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Home >Smart Sensors: Industry 4.0's 'Unsung Heroes'
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Smart Sensors: Industry 4.0's 'Unsung Heroes'

25 April 2016

The goal of industrial automation is that machines should not only be able replicate the human capability to make sense of our surroundings, but to go beyond that and achieve processing and communication power with levels of stamina and endurance that are not humanly possible, says David Hannaby, Sick UK product manager for presence detection

A key milestone towards that Holy Grail is Industry 4.0, the Smart Factory where connectivity and data sharing between machines, not only in a production plant, but across the supply chain, is practically seamless.

There will never be a Smart Factory without Smart Sensors – it is sensors which are the ‘unsung heroes’; the glue that holds together today’s – and tomorrow’s automated environments. 

So, if the Holy Grail of the Smart Factory is to achieve communication between any machines, then the corresponding goal of sensor technology must be to first sense any object, no matter what it is, or what the environmental conditions are. So, how far are we from achieving that goal?

Simply detect any object

The answer is that sensors are already well on the way to detecting and measuring any object, in virtually all industrial automation applications. The accuracy and consistency now achievable with modern sensing means tasks such as picking, placing, labelling and printing can be performed at production speeds, to higher performance levels than ever before, with resultant benefits in low wastage, minimal line downtime and better quality control.
Sensing difficult materials

To begin with, sensor manufacturers like SICK found reliable ways to sense difficult-to-see objects, such as transparent, semi-transparent, uneven and highly reflective objects like glass and plastics in bottling plants, or foil blisters used in pharmaceutical packaging. 

These are fairly specialist sensing tasks, but could one sensor be developed with the versatility to perform general sensing tasks across the whole range of high-speed industrial production applications? 

SICK believes it achieved this milestone with the new PowerProx range. The technology uses laser Time-of-Flight (ToF) technology to deliver high-performance distance sensing, proximity and object detection. As a result, even objects being conveyed at high speed, small and flat objects and products with jet-black and shiny finishes, can now be reliably detected over extensive sensing distances and the false readings from spray, dust and reflective lights can be supressed. 

Smart Sensors

Alongside a comprehensive detection capability, achieving true Industry 4.0 capability means enabling complex data processing within the sensor unit itself, rather than relying on remote processing via the HMI or PLC.  This added layer of sophistication comes when IO-Link-based sensor technology is combined with miniature chip processing power built into the sensor.

A range of advanced functions can be embedded into sensors of all types

As a result, a range of advanced functions can be embedded into sensors of all types to provide a powerful new set of tools for the engineer. Smart Sensors achieve control and increase the productivity of machines by taking on specific functionality and logical loops that previously needed to be processed higher up in the PLC.  Real time events can be locally processed, without waiting for the raw data to be uploaded to the central PLC program, processed and information extracted before action initiation.

Smart approach to 4.0

The data generated by sensors is the basis for intelligent machine control and automation but, up until very recently, the legacy of a pyramidal configuration for central processing control has slowed progress towards fully integrated factory systems, the dream for Industry 4.0.

Smart Sensors are now freeing factory network distributed control systems by removing time-consuming communication bottlenecks between simple sensors and the PLCs. With routine raw data processing tasks performed in real time by Smart Sensors at machine level around the factory, essential time is saved. The processed data and resulting actions can be made available for recording, safety, traceability and quality control purposes to be overseen at the central system level.

Used to its full potential, Industry 4.0 will deliver maximum efficiency while enabling production versatility down to batch sizes of one unit, thus fulfilling the ultimate dream of fully integrated automation.

Key Points

  • Sensors are already well on the way to detecting and measuring any object, in virtually all industrial automation applications
  • Achieving true Industry 4.0 capability means enabling complex data processing within the sensor unit itself
  • Smart Sensors remove time-consuming communication bottlenecks between simple sensors and PLCs

 

 

 
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