IIoT based efficiency monitoring of a pick & place robot

Panel: 4. Technology, products and systems

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Stefano Farné, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Italy
Ezio Bassi, University of Pavia, Italy
Francesco Benzi, Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, Italy
Francesco Compagnoni, University of Pavia, Italy

Abstract

The Industrial Internet of Thing (IIoT) approach to an Industry plant design devises a comprehensive interconnection of the system components, from sections up to single devices, in order to get a general and punctual understanding of the process. Such a network, mostly based on Ethernet basic layers, when properly conceived, should be able to add relevant value to the plant operation, thus giving a relevant contribution to the Industry 4.0 perspective. This paper shows how, within the IIoT frame topics, the plant efficiency e.g. can be addressed and bring relevant improvement. The reason is that variables directly related to the energy consumption, such as current, electric power, actuator and motor torque, speed, etc., can be timely and easily monitored in the entire plant, since they are already conveyed on the network, due to real time control and diagnostics purpose. A power consumption diagram can be derived, giving a basis for increasing the plant operation efficiency, either by a real time energy monitoring, warning for abnormal condition, or by suggesting improvements, bringing to a more efficient operation strategy After a general discussion, this paper demonstrates its potential with a practical example based on a Gantry robot, driven in an EtherCAT based automation network.