A Novel Hybrid Acquisition System for Industrial Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance

A novel data acquisition system for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance of mechanical parts, machinery, and industrial plants is presented. Current commercial solutions rely on an analog architecture and a star topology, in which all transducers are connected to a centralized acquisition unit. Usually this requires long shielded cables, which are sensitive to electromagnetic disturbances, always present in industrial environments. The proposed solution makes use of a digital bus implemented on an Unshielded Twisted Pair to connect one or more Acquisition Nodes to a data storage system (e.g., a laptop or an industrial computer). The wiring is simplified, cabling cost is reduced, high disturbance rejection is obtained, at the same time ensuring synchronization between all signals, mandatory for the computation of the most advanced diagnostic metrics. The performance and effectiveness of the developed system are proved in comparison with a top-quality, laboratory-grade commercial solution. A 10-days experiment was performed on a radial bearing mounted on a bearing test bench, by employing both systems side-by-side. Early-stage damage identification will be demonstrated with the described solution, despite costing a fraction and offering numerous advantages for industrial applications with respect to products currently available on the market.