With the prevalent use of computers in today’s industrial world, it only stands to reason that better communication between man and machine would be an ongoing segment of that market. The newest trend in industrial communications is IoT or The Internet of Things. Weird name, cool technology.
For many years there have been existing communication systems utilizing protocols such as DeviceNet, ProfiBus and Ethernet to relay system information to remote monitoring sites. One of the largest users of this technology are the municipal water and wastewater systems that allow operators to receive notifications on their cell phones or monitor system data over the internet on a laptop. An operator sitting at home can be notified when a particular pump station goes offline so he can take appropriate action early on.
Newer technology allows both operating data and device data to be transmitted by tags or imbedded microchips directly on the equipment or oven an internet connection to wherever the user defines. An example of local tag or microchip usage would be having all relevant information for an electric motor, such as horsepower, rpm, model number, etc, be available by simply scanning the attached tag with a dedicated scanner or with a smart phone. This prevents someone having to climb into potentially dangerous conditions to retrieve nameplate data or finding a nameplate that is damaged or otherwise unreadable. Replacement or scheduling of maintenance becomes much easier when the relevant data is more easily accessible.
Imbedded data and remote monitoring have now led to IoT technology which can allow someone to identify a problem remotely and either initiate necessary repairs or get a replacement unit on order all from a remote location such as an offsite office or from the comfort of your living room.
Many manufacturers of electric motors and drives offer imbedded data technology on new items and repair shops such as REM can install devices and systems on basically any piece of industrial equipment. If you want to learn more about this new technology, call us today at 479-474-5271 or email us at sales@remindustrial.com. You can also find additional information at https://www.iothandbook.org/.