Gearbox
Sensors on an industrial gearbox record load, temperature and operating behaviour while it runs. Operators see early on when a gearbox is overheating or damage is developing, and plan maintenance and spare parts before the plant stops.
Gearbox at a glance
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Verified projects featuring Gearbox
Predictive maintenance for wind turbines
Less downtime and more transparency in production
Support operators during machine maintenance
Industrial gearbox monitoring: detect damage before downtime
For ZF Friedrichshafen’s wind turbine gearboxes, operating data flows via Microsoft Azure with IoT Hub, Stream Analytics and SQL into a live data view from which the gearbox’s behaviour can be predicted. On grinding plants for ore and broken glass, sensors measure the load on the gearboxes, plus vibration on the motors and hydraulic pressure on the grinding rollers. An industrial PC pre-processes the data and sends it via cellular network to Siemens MindSphere. GROB connects machine tools to a cloud platform via the GROB4Line module, wired or wireless, and reports technical problems by app or email.
The examples come from energy, mechanical engineering and manufacturing, mostly as condition monitoring or predictive maintenance. Thanks to the data, ZF knows in advance which part needs replacing when damage occurs and can extend the service life of its gearboxes. A manufacturer of grinding plants uses the MaintApp developed by seioTec to give customers maintenance guidance and avoid problems during the warranty period. At GROB, on-call staff keep an eye on the machines even at weekends. In episode #22, SEW-EURODRIVE uses Wuppermann AG as an example to explain how a cloud solution monitors gearbox bearings and gear teeth.
Podcast episodes featuring Gearbox
IoT-Data Science – how scalable implementation and integration works
Added values for flat steel production and Pay per x
The voice from the midmarket – What does a successful IoT strategy from the OT to the IT world look like? | Frank Seiferth | seioTec GmbH
Industrial gearbox monitoring: frequently asked questions
How does early damage detection help plan industrial gearbox repair?
Repairs can be planned because gearbox damage shows up in the operating data long before the gearbox fails. Sensors record load, temperature or the condition of bearings and gear teeth, and a platform compares the values with normal behaviour. ZF Friedrichshafen uses data from its wind turbine gearboxes to make predictions in this way and knows in advance which part needs to be replaced if damage occurs.
How is a wind turbine gearbox monitored?
A wind turbine gearbox is monitored remotely by connecting the turbine to a cloud platform. This matters because the turbines are spread around the world and hard to access due to their height. ZF Friedrichshafen and doubleSlash use Microsoft Azure for this. A live data view shows how the gearbox behaves in actual operation and allows predictive intervention before a failure occurs.
Why does gearbox condition monitoring matter during unattended operation?
Because an overheated gearbox brings the machine to a standstill, often precisely when nobody is around. In many plants, automated production runs in three shifts and unattended at weekends. GROB therefore connects its machine tools to a cloud platform: the GROB4Line app shows the machine’s status and condition and reports technical problems to on-call staff by push notification or email.
How does IoT support industrial gearbox maintenance?
IoT makes industrial gearbox maintenance plannable because load and condition are measured continuously instead of estimated. On a German manufacturer’s grinding plants, sensors record the gearbox load and the data is sent via cellular network to Siemens MindSphere. Through the MaintApp, the manufacturer sees which maintenance work has been carried out and informs operators about necessary actions. The collected data is a first step towards predictive maintenance.
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Air conditioning system
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