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Procedia Manufacturing 11 (2017) 1120 – 1126

27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, FAIM2017,

27-30 June 2017, Modena, Italy

Decentralized Data Analytics for Maintenance in Industrie 4.0

Eckart Uhlmanna,b*, Abdelhakim Laghmouchia, Claudio Geiserta, Eckhard Hohwielera
a
Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology – IPK Berlin, Germany
b
Institute for Machine Tools and Factory Management IWF - Technische Universität Berlin, Germany

Abstract

Due to the increased digital networking of machines and systems in the production area, large datasets are
generated. In addition, more external sensors are installed at production systems to acquire data for production and
maintenance optimization purposes. Therefore, data analytics and interpretation is one of the challenges in Industrie
4.0 applications. Reliable analysis of data (e.g. internal and external sensors) , such as system-internal alarms and
messages produced during the operation, can be used to optimize production and maintenance processes.
Furthermore, information and knowledge can be extracted from raw data and used to develop data-driven business
models and services, e.g. offer new availability contracts for production systems. This paper illustrates an approach
for decentralized data analytics based on smart sensor networks.
©
© 2017
2017TheTheAuthors.
Authors.Published
Publishedbyby
Elsevier B.V.B.V.
Elsevier This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and
IntelligentManufacturing
Intelligent Manufacturing.

Keywords: Industrie 4.0, data analytics, algorithms, classifier, production systems.

1. Introduction

The increased use of complex highly automated and networked production systems, demands that enterprises
rethink their implemented maintenance strategy. The downtime of production systems causes not only repair costs
but also high failure follow-up costs because of the production interruption. The downtime costs accrue mostly from

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: uhlmann@iwf.tu-berlin.de

2351-9789 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing
doi:10.1016/j.promfg.2017.07.233
 Eckart Uhlmann et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 11 (2017) 1120 – 1126 1121

the reaction time of the system manufacturer from the receipt of the fault report till the on-site operation, which can
take a couple of working days. Furthermore, the non-availability of spare parts or needed tools and difficulties of
diagnosis complicate rapid repair.
In addition, a significant part of the operative costs of a machine tool in the industrial environment is caused by
maintenance activities. According to Abele et al. [1], the costs for maintenance work and unplanned repair of
machine tools in Germany makes around 46 % of the operating costs. These costs depend especially on the industrial
sector.
Condition-based maintenance offers an opportunity to reduce the machine downtime and thereby increases the
machine availability. Due to high variety of monitoring tasks in industrial environment, condition monitoring
systems available on the market are not flexible in use and they are also expensive. The main reason for this lies in
the various monitoring applications. This requires not only expensive and usually wired industrial sensors to ensure a
high quality of the data recorded but also robust analysis algorithms. This represents one of the greatest challenges
for implementation of condition monitoring in the industrial environment. In addition, the retrofitting of already
existing production systems with a condition monitoring system is very demanding and costly.
According to a study by McKinsey [2], predictive maintenance is one of the main application fields of the IoT.
The development of new sensor technologies such as MEMS sensor (MEMS - micro-electro-mechanical systems)
and IoT system (IoT - Internet of Things) such as Raspberry Pi offer great potential to enable production machine for
condition based monitoring using low-cost sensors. The ability of the MEMS sensor for condition monitoring
applications were investigated in different research works [10,12,13].
Industrie 4.0 is the major topic of the German industry to contribute to the competitiveness of the industry
companies and to ensure steady growth. One of the key focuses of Industrie 4.0 is the digitally networked production
by networking of systems, tools, processes and products with each other and also with suppliers and customers. The
essential component of the networked production is based on electronic systems for data acquisition and processing
[3].
This paper illustrates a concept for decentralized data analytics. The basic elements of this concept are the single-
board computers such as Raspberry Pi, MEMS vibration sensors and IoT communication technologies. Moreover,
the decentralized data analytics by means of machine learning algorithms for data processing and pattern recognition
will be presented using exemplary applications.

2. Concept

2.1. Decentralized data analysis

The aim of this concept is to develop and install a smart sensor network in production systems. This sensor
network contains a number of nodes and is based on simple electronic components such as single-board computers,
and low-cost MEMS vibration sensors from the consumer sector. The basic idea of this sensor network is to mount a
MEMS vibration sensor at each critical component such as a ball screw in the machine tool. The vibration data
acquired by MEMS sensors are processed using a single-board Computer Raspberry Pi. In a production system
several critical and wear-susceptible components should be monitored. Each sensor node acts independently from
the other network nodes. The Data acquisition and processing run at the sensor node level using a combination of
various data analysis methods and algorithms. Only the results calculated at the sensor node are submitted to the
cloud, where the information from each node is combined to provide the condition of the whole production system
including each component. The data analysis process consists of four steps. After vibration data at each critical
component are acquired with appropriate sampling rate, the analysis process starts. First step is the raw data pre-
processing using different signal processing methods such as filtering and signal transformation. Next step is the
feature extraction and selection. In this step, a number of features such as statistical values (e.g. variance) and form-
describing values (e.g. kurtosis) are calculated. Suitable features for several applications and components are
determined in a previous analysis based on the approach presented in [4,5]. In the last step, the classification on the
extracted features is done to the associated damage class. These classes have to be identified in a previous
investigation, where the data representation of each damage class is created. The classification is made using
different machine learning algorithms. Each sensor node is able to communicate wirelessly with the data
1122 Eckart Uhlmann et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 11 (2017) 1120 – 1126

management system in the cloud [10]. Depending on the application, extracted features or classification results can
be transmitted to the cloud server. Different services based on the data analysis in the cloud can be provided for
various stakeholders involved in the production such as maintenance planners. Via smart mobile devices these
services can be reached from anywhere. Fig. 1 shows the implementation of a sensor network for a monitoring
application in the production environment.
Fig.1 shows the installation of presented solution for decentralized data analysis in the production environment
based on single-board computers and MEMS vibration sensors. This solution can act as a sensor network and can be
used for condition monitoring application at production machines to enable them for predictive maintenance.
This solution uses for communication the ZigBee protocol that enables the data exchange between the each
sensor node and the gateway. The basic idea of this solution is to analyze acquired sensor data in close proximity to
the components to be monitored in a production system. This solution can be implemented at existing machine using
external MEMS sensors, for example to measure vibration at rotating machine parts such as ball crew and roller
bearings. This approach allowed implementation of monitoring application at production machine without using
internal sensor information of the PLC of the machine.

CMMS
Gateway

Environment
PLC

Production
*)

*) Source of the Machine Tool:

Schaudt Mikrosa GmbH
CMMS: Computerized Maintenance Management Systems

Fig. 1. Decentralized data analysis using a smart sensor network [11]

2.2. Communication architecture

The communication architecture implemented for the centralized data analysis in the production environment is
shown in Fig. 2. The data acquisition is realized using a MEMS vibration sensors and a single-board computer
Raspberry Pi Zero. Both components represent a sensor node of the implemented sensor network. The data analysis
process on the sensor node level consists of several steps (pre-processing, feature extraction and selection, and
classification). The extracted features and the classification results on the sensor node are transmitted to the cloud
server, where a PostgreSQL data base system for data management is implemented.
The communication between each sensor node and cloud server is realized using ZigBee protocol. ZigBee is a
M2M communication protocol (Machine-to-Machine) based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard. ZigBee offers mechanisms
for encryption and authentication of transmitted data. The communication between mobile devices and cloud server
is made using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) with the request/response procedure.
The HTTP is used to enable the communication between the mobile smart device and the cloud server where the
data management system runs. This allowed data visualization and reporting on the smart device from different
providers using several Internet browsers.
 Eckart Uhlmann et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 11 (2017) 1120 – 1126 1123

The data management system is realized using the object-relational data base system PostgreSQL. This database
concept supports using of a large variety of managed data that allowed for example sensor data, image data or
geographic maps, etc. can be stored in the database.
Fig. 2 shows the communication architecture sensor network on the machine level using the ZigBee protocol and
the communication between the machine and the cloud server using WLAN.

Cloud
Data Management
Sensor Node Services
Data Acquisition
and Data Analysis Request
http://
Response

Gateway

Smart Device
Services
Reports

Production system
Components
Sensor Network

Fig. 2. Communication architecture

3. Data analysis

The data analysis process on the sensor node level is composed of several steps, which are necessary to analyze
sensor data to detect the current condition of the target component. These steps include data pre-processing such as
signal norming, filtering, and performance of signal transformation. After the pre-processing step, feature extraction
and selection step follow. Here, statistical values in different signal domains are calculated. The classification step
assumes the mapping of the suitable features to the known failure conditions or classes. The classification is
determined using machine learning algorithms. The results (extracted features and classification finding) from each
node are transmitted to the data base system in the cloud and can be accessed using mobile smart devices. Fig. 3
illustrates the data analysis procedure on the sensor node.

Feature extraction
Data acquisition Pre-processing Classification
and selection

Feature space
-5
x 10
Component

0
10
wness (V) -0.5
5
Kurtosis (V)

Sensor node level

Fig. 3. Data analysis process on the sensor level.

1124 Eckart Uhlmann et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 11 (2017) 1120 – 1126

4. Evaluation

4.1. Experimental setup

An axis test rig was used to generate vibration data of different failure conditions on the ball screw. This axis test
rig consists of a three slide system and is part of a centerless grinding machine. This three slide system comprises of
a top slide, an inside slide and a swivel slide, which are compact installed on top of the guide system. This system
layout ensures a high degree of rigidity of the machine. The guidance with preloaded circulating roller guides
enables the movement of the axis. The axle drive is realized using a servomotor and a ball screw [6].
Fig. 4 shows the experimental setup used to evaluate the implemented sensor network.

1 a b c d

Components of the e axis test rig 2

1. Top slide
2. Unloading axis X4 3
3. Inside slide 4
4. Infeed and recessing
ssing axis X1
5. Ball screw 5
6. Guideline 6
7. Carriage
7
8. Swivel slide
9. Machine bed 8 Experimental setup
a. Data acquisition and visualization
9 computer
b. Three slide system
c. Feed drives with ball screw
d. Control cabinet with SINUMERIK
840D sl control

Ball screw
Damage class

Fig. 4. Experimental setup.

For the evaluation process of the introduced sensor network for decentralized data analysis, various damages
classes on the spindle surface were artificially created. The damage creation was performed using a laser powder
cladding technology. With the laser and without using the metal powder it was possible to create damages with
similar characteristic of a real pitting, which is a common damage of spindles and bearings. A total of 5 damages
with different diameters were produced. Following damage classes are produced: the non-fault class and the damage
classes with damage diameters of 300 µm, 500 µm, 600 µm and 800 µm. The basic idea of creating a number of
damage classes with various diameters is to evaluate the classification algorithms regarding their ability to detect
similar damages with a high accuracy. The damage classes were created according to the DIN 631 [7] (Norm of
testing conditions of roller bearing consisting of carriage and profiled rails) that describes the failure criteria of
bearings with formula (1). The parameter dd represents the damage diameter and Der describes the diameter of the
rolling elements.






(1)

This failure criterion can be used for the ball screw due to the mechanical system similarities between the ball
screws and the roller bearings. The surface roughness of the damages created is Rz = 50 µm.
 Eckart Uhlmann et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 11 (2017) 1120 – 1126 1125

For the ball screw used in this work Dre = 3.5 mm and the damage diameter that fulfil the failure criteria (1) is
dd = 1.05 mm. The sensor position is chosen near the ball screw nut according the VDI guideline VDI 3832 [8]. To
reproduce the test at the axis test rig, an NC program was implemented, which allows repeating of the tests for five
different feed rates. The NC program realizes feed rate between 1000 mm/min and 5000 mm/min for a defined
distance. The feed rate is increased after each iteration by 1000 mm/min so that five damage classes at various feed
rate can be acquired using a MEMS sensor LIS3DH [9]. The selected sampling rate for the data acquisition was
fs = 2500 Hz.

4.2. Data classification

The aim of the data classification is to identify the appropriate algorithms for the current condition monitoring
application. According to the introduced data analysis procedure on each sensor node in Fig. 2, data classification
follows the steps, “data pre-processing” and “feature extraction and selection”. In the pre-processing step, recorded
vibration data were band-pass filtered. The filter parameters were determined based on analytically calculated defect
frequencies of the spindle. Furthermore, the suitable features (standard deviation, skewness, mean) were identified
in a previous investigation [5,10]. The classification of extracted features based on machine learning algorithms is
shown in Fig. 5. This figure illustrates the comparison of obtained classification results using different algorithms
at vf = 1000 mm/min and vf = 5000 mm/min. The accuracy of applied algorithms depends on the feed rate vf. These
results can be explained by the fact that higher feed rate leads to greater system stimulation.

Process Classifier
Uniform traverse Nearest Neighbor Classifier (NNC)
movement in neutral Bayes Classifier (BC)
Feature Domain Support Vector Machine (SVM)
Time Domain Random Forest Classifier (RFC)

vf = 1000 min/min vf = 5000 min/min

100
120 100

90
% 87,5
%
Accuracy

Accuracy

75
60 75

62.5
30 62,5
62.5
500 50
NNK
NNC BC
kNN SVM RFC
eM NNC
NNK BC SVM
Bayes SVM RFC
RF
Classifier Classifier

Fig. 5. Data classification.

5. Conclusion

This article illustrates an approach for decentralized data analysis using simple electronic components such as
single-board computers Raspberry Pi and MEMS vibration sensors. Based on these components, wireless sensor
networks with distributed data analysis can be implemented that can be used for monitoring applications in different
industrial fields. Especially, the introduced approach enables already existing production machines and systems for
predictive maintenance in context of Industrie 4.0. This sensor network is connected to the cloud, where data
analysis results can be stored and managed using a data management system such as PostgreSQL. Cloud services for
condition monitoring, maintenance planning and apps for trend analysis, report generation of the current system
condition can be carried out using mobile smart devices.
Data analysis is an elementary component of Industrie 4.0, especially in particularly with regards to predictive
maintenance in the production environment. Furthermore, maintenance plays in the operating environment an
important role to ensure reliability and availability of the production machines and systems.
1126 Eckart Uhlmann et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 11 (2017) 1120 – 1126

For this purpose, the presented concept for decentralized data analysis based on single-board computers and
MEMS sensors, where the data analysis on the sensor nodes is based on machine learning algorithms offers a great
potential to implement future monitoring solution at different technical systems. For example, this presented
approach can be simply adapted to specific monitoring applications, such as production systems and auxiliary units
such as pumps or mobile systems.
Future work will focus on the development of approaches for automated configuration of data analysis process
for intelligent feature selection and classification for various monitoring applications. Moreover, other MEMS
sensors such as acoustic emission sensors and microphones will be used in the introduced sensor network for
monitoring purposes of different components and technical systems in the industrial environment.

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