The fourth industrial revolution, often in connection with keywords like “Smart Factory” or “Internet of Things”, makes great demands on modern manufacturing plants.
On the one hand plenty of data from the production become directly accessible and therefore open the door for faster, better, and more affordable production processes. On the other hand this volume of data requires completely new analysis algorithms and handling strategies to tap the full potential. Hence, it is by no means enough to just measure the data and file it.
Cognitive Measuring
The real challenge starts afterwards. It lies in the processing and interpretation of this data to gain useful information and make concrete decisions. This is what QASS calls “cognitive measuring technique”: informative interpretation of measuring data while they are still being collected.
The technology to master this challenging task is the patented high-frequency-impulse-measurement (HFIM). It is a specific method of acoustic emission analysis. It performs a frequency analysis of the recorded sound amlitudes during the measuring, usually via fast Fourier transformation. With this method you are gathering information in-process not only about the sound level of the process you are measuring, but also about the frequency distribution.
Easy distinction between interference and signal
This enables the easy distinction between interfering signals (e. g. machine noise) and process relevant signals (e. g. crack occurrences or tool wearout), even if those are considerably weaker than the interfering signals. In-line quality control, predictive maintenance and process documentation – the HFIM technology is available for various industrial production processes.