ARGUS: Applications

Data acquisition in the automotive industry

In the engine research department piston rings will be measured on its attrition. In period interval the piston rings will be removed out of the engine and measured. The measurement is done with high precision shaft encoders.

The actual measurement data will be stored and can be compared with the data from the previous measurements. So you will get an expressive section about the attrition of the piston rings in their whole lifetime cycle.

The measurement results can be analyzed and documented with the ARGUS analyzing tools very easy and convenient. The inscription and comment of the measurement data will be done comfortable in the ARGUS side view. The finished reports can be copied in the existing office-applications.

Plant monitoring in steel production facilities

ARGUS is used for monitoring, troubleshooting and quality assurance in rolling mills, wide strip mills, tandem mills, pickling lines, continuous annealing lines, coating plants and inspection facilities. Signal connection may be centralized, or decentralized via Profibus which may optionally be DC-decoupled.

The system can record not only motor currents, rotation speeds, forces and torque, but also temperature, pressure and a great number of digital inputs. Data can be acquired at high frequency for troubleshooting purposes, at the same time as data is being recorded with a low sampling rate for the purpose of quality assurance.

Measurement data archives of serveral terabytes can be managed on suitable server systems. From any PC thoughout the network the measurement data can be online observed and analysed.

ARGUS can help diagnose and locate even complex downtime conditions by combining fully continuous recording with comprehensive facilities for searching the entire database for freely definable events.

Automation of test stands in the aircraft industry

On four test stands, fuel-pumps and -controllers are tested for civil and military gas turbine power units. On the test stands prefabricate assembled pumps and controllers, e.g. Eurofighter or Tornado, are periodical tested at the high military requirements. As essential part of the quality assurance the test comprises a calibration and a complete test for the final inspection. The test stands allows the simulation of many different conditions of operation by setting pressures, revolutions, current controls, etc. Under the consideration of comparing nominal value with actual value, a calibration facilities changes the parameters of the fuel controller to the effect that the corresponding measurement data are inside the range of tolerance.

The digital PID-loop (DDC - Digital Direct Control) operates with a constant acquisition rate of 20 ms, independent from the system stress. Even at faults in the order of events on the host PC, the PID-controller which controls the process parameters remains fully functioning. The intelligent decentralized MAX5dip-systems allow the online optimization of all PID-controllers, i.e. the controller parameters are changeable whilst operation is in progress.

At the final inspection the test program passes defined sequences according to the testing instruction. The results are used as the certification for workability, reliability and reproduction of all functions of the test parts. For the customer in the aircraft industry all detailed test protocols must be put into archives and these protocols must be available for lifetime of the test parts.

Quality control in the foto optic

At squeeze, pump and flask pump machines decentralized data acquisition system with ARGUS and MAX6pci and MAX5dip are used for quality assurance and cost-cutting. There is a wide range of the user-spectrum, from the operator in the plant monitoring, over the the process engineer in the quality assurance to the developer in the process analysis. From this an additional feature of SORCUS-systems follows, the specific determination of ratio-potencial. Within the scope of a awarded suggestion of improvement with ARGUS a saving of EUR 250,000 came achieve.

On the first systems the signals were acquired and processed via analog and digital inputs. Meanwhile almost all signals are acquired via PROFIBUS. Here both master and slave connections are realized. Via RS-485 interfaces vacuum pumps are read and controlled.

For the new systems the decentralized intelligent peripheral (MAX5dip) is used. In this use the PC is not to be at he place where the measurement data must be acquired or the process must be controlled. With the compact DiPs the signal source is comming to the measurement position. Short signals paths mean less interference and lower cabling costs. The connection to the PC is realized via Ethernet or wireless-lan.

Among the normal limit value monitoring on infringement on exceeding or falling below a configureable thresholt value the ARGUS function generator sets wrapping curves. On the infringement of the wrapping curve range an action like setting an output or sending an SMS / pager can be released.

Remote monitoring of power station boilers

The owner of power stations calls increasingly for a availability-guarantee and frequently even an active monitoring through the suppliers. In the case of breakdowns the suppliers are liable for the arising costs more or less.

In this application the location of customer and supplier are several hundred kilometers apart. To analyse and repair breakdowns as fast as possible, remote monitoring and remote diagnosis was established. At the customer location single MAX5dip-system acquires all signals. The measurement data is saved in circulating buffer archives for a long time. The service engineer is able to log into the system via modem at any time and read the data.

After the transfer the data can be analyzed with ARGUS fast and easily. Thus draw near calcification of burner lances can be recognized soon enough to take steps.

Should a breakdown yet happen, the system transmits the last data set independently to a defined address via modem. Additional a SMS / pager-message can be send as information.