Ultrasonic sensor pinpoints industrial machinery faults 10 March 2014

Researchers at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) have developed wireless sensors able to detect minute fissures in industrial machinery by the ultrasonic sounds they emit.

Instead of analysing machines using vibration sensors to detect when a part needs to be repaired or replaced – by which time many machines are already well on the way towards breakdown – the new sensor locates faults much earlier.

According to Luis Romeral, director of MCIA Innovation Electronics at the UPC Technology Centre, his team's two years of research – which received €1.7 million – could help to transform condition monitoring.

"The initiative consisted in developing new wireless sensors capable of detecting internal fractures of only a few microns, by analysing the ultrasonic waves they emit, using algorithms of artificial intelligence and advanced digital processing," he explains.

"Often," he continues, "mechanical wear manifests initially as an internal fracture or fissure in the metal. When this crack appears, the material begins to emit ultrasonic waves, which are high-frequency, low-amplitude sounds.

"These emissions are the ones we capture with the sensor head, and we separate those that reflect the normal operative state from those caused by an internal fracture problem."

Hence, the new sensor shortens the time taken to detect machinery problems before they even begin vibrating.

"Maintenance that enables us to get ahead of a fault in the system, to correct it before it suddenly shuts down, will mean significant time and cost savings."

The team, led by Romeral, in which UPC and companies and institutes in Ireland, Estonia, Poland and Romania also participated, developed all the sensor electronics, which are powered by the energy in the environment.

The sensor captures ultrasonic waves at ranges between 50 and 300 kHz, "because at this frequency range structural faults can be found in mechanical systems", says Romeral.

Brian Tinham

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