Scientists and engineers of Novosibirsk State Technical University (NETI), together with industrial partners, have developed and implemented an innovative mobile measuring system for collecting technological data in production. A unique solution that allows analyzing technological processes without stopping them has been tested for the first time at the Siberian Glass enterprise.
The complex includes a compact hardware device and specialized software, which opens up new opportunities for the digitalization of industrial enterprises. Its key advantage is versatility: the system allows you to connect up to 32 units of various measuring equipment (flow meters, pressure, temperature, level sensors) via the standard industrial RS-485 interface. The frequency of data collection is flexibly adjusted starting from 1 second. The received information is transmitted over a secure wireless channel for analysis to the NSTU-NETI cloud platform or to the local servers of the enterprise.
Siberian Glass LLC became the first industrial testing ground for the technology. With the help of the mobile complex, daily data was successfully collected from 22 compressed air lines operating at pressures from 4 to 6 bar. Measurements at various technological sites were carried out at a frequency of once per minute, which allowed us to obtain a detailed picture of the operation of the equipment in real time.
"The next stage of the work will be in—depth processing and analysis of the collected data array in our cloud center," says Alexander Dvortsevoy, project manager from NSTU-NETI, Associate Professor of the Department of Thermal Power Plants. — This will allow us to identify reserves for optimizing energy consumption and improving the efficiency of technological processes. The main advantage of our approach is a significant reduction in costs and risks compared to the installation of stationary measuring systems. We offer a fast, flexible and cost-effective solution for the initial collection of critical information."
Distinctive features of the university's development: support for any equipment with an RS-485 interface at a distance of up to 1 km via a wired line; organization of a transparent, secure and controlled wireless or wired communication channel with the server. The software presented by NSTU-NETI meets the requirements for operation as part of a critical information infrastructure (CII) and is compatible with various operating systems. Thanks to the "turn on and work" principle, the complex does not require special installation skills. The deployment of the system at the facility takes no more than 15 minutes, after which the collected data immediately becomes available for monitoring in the NSTU cloud platform. This allows the company's staff to focus on information analysis rather than on complex commissioning work.
The developers plan to further improve the complex: create a module for wireless connection of sensors, as well as reduce the size of the device for even greater mobility and ease of use.