Machine Anomaly Detection And Diagnostics Solutions

 Background

The Quintaplex extruder machine is a crucial piece of equipment for tire manufacturers operating extrusion lines. This machine is used to produce long, continuous products, such as tire treads, as well as various profiles that can be cut to length. In addition to extruders, multi-roll calendars are also utilized in the production process to create wide webs.

The Quintaplex Extruder machine frequently experiences gear box unit failures, which ultimately impacts the availability of the entire extrusion unit. Relying solely on a time-based maintenance strategy is inadequate in preventing unplanned breakdowns. To increase the reliability and availability of the Quintaplex Extruder machine in the Extrusion unit, it is essential to implement real-time monitoring with early fault detection.

Deploy VIBit and iEdge360 IoT for real-time monitoring and early fault detection to improve Quintaplex Extruder's reliability and availability in the Extrusion unit.

Our solution enabled a leading Tire Manufacturer achieve the following results

Deployment

VIBit Edge IoT sensors were installed on the Motor DE, NDE & Gear box I/P DE,NDE bearings of the Quintaplex Extruder.

To monitor the machine's health, VIBit collects triaxial vibration and temperature readings every 10 seconds and transmits them to the iEdge 360 cloud via the plant's Wi-Fi and

4G communications.

The machine anomaly detection and diagnostics solution, VIBit and the iEdge 360 IoT platform, are used to monitor the condition of the Quintaplex extruder in real time. It enables early detection of anomalies using various AI/ML-based models.

The customer success team and subject matter experts analyze the machine parameters and various graphs and share corrective and preventive actions with the extrusion line maintenance team.

Early detection of problems with the gearbox input and end bearing saved unplanned downtime and production losses in the extrusion unit.

Insights

Overall vibration, RMS velocity & acceleration (3-direction) and high alerts were detected on Gearbox Input Drive End bearing.

Customer Success and Subject Matter Experts

The customer success team and subject matter experts began monitoring vibration trends, FFT, and time waveform as the severity of the risk was normal through Feb 15. But on Feb 16, vibration increased in the horizontal direction. The FFT and time waveform indicated rotational loosening/bearing problems. The same result was also found in the ADR.

Observation

In the FFT, a dovetailing frequency with sidebands was observed. In the temporal waveform, some effects on the gear input bearing DE were observed

Recommendations

Check for excessive play between rotating and stationary elements of the machine, such as bearings, for immediate action.

AI/ML in Action

Fault Type: Rotating Looseness

Diagnostic:

Gearbox Input Drive end The synchronous energy at 1x and multiples of running speed increased and the Sub-synchronous energy at 0.5x slightly increased. Likely the Rotating Looseness is diagnosed.

Gearbox Input Drive end Check the excessive clearance between rotating and stationery elements of the machine such as bearing on immediate action. Also, inspect for the abnormalities of other rotating elements of the machine, like Bearings.

The automatic diagnosis and recommendation algorithm detected a high degree of rotational looseness/bearing problems and recommended inspection of the gearbox.

Early Detection and Maintenance

Inspection of the machine and repair could be carried out during non-production hours. They found clearance in a bearing. They replaced the Gearbox Input DE bearing during the routine maintenance activity to avoid unplanned downtime.

Action:

After the maintenance activity, the vibration levels decreased from a critical state to a normal state.

Benefits

Increased reliability and availability of equipment

Improved efficiency and productivity

Real-time monitoring provides machine health status