'This anomaly can only be found with data'"
In the annealing shop of Tata Steel's cold strip rolling mill, sensors have been placed on installations to measure condition. Geert Huizing, Maintenance Manager: "I was skeptical when Techport approached me about monitoring the installations via sensors. I have now experienced what this can achieve and I am completely convinced. In the future I would prefer to install many more sensors."
At Tata Steel's Cold Rolling Mill, steel is cold rolled to thinner dimensions. The cold rolled steel then undergoes another heat treatment in the so-called annealing shop, which restores the structure of the steel. Geert: "The installations in the annealing shop are completely sealed off by the heat, so as soon as the annealing process starts you can no longer access the installation. Only when the annealing is finished after 117 hours can you determine the condition of the installation again. Meanwhile, sensors have been installed to monitor the installations also during the annealing process."
Sensors
Inertia uses sensors to measure the vibrations on the installation itself. Samotic has placed sensors at the switch box and measures high-frequency current and voltage. The switch box is located remotely from the installation and thus has the advantage that you can always access the sensors during the annealing process. Geert: "We recently received an anomaly via Inertia. The motor of the installation was then changed. At the second annealing, the sensors again indicated a deviation. Eventually it turned out that the fan was not fastened properly, which could cause the installation to wear faster. This was then better secured and this allowed us to avoid having to replace this unit sooner. We could never have seen or heard this ourselves. This incident did show for me the added value of the sensors."
Collaboration within Techport
Derek Benner of Samotic is working with Geert on these tests: "This project has had a long lead time. You always have a lot of ideas, but you have to deal with commercial parties who want to demonstrate their added value during the test. This is only possible if you start with a certain volume. So it took a while before we sat down with the right parties and had agreement to place a larger quantity of sensors at Tata Steel. But once that's working, the successes are starting to come. For us it is very interesting to place the sensors on this type of installation. We are learning tremendously from this." Geert adds, "In the beginning, we got the data from Inertia and Samotics, but we didn't understand much of it. Techport then got Facta involved. They analyzed the data for us and created a dashboard that we could do something with." In order for the data to be of real value, time still needs to pass. Derek: "The longer the sensors work, the more data you have. And the more data you have, the better you get to know the installation so you can really start comparing."
Cooperation between the Techport partners is going well. Geert: "We have meetings every two weeks to review the data. We want to learn from each other, learn with each other and so get the profit out of it." Derek adds: "For Samotics, this is a great opportunity to test our technology. And within Techport you see the other companies, which in the outside world are your competitors, precisely not as competitors. We have a common goal, which is to help the end user. And when you take this up together, you learn more and it goes faster. So this is something you don't normally do, but within Techport this is just possible." Geert: "The advantage for me is that there are now sensors from different parties hanging around. So I can compare things against each other and discover and learn what the difference of measuring is. That experimenting with each other and looking for the right answers, that makes it really fun."
Want to know more?
Want to know more about Samotics' use case and solution? Derek Banner will be happy to tell you during the Techport Knowledge Hour on May 20 from 4 to 5 p.m. You can sign up here.