Dr.-Ing. Benjamin Küster

Whether transporting salt, sugar or any other bulk material, belt conveyors are ideal for achieving a continuous mass flow. Important components of belt conveyors are idlers. These support the belt and the bulk material on it. The Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover (IPH) has developed a test rig for the examination of idlers.

idlers, rollers, bulk material handling

A product-dependent, individual process development represents a main cost driver in laser material processing. Therefore, the expert system SmQL is being developed in an FQS-funded project, in which process knowledge can be stored in a formalized form and represented in rule form. This is intended to minimize times for setup processes and secure knowledge in the company in the long term.

expert system, industry 4.0, laser materials processing

Quality assurance methods are a central success factor for the further industrialization of additive manufacturing. In the IGF research project "Optical quality inspection for extrusion 3D printing (Quali3D)", a testing system is therefore being developed which monitors the quality of the additive process layer by layer. This should enable a comprehensive evaluation.

3D printing, additive manufacturing, optical metrology, image processing

The structured and future-orientated planning of factory layouts is an important factor in maintaining the competitive ability. However, conventional planning methods with 2D Layouts reach their limits because they can no longer map the increasingly complex factory structures in detail. Alternatives are offered by 360° environmental scanning methods, which currently only serve as a template for postmodeling. This article presents a method for planning directly in the factory image. The aim is to make the factory planning process more effective and less error-prone.

3D-factory layout, factory planning, production planning, point cloud, point cloud processing

This article shows how the abilities known to humans to be flexible and adapt to changing environmental conditions, which are reflected in human cognitive characteristics, can be transferred to industrial trucks in intralogistics. As examples for the implementation of Industry 4.0 in intralogistics, technologies are presented that enable industrial trucks to recognize their environment, communicate information, draw conclusions, act autonomously, make decisions, learn or plan. These capabilities will be realized by an optical positioning system for position determination, camera-based storage/retrieval support and sensor technology integrated into tires, as well as novel forms of interaction for industrial trucks in the form of speech and gestures.

automated guided vehicle, augmented reality, smart glasses

Driverless transport systems are a building block for more efficient production systems in intralogistics, but have weaknesses in human-machine interaction. In a complex research project, a voice-based assignment is being developed, among other things, which is intended to make human-machine interaction more intuitive and increase its acceptance.

automated guided vehicle, augmented reality, smart glasses, voice control

Belt conveyor systems are an excellent way of conveying bulk material. With increasing load and transport distance, these systems become larger and energy efficiency becomes an important factor. Rollers are an integral part of belt conveyor systems. The running behaviour of idlers during operation has an impact on the energy efficiency of the entire system. The development of driven idlers is seen as one way to reduce the energy consumption of belt conveyor systems. This contribution shows that the investigation of conventional and driven idlers under different conditions is necessary and that a test rig for the investigation of these idlers has been developed at the Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover.

idlers, rollers, driven idler, bulk material handling

Drones are often used in outdoor areas. Though drone are able to do more, e.g. to measure and digitalize the indoor layout structure of production environments. Further more it is possible to plan the production structure directly in the digital model with image processing algorithms. The combination of both step allows a faster and more efficient production planning process. 

drone, layoutscan, production planning, digitalization

Abstract: For factory planning projects the layout capturing and layout processing process need a huge amount of effort, because they are typically done by hand. These processes could be accelerated and optimized by using a drone and automated analysis algorithms. Furthermore, this article shows a way to raise the digitization level for industrial processes. The key aspect lies on the usage of a drone in indoor environment and the processing of three-dimensional point cloud models for factory planning processes.

drone, factory planning, 3D-factory layout, object recognition

Driverless transport systems (AGV-Systems) are an established and effective instrument for increasing the profitability of modern production plants and making intralogistical processes more efficient. In addition to a master control system and a communication system, driverless transport vehicles (AGVs) are among the main components of an AGV-System. In relation to manually controlled industrial trucks, automated AGVs are characterised by higher efficiency. The disadvantage of AGV-Systems is that they are not able to solve critical operating situations independently. In this case, extensive intervention by specialist personnel is required.
With the aim of overcoming these obstacles, the project "Mobile Human-Machine Interaction for commissioning and control of AGV-Systems (MobiMMI)" was developed. In this project, the human-machine interaction between an operator and an AGV is to be extended by the use of a speech and gesture-based system in order to make the intervention by the operator easier and more intuitive and thus significantly reduce the acquisition and operating costs of AGV-Systems.
Against the background of safety, ergonomics, user-friendliness and integrability, a mobile system will be developed for this purpose and equipped with various sensors for 3D detection of the environment, indoor positioning and multimodal communication. The recorded data is evaluated by means of computer vision and machine learning, enabling the operator to react quickly and easily to critical operating situations.

automated guided vehicle, human-machine-interface

Belt conveyor systems are an excellent way to handle bulk material. As loads and distances increase, those systems become bigger and energy efficiency becomes an important factor. The energy consumption of belt conveyor systems is primary determined by the drive power. The drive power is the sum of the main drive power and the power of all intermediate drives, if present. The implementation of driven support rollers allows to reduce the load on the conventional drive based at the head of a conveyor system, by splitting it to multiple driven rollers. The main drive can be build smaller, which leads to a lower energy consumption and therewith to cost savings during the production. Furthermore, driven rollers enable the concept of modular belt conveyor systems, what would be impossible with the conventional head drives. This gives planners more flexibility for engineering new or modifying existing conveyor systems.

Despite the great opportunities and promising characteristics of driven rollers, they yet have not been used in daily operation. Without having sufficient knowledge about the behavior of driven rollers under certain conditions, as heat or cold, and the economic efficiency of them, the benefit is questioned. To bridge the lack of knowledge, investigations and research need to be done. A test rig for driven rollers is indispensable to develop this technology into a marketable commodity. At the same time a test process needs to be implemented.

This paper gives an overview about driven rollers and an accurate insight in the development of a test rig for investigating driven rollers. With this test rig, the use of driven rollers can be simulated under certain climatic conditions. Moreover, different loads and speeds can also be simulated by using state-of-the-art technology.

Driven roller, belt conveyor system, energy efficiency, test rig, cost savings

In this paper, the validation of an inductive sensor for an energy self-sufficient sensor for condition monitoring of wet-running steel disc clutches in marine gearboxes is presented. For a reliable operation of these a permanent monitoring of their state is advisable. As part of condition-based maintenance, more and more sensors are being installed in machines. Reliability becomes even more important when people are endangered by possible failure of the machines. In shipping, it is essential that, for example, the powertrain and thus the transmission are in perfect condition. In case of long distance traveling, wear or even damage of important components has to be known so that maintenance can be carried out proactively. To address this need an energy self-sufficient and wireless sensor network is developed. Miniaturized sensor nodes monitor torque, rotational speeds, temperatures as well as the wear condition of the torque transmitting components. The energy needed to operate these sensors is obtained from the surrounding environment. Thus, the system operates wirelessly and without an external energy supply, whereby the installation and maintenance costs decrease significantly. In addition to the concept of sensor integration in the transmission, the energy harvesting concept is also described in more detail. Finally, measurements are taken in a gear-like environment and the behavior of a magnetoinductive sensor in a not constantly supplied situation has been examined.

ship, gearbox, wear, sensor, torque

This paper describes the development and prototypical implementation of an energy self-sufficient sensor for condition monitoring of wet-running steel disc clutches in marine gearboxes. For the precise control of an automated system and the monitoring of its performance, the knowledge about the possible wear is an essential prerequisite. In addition, the storage of sensor data over the life of the system offers the possibility of long-term condition monitoring. The combination with various other technological components creates a solution that enables cost-effective condition monitoring of marine gearboxes. Compared to existing systems, for example, the costs for installation and maintenance are significantly reduced. Both the methodology from the morphological box to the fine concept as well as the first measurements of the sensors are presented.

automated system, condition monitoring, metrology, clutch, gearbox

Structured factory planning is a key to ensure the competitiveness concerning to the increasing pressure from globalization and the high market dynamic. Companies though avoid to do factory planning projects, because of the high effort. For this reason, the processes of factory layout capture and factory layout assessment are in need of improvement in order to increase the efficiency, which will be achieved through new technologies and a semi automation of the processes.

factory planning, drone, photgrammetry, laserscan, image data processing

Energy requirements of belt conveyor systems are essentially determined by the necessary drive power, which is composed of the main drive and intermediate drives. The use of driven support rollers reduces the load on the conventional drive at the head of conveyor systems. Thus, the drive can be build smaller, which can lead to energy and cost savings. In contrast to conventional head drives, driven rollers enable the implementation of modular conveyor systems. The theoretical possibilities and consequences of driven rollers are promising. Due to a lack of knowledge regarding the economic efficiency and behavior under certain conditions, driven rollers have not yet been integrated into real operation. In order to investigate the behavior of driven rollers and to ensure the introduction into practice, test stands are indispensable. This paper presents the concept of driven rollers and, on this basis, the development of a test stand for investigating these rollers.

driven roller, test rig, belt conveyor, energy efficiency

An essential component of belt conveyor systems are the support idlers. Particularly in bulk material handling systems, which are used in demanding terrain with numerous gradients as well as under extreme environmental conditions in tropical and arctic regions, they are exposed to considerable stress. The steadily growing flow rates mean higher loads and speeds for the support idlers. This trend is countered by new drive concepts. For example, belt-driven conveyor systems with internally installed motors are used.

Within a research project, the IPH is developing a dual measuring system that can be used to test both conventional bearing rollers and driven bearing rollers.

driven idlers, test rig, efficiency of conveying systems

In complaint management, 8D reports are used to document the analysis and elimination of errors. However, the quality of these reports is often insufficient and leads to longer processing times and the repetition of errors. The newly developed evaluation system QuSys enables an automated check of 8D reports.

complaints, quality, evaluation system, errors, 8D reports

Regarding the handling of complaints by customers, 8D reports are used for analysis and correction of errors that occur in the production process. However, the quality of these reports is often inadequate and leads to longer processing time and errors. Due to time and capacity restrictions in most cases, 8D reports undergo inadequate internal quality testing. Consequently, the aim of optimizing internal processing fails and poor 8D reports with insufficient solutions are sent to the customer. In this paper, we describe problems with faulty 8D reports in detail, and then present a system that automates quality checking of 8D reports based on these facts. This paper focusses on the basic structure of the developed system and how it improves the quality level of 8D reports within the complaint handling process.

complaint, quality management, 8D method, 8D report

8D-reports are used to analyze and eliminate errors. Often the quality of 8D-reports is poor and leads to long processing times and problems in sustainable trouble shooting. An automated evaluation system helps to identify quality problems. It prevents companies from sending poor 8D-reports to their customers.

quality management, complaint handling, 8D-report, quality evaluation, evaluation method

In this presentation the research project "Quality system for the evaluation of 8D report contents (QuSys)" was introduced. The objectives of the research project are the effective organization of complaint management and the internal fault management due to an automated quality evaluation of 8D reports. The evaluation allows to take well-directed measures and prevents that faulty 8D reports are sent to the customer.

claims management, reports, quality evaluation