Sooner or later, the mechanical loads in energy chains change the transmission properties of bus cables. In addition to linear travel paths, this also applies to three-dimensional movements, such as hose packages on robots. The result: disruptions in data transmission or even unforeseen system failures.

The concept that the motion plastics specialist Igus has now presented makes it possible to detect any impairment of the Chainflex bus cable used in good time. The system consists of an evaluation unit and a response module. These are inserted at the beginning and end of the mechanically loaded bus cable. The evaluation unit is usually placed in the control cabinet on the fixed point side, the response module in the distribution box on the driver side. Special data packets are transmitted between the two for measurement purposes and the line quality is permanently evaluated based on the increasing number of lost or damaged packets. If a predefined value is exceeded, the customer is alerted by a yellow LED and the switching of a contact. This warning threshold can also be queried via the connected network and the current situation displayed in a web browser. Exceeding a second warning threshold is signaled by a red LED and indicates a bus transmission failure so that the fault can be quickly localized by looking into the control cabinet.

For the first time, the system makes it possible to monitor a line in dynamic operation without additional measuring wires or sacrificial lines. CF.D integrates into the isense environment for predictive maintenance. Igus has had a product family under this name in its range since 2016, in which various sensors and monitoring modules make motion plastics products such as energy chains, cables, linear guides and rotary table bearings intelligent. Among other things, they detect wear during operation and issue an alarm as soon as a repair or replacement is required. Networking using the Igus communication module (icom) will enable online status display with alarm options, for example via PC, tablet or smartphone, as well as direct integration into the company-wide infrastructure. These smart plastics are already predicting a long service life in numerous customer applications, such as in the automotive industry. pb