleagues, increasing productivity in the field. Storing then comparing and contrasting waveforms of specific asset test points over time enables maintenance engineers to better identify and troubleshoot conditions that can lead to failures.

Work Orders

Fluke introduces Work Orders, the latest enhancement to the Fluke Connect Assets, an asset management software solution that works with the Fluke Connect system of wireless test tools. Using this new Fluke Connect Assets feature maintenance managers can:

View complete work order history coupled with measurement data related to a specific plant asset
Create work orders from anywhere
Confidently assign the job to the appropriate technician and balance the task with other work orders in the system.

Technicians are provided with actual measurement data right in the work order allowing them to better understand the problem and work instructions.

The Fluke Connect system allows entire maintenance teams to capture and wirelessly share data via their smartphones. Using the AutoRecord feature measurements are transferred directly from Fluke Connect wireless test tools – eliminating transcription errors – and can be uploaded to FlukeCloud storage. Measurements can be assigned to a specific asset for sharing and analysis. Technicians can collaborate with their colleagues to discuss problems while sharing data and images in real time with ShareLive video calls, which speeds problem solving, decision-making and approvals.

Clamp Meters

Often the most frustrating task for electricians and maintenance technicians is to troubleshoot intermittent faults because they rarely occur at convenient times. The new Fluke Connect-enabled 370 FC Series Clamp Meters log measurements to pinpoint intermittent faults precisely without the need for the technician to be present. Those measurements are then wirelessly transmitted to the Fluke Connect app on smartphones or tablets and automatically uploaded to the cloud, keeping technicians outside the arc flash zone and away from dangerous moving machinery, improving safety.

The CAT IV 600 V, CAT III 1000 V safety-rated clamp meters offer advanced troubleshooting performance to capture a wide range of measurements with a single tool, including:

Proprietary in-rush measurement technology to filter out noise and capture motor starting current exactly as the circuit protection sees it;
Integrated variable frequency drive low pass filter (376 FC and 375 FC models only) for accurate motor drive measurements;
True-rms voltage and current for accurate measurements on non-linear signals;
500 mV dc measurement range to interface with other accessories (376 FC and 375 FC models only);
Expanded measurement range to 2500 A ac with the iFlex flexible current probes, which provide access to large conductors in tight spaces.

As part of Fluke Connect— the industry’s largest system of software and more than 30 wireless test tools — technicians can wirelessly transmit measurement data from the 370 FC Series clamp meters and other test tools to their smartphones for secure storage on the Fluke Cloud and team access from the field. With the Fluke Connect smartphone app, technicians can combine measurement data from multiple Fluke Connect test tools to create and share reports from the job site via email and collaborate in real time with other colleagues with ShareLive video calls, increasing productivity in the field.

Mashup Your Industrial Software Applications

by Gary Mintchell | Feb 19, 2015 | Asset Performance Management, Commentary, Internet of Things, News, Operations Management, Software

OK, I can take a hint. Maybe. I keep looking at the latest manufacturing strategies—Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing—and asking all of you for your thoughts. The silence screams louder than a pundit trying to stir up “stuff.”

Interesting things are happening at a quieter level under the covers of the grand strategies. I’d call these industrial software mashups. That is now an old term, but I think pretty relevant.

People are building applications on top of existing platforms. Let’s not reinvent the wheel, they say. Let’s leverage an ecosystem of developers and integrators, they say. Let’s get to market faster.

For example, check out this piece I wrote about an ERP vendor, Kenandy, who built atop Salesforce. http://mfgconnection.wpengine.com/2015/01/manufacturing-software-cloud-supports-innovation/

At last week’s ARC Forum, I met another one. Setpoint (by the way, its marketers like it in all caps so that it will shout out on a page, but I’m not reproducing the logo, just the name).

Setpoint is in the condition monitoring market. It began life as an initiative of Metrix Instrument but rapidly grew to a stand-alone company. Metrix wished to grow beyond sensors and transmitters into the systems market. So it build a system with former Bentley Nevada engineers.

Dozens of innovations were embedded in this new system, including a self-contained “universal” monitoring module (UMM) that could be configured do any required measurements in a single module type – making the addition of new measurements no more difficult than loading a new app on your smartphone.

Now that it had the system, to provide more value to its customers, Setpoint needed an industrial software application. Here’s the mashup part. Rather than building a stand-alone software infrastructure the team was entered into a partnership with OSIsoft, – maker of the PI System. Together, they showed that high-bandwidth, sub-millisecond vibration waveform data could be streamed directly into a PI database – something that had been routinely dismissed by the vibration industry as “impractical” or even “impossible.” Time to market was less than 12 months – unheard of in this industry – and during that time the performance capabilities of the PI System continued along its Moore’s Law trajectory, doubling in speed and making high-speed, online vibration data collection completely practical.

OSIsoft PI is an industry standard for historians and analysis. Developers and integrators are plentiful. This was a great way to jump-start a system.

Another benefit is the elimination of redundant computing, network, and software infrastructure. Further is OSIsoft’s ability to envision future market dynamics that could affect the businesses tomorrow. One such trend in the condition-monitoring industry is the drive toward data analytics and predictive maintenance strategies.

A third reason is that making quick and informed decisions on the condition of an asset requires real-time analysis of large volumes of data, also known as Big Data. OSIsoft is a leader in Big Data.

I don’t know what the grand strategies will bring you, but most of you will benefit greatly from this mashup trend.

You could also check out this video that demonstrates the system.

http://www.osisoft.com/Templates/item-abstract.aspx?id=10985

Basic Machinery Health Prediction Data Available For More Assets

by Gary Mintchell | Feb 3, 2015 | Automation, Data Management, News, Operations Management, Technology

Here is a product release in the area of critical asset management. Prediction data is becoming more prevalent and critical in high performing production plants.

Emerson Process Management has expanded the protection of critical assets to include basic prediction capabilities with only minimal time and wiring investments. These basic prediction capabilities for the CSI 6500 protection system are available in the recently released version 5.61 of AMS Suite: Machinery Health Manager.

Using an Ethernet connection from the CSI 6500, users receive periodic parameter trends and spectrum/waveform data delivered on specific intervals. This data is particularly useful for determining the health of sleeve bearings on turbo machinery. This automated process for acquiring prediction data eliminates the need to connect to buffered outputs on the protection system and reduces the risk of inadvertently causing a machine trip.

In addition, waveform data from the CSI 6500 is now incorporated onto the circular polar plots available in AMS Machinery Manager v5.61, facilitating diagnosis of developing valve faults in reciprocating compressors.

“Expanding the capabilities in our technology is just one way Emerson offers additional value to our users,” said Nathan Pettus, vice president of Emerson’s Reliability Solutions business. “Emerson is committed to developing customer solutions that capture more of the right data, and delivering it in a way that allows users to make real-time, quality decisions on how to operate their assets.”

Emerson’s AMS Machinery Manager integrates data from route-based, online, and wireless vibration solutions as well as third-party oil and infrared analysis data to provide a complete picture of machinery health.