igus develops smart plastics app for Fanuc FIELD system

In order to be able to evaluate data from machines and systems centrally, Fanuc has announced an open industrial IoT platform called the FIELD system. The company says the system can connect production machines of all manufacturers by means of a local network topology, enabling data analysis for the entire process chain. In this infrastructure, apps from Fanuc and also from third-party suppliers are used. One of the third-party suppliers supporting the system is igus, which has developed a smart plastics app for the FIELD system. The app can be used by maintenance personnel to monitor the condition of their igus components, for example, energy chains and cables.

Networking is the current buzzword where predictive maintenance and Industry 4.0 are concerned. The Fanuc Intelligent Edge Link & Drive system (FIELD) was presented by the company for the first time in Europe at EMO. With the FIELD system, production machines can be networked with each other. It can work on premise or, in the future, with a cloud link. The system collects and analyses the machine data onsite. The operating data and sensor data of the machines can therefore be gathered centrally via only one server and viewed whenever necessary.

Fanuc says that efficiency is easy to monitor, production processes can be accelerated and maintenance work can be planned. Due to the openness of the platform, all machines can be connected to the system.

The igus smart plastics app, once integrated, can be used to monitor the condition of energy chains and cables at any time and can also plan maintenance work well in advance. In the future, the condition of slewing rings, as well as linear and plain bearings, will also be monitored with the app.

Under the name isense, igus carries sensors of various kinds that detect the condition of igus components. They measure, among other things, the wear during operation and alert the user early enough to plan repair or replacement. The icom.plus communication module provides the igus data via an integrated OPC-UA server. This data is then fed into the platform by means of the FANUC Converter.

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“Due to the openness of the FIELD system, the customer can now use the data and service life statements of all igus products in a protected local network environment,” explained Richard Habering, Head of the Smart Plastics Business Unit at igus GmbH. “The igus smart plastics app tells the maintenance technician when they should carry out the next maintenance. Unscheduled machine downtime can be avoided.”

The FIELD system apps, like the igus smart plastics app, can be downloaded by the user from the FIELD system app store. Here, customers can choose their desired software solutions themselves.

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