Augmented Reality Based Machine Monitoring for Legacy Machines: a retrofitting use case

Abstract

Monitoring a machine and the insight it provides for appropriate maintenance is of prime importance for the modern industry. While this is fully supported in Industry 4.0, many manufacturing units today are unable to use its technologies. One of the major reasons behind that is the lack of onboard sensors to capture and communicate appropriate data from a legacy machine. Retrofitting is considered an efficient solution to include legacy machines in an industry 4.0 ecosystem by adding external sensing and connectivity. As a proof of concept, in this paper we consider an induction motor for retrofitting, a major component of any manufacturing unit. We further show how retrofitting can help in making legacy machines compliant to the new technologies from Industry 4.0. Finally, visualization of the collected data is performed over a web based Augmented Reality application. The choice for a web-based Augmented Reality application was made to enable monitoring of the sensor data over a multitude of devices.

Maintenance Performance in the Age of Industry 4.0: A Bibliometric Performance Analysis and a Systematic Literature Review

“…The introduction of a generic use case in the context of retrofitting and visualization of the data for real-time monitoring using a web-based AR application is given in [ 226 ].…”

Manufacturing equipment retrofitting towards Industry 4.0 standards — a systematic overview of the literature

“…As a consequence of the modifications, the current version of the air-conditioning system allows for automatic control of the air conditioners considering outdoor conditions and detection of the people using them, thus saving energy. Kancharla et al (2021) presented a retrofitting application using three current sensors and three voltage sensors for an induction motor, additionally visualising the measurements using an augmented reality application.…”

“…Al-Maeeni et al (2020) presented the possibility of using HoloLens goggles as navigation support during the machine startup for the end user. Another example of using augmented reality is the retrofitting of an engine in a manufacturing system, described by Kancharla et al (2021). The collected data is visualised using a dedicated web-based application.…”