Machine health: an easy way to analyze vibrations

Bosch Rexroth is set to showcase its intelligent vibration analysis solution IVAS at Agritechnica. The compact sensor package delivers valuable live information to help ensure increased machine availability in off-highway applications as well as in agricultural facilities and industrial plants. IVAS uses modern sensor technology and edge analytics to work out the relevant structure-borne noise properties of rotating components for further analysis in control units, master computers or the cloud. In accordance with the smart data principle, only relevant properties are transmitted to a cloud solution (e.g. Bosch Rexroth’s Connected Off-Highway Solution COS). IVAS can be seamlessly connected to various different front ends via a connectivity control unit and corresponding software in order to monitor machine health. As part of such an overall solution, anomalies are made visible and further trend analyses provide an opportunity, for example, to optimize maintenance processes and the handling of spare parts.

As part of the integrated analysis functions, the automatic frequency analysis eliminates a major hurdle that would otherwise hinder measurements of structure-borne noise from being carried out. Because IVAS writes the root mean squares of the vibrations in the form of a message that is easy to read on the CAN bus, technicians no longer need to assess large amounts of raw data using external Fourier transforms. Instead, they can directly assign frequency anomalies to individual cases of damage and define the next steps to be taken.

Complete stack for a diverse range of applications

IVAS is suitable for analyzing the vibrations of rotating systems, from typical off-highway components such as hydraulic pumps right through to fixed industrial or agricultural applications. Depending on requirements, IVAS can be both an enabler and part of an end-to-end solution. Bosch Rexroth, together with Bosch, provides a complete stack for this consisting of various different modules. It covers sensor hardware and embedded software including a connectivity control unit as well as edge analytics and cloud services. 

Seamless connection to cloud front ends

In a typical deployment scenario, the information gathered and pre-assessed by IVAS is transmitted via a connectivity control unit to a cloud solution. Where necessary, vehicle data and trends can be visualized and sensors and other IoT devices can be managed there. Bosch Rexroth’s Connected Off-Highway Solution COS is one such cloud solution and was developed together with Bosch. From there, information can be retrieved even from other cloud solutions, via the REST interface for example. 

Efficient sensor cube with CAN interface

Bosch Rexroth deploys the Bosch Group’s cutting-edge MEMS technology for the IVAS sensor and hence achieves optimum performance values. For high-precision measurements of structure-borne noise the little cube, measuring 36x36x34.1 mm³ and featuring a 5-pin M12 CAN interface, houses a temperature sensor, a 1-axis accelerometer with 20-kHz bandwidth and sensitivity of 200 mg as well as a 3-axis accelerometer with 3-kHz bandwidth and sensitivity down to 0.06 mg. When it is connected, protection class IP67 is achieved to ensure reliable operations under off-highway conditions. The measurement range of the temperature sensor runs from -40 °C to 105 °C.