IoT Solutions
Industry 4.0
The main challenge of every business regarding Industry 4.0 is the collection of quality data, providing intelligence and reliability to the manufacturing processes and nurturing the KPI’s of each decisión level. This applies not only to industrial & food manufacturing but also to logistics.
The direct connection to the productive processes using the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and also to the devices and control tools is the cornerstone of the Digital Transformation of the modern industry.
The challenge of modern industry
Modern Industry’s main challenge is to improve its competitiveness, optimizing the production processes with efficient and scalable solutions that allow the improvement of the operational efficiency and compliance with the norm.
There are a few common points subjected to improvement:
- Continuous improvement techniques such as Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, TPM and such, require the data to be trustworthy and in real-time in order to be implemented.
- Managing the in-process product traceability is one of the main requirements.
- Obtaining the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by direct connection to the devices is still uncommon.
- The use of paper is still present, and also the manual introduction of data even if using screens.
- Predictive maintenance techniques are still applied at a minimum, caused mainly by the lack of exact data collection from productive assets.
- The production and waiting times of the in-process product is still, in a lot of cases, not known with precision.
The main challenge of the industry is to improve its competitiveness by reducing costs, optimizing production processes while respecting compliance.
Libelium IoT Solutions for Industry 4.0
Manufacturing and logistics companies are leading the implementation of IoT and Industry 4.0 projects.
Libelium’s solutions for Industry 4.0 and IoT offer added value to those projects, always focused on improving, growing and becoming more competitive in a dynamic market that requires the latest state of the art to achieve excellent ROI and Payback times.
Several best practices can be highlighted:
- Key data collection for the Digital Transformation process.
- Automated data collection prevents human errors and allows the control of events and KPIs in real-time.
- Availability of an engineering team, technical and operational, qualified for the design and implementation of projects, and also its service over time.
- Escalability of the solutions and their integration with management tools (ERPs, SGAs…).
- Deep knowledge and understanding of the different productive areas: manufacturing, logistics and services.
- Utilization of standard communication protocols.
Applications of IoT technology for Industry 4.0
Libelium’s main objective is to apply our knowledge, services and products to the goal of improving our customer’s operational processes.
Some of the ways in which we can contribute to this goal:
- Automated data collection of manufacturing data, through a direct connection to the devices.
- Real-time monitoring of the processes to optimize and improve operational effectiveness (OEE).
- Interior/exterior geolocalisation of assets, allowing control of the location in the warehouses and in-process products, trying to minimize downtime.
- Mobile and fixed forklift weighing, integrated with truck weighting & plates recognition.
- Pallets and forklift traceability. Specific solution for the food industry and conservation chambers.
- Quality/production control through artificial vision.
- Libelium Cloud Platform for monitoring and managing data directly in the cloud, offering customizable KPIs, adaptable to any production model.
- Integration with management tools (ERP, SGA…) and data analysis (Business Intelligence, BigData, Machine Learning and such).
Data collection
Quality Control
Geolocalisation
Monitoring
Predictive Maintenance
Traceability
Benefits of IoT technology for Industry 4.0
Major benefit of IIoT: the path to improved productivity
- Build a connected enterprise framework
- Enable faster, more informed decision making
- Gain an edge with better intelligence
- Reap the benefits of IIoT-powered manufacturing intelligence
- Optimize the potential of connected technology
What are the top benefits of IoT in manufacturing?
- Operational effectiveness through operational intelligence
- Ensuring safety and compliance
- Increasing flexibility and agility
Industry 4.0 Products
Libelium brings over the Internet of Things to Industry 4.0 offering new applications for factory automation, automotive applications, industrial networking, building and infrastructure, transportation, energy applications…
The compatibility added with new industrial protocol modules and API libraries for Plug & Sense! Sensor Platform allows connecting to the Cloud sensor information from industrial devices.
Plug & Sense! can incorporate an Industrial Protocol module as a secondary communication option. This feature opens a wide variety of applications for industrial sensing and automation, automobile, vehicle tracking, or remote factory management.
Features
The set of Industrial Protocol modules for Waspmote allows the user to interface with different industrial buses:
Waspmote allows to perform three main applications:
Connect any sensor to industrial bus
Waspmote can be configured to work as a node in the network, inserting sensor data into the industrial bus already present.
Waspmote can obtain information from more than 70 sensors currently integrated in the platform by using specific sensor boards (e.g: CO, CO2, temperature, humidity, acceleration, pH, IR, luminosity, vibration, etc).
This way, the sensor information can be read from any industrial device connected to the bus.
Add wireless connectivity to wired buses
Waspmote can be configured to read the information from the bus and send it to the Libelium IoT Gateway using any of the wireless radio modules available: 802.15.4, 868 MHz, 900 MHz, WiFi, 4G, Sigfox and LoRaWAN.
Connect to the Cloud industrial devices
Waspmote can be configured to read the information coming from the bus and send it via wireless directly to the Cloud using WiFi, GPRS, GPRS+GPS, 3G or 4G radio interfaces.
Models and applications
Plug & Sense! Industry 4.0
Plug & Sense! Industry 4.0, can operate in three types of situations. It can be used to connect any sensor to an existing industrial bus; it can also add wireless connectivity to wired buses or even connect industrial devices to the cloud. In any case, the aim is offering extremely flexibility and interoperability to any industry that need to send data from the productive process to the Internet with any wireless connectivity.
Top Applications:
- Water, electricity, oil & gas meters.
- Liquid level sensors.
- Liquid or gas flow sensors.
- Temperature sensors.
- Distance, presence and proximity sensors (“laser”, ultrasonic, photo-electric).
- Weight sensors.
- Pressure sensors.
- Chemical sensors (CO2, O2, pH, etc).
- Biological sensors (bacteria, etc).
- Actuators (motors, pumps, PLCs, variable-frequency drives, relays, etc).
Noise & Air Quality in factories
Noise and air quality control in the surroundings of the factory.
Smart Environment enables the Air Quality Index (AQI) calculation, thanks to electro-chemical gas sensors providing extremely accurate ppm values and a high-end Particle Matter sensor.
Sensors available:
- Temperature, humidity and pressure
- Carbon Monoxide (CO) for low concentrations
- Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
- Oxygen (O2)
- Ozone (O3)
- Nitric Oxide (NO)
- Nitric Dioxide high accuracy (NO2)
- Sulfur Dioxide high accuracy (SO2)
- Ammonia (NH3)
- Methane (CH4) and Combustible Gas
- Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)
- Particle Matter (PM1 / PM2.5 / PM10) – Dust 1
4-20 mA Current Loop
4-20 mA Current Loop | Plug&Sense! The applications for this Plug & Sense! model are focused on adding wireless connectivity to 4-20 mA devices and connecting them to the Cloud.
Applications:
- Sensors and instruments
- Remote transducers
- Monitoring processes
- Data transmission in industrial scenarios
The user can choose among a wide variety of standard sensors
RS-485
- Standard: EIA RS-485
- Physical media: Twisted pair
- Connector: DB9
- Network topology: Point-to-point, Multi-dropped, Multi-point
- Maximum devices: 32 drivers or receivers
- Mode of operation: Differential signaling
- Maximum speed: 460800 bps
- Voltage levels: -7 V to +12 V
- Mark(1): Positive voltages (B-A > +200 mV)
- Space(0): Negative voltages (B-A < -200 mV)
- Available signals: Tx+/Rx+, Tx-/Rx-(Half Duplex)Tx+,Tx-,Rx+,Rx-(Full Duplex)
Applications:
- Industrial equipment
- Machine to Machine (M2M) communications
- Industrial Control Systems, including the most common versions of Modbus and Profibus
- Programmable logic controllers
- RS485 is also used in building automation
- Interconnect security control panels and devices
CAN Bus
- Standard: ISO 11898
- Cabling: Twisted Pair
- Connector: DB9
- Network topology: Multimaster
- Speed: 125 to 1000 Kbps
- Signaling: Differential
- Voltage levels: 0-5V
- Signals: Half Duplex
Applications:
- Automotive applications
- Home automation
- Industrial networking
- Factory automation
- Marine electronics
- Medical equipment
- Military uses
Modbus
The Modbus is a software library that can be operated physically on the RS-485 module.
- Data area: Up to 255 bytes per job
- Interface: Layer 7 of the ISO-OSI reference model
- Connector: DB9 (RS-485 module)
- Number of possible connections: up to 32 in multi point systems
- Frame format: RTU
Applications:
- Multiple master-slave applications
- Sensors and instruments
- Industrial networking
- Building and infrastructure
- Transportation and energy applications
4-20 mA
- Type: Analog
- Media: Twisted Pair
- No. of devices: 1
- Distance: 900m
- Supply: 5-24V
Applications:
- Sensors and instruments
- Remote transducers
- Monitoring processes
- Data transmission in industrial scenarios
Small Tracker
Tiny, lightweight and ultra-rugged battery-powered GPS tracking device with up to 3 years of battery life for asset tracking and theft recovery.
Key features:
- High-precision GPS/GLONASS tracking device
- Weatherproof and ultra-rugged Nylon Glass IP67 housing with compact and ergonomic design
- Powered by 3 x AAA batteries with up to 3 years battery life
- Accelerometer for smart movement-based tracking
- Cellular 2G (4G LTE-M/NB-IoT coming soon)
Medium Tracker
Compact, ultra-rugged, long-life battery-powered GPS tracking device that has been designed for tracking containers, trailers, skip bins, and other assets where super-long battery life is required without sacrificing the frequency of updates and performance.
Up to 7 years battery life for long-term asset tracking, theft recovery, and more.
Key features:
- High-precision GPS/GLONASS tracking device
- Weatherproof and ultra-rugged IP67 Nylon Glass Housing with compact and ergonomic design
- Powered by 3 x AA Batteries with up to 7 years battery life
- Compatible with LTC Batteries for tracking in extreme temperatures
- Built-in Battery Meter for remote Battery Life Monitoring and Remaining Life Predictions
- Accelerometer for Smart Movement Based Tracking
- Cellular 2G (4G LTE-M/NB-IoT coming soon)
Air Quality Station
The new Air Quality Station allows the monitorization of the AQI to control pollution at cities and industries.
Main features:
- Measurement of the main air quality parameters: PM, CO, NO2, NO, O3, SO2
- Maximum accuracy thanks to cutting-edge hardware and machine learning algorithm
- Removable sensor cartridge for quick sensor exchange
- Communication via 4G and LoRaWAN
- Real-time data visualization via the Cloud
- Multiple cloud compatibility: send data to any of the
- Libelium Bridge compatible clouds
- Robust, handy, and user-friendly
- Compatible with high-quality laboratory metrology sensors
WasteWater Quality
Smart Water Xtreme for wastewater quality measurement in industrial environments.
All sensors/probes incorporate calibration inside. Very low power consumption. Sleep mode available. Robust sensor probes: PVC and stainless steel. 5-6 bar pressure resistance.
Optical and anti-fouling systems require less maintenance.
Fouling effect occurs when there is organic materials in the water. It creates a “bio-film” which adheres to the probes and provokes wrong measurements → quality decreases
A variety of mounting accessories for each sensor are available to the customer, to be placed in pipes or tanks.
Protective wildlife accessories are also available.
Sensors available:
- Optical dissolved oxygen and temperature (OPTOD)
- Titanium optical dissolved oxygen and temperature(OPTOD)
- pH, ORP and temperature (PHEHT)
- Conductivity, salinity and temperature (C4E)
- Inductive conductivity, salinity and temperature (CTZN)
- Turbidity and temperature (NTU)
- Suspended solids, turbidity, sludge blanket and temperature (MES5)
- COD, BOD, TOC, SAC254 and temperature StacSense, 2 mm path
- COD, BOD, TOC, SAC254 and temperature StacSense, 50 mm pathRadar level
- VEGAPULS C21
- Temperature, Humidity and Pressure
- Luminosity (Luxes accuracy)
- Ultrasound (outdoor IP67)
Industry 4.0 Success Stories
Intelligent truck tracking to optimize loading and unloading time
Libelium's Smart Tracking solution allows Querqus to know when one of their trucks enters and leaves the customers and suppliers facilities
Reducing Logistics’ environmental impact by air quality monitoring in the Baltic Sea Port of Gdansk, Poland
Contact us
If you want more info about Industry 4.0 applications
