Smart Machine Pilot Project

Red River Army Depot (RRAD) is the only remaining organic depot that can process rubber for tank treads.  Given the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, their workload has increased dramatically whereas their processing equipment remains outdated.  This project aims to increase the quality and efficiency of the rubber processing equipment at RRAD by retrofitting the equipment with modern sensors and data collection on machine performance and health.  Cincinnati Lamb is developing a product named FREEDOM E-LOG which uses a dedicated network to gather process and machine health data, storing data in a time-stamped database, and presenting processed results to users via a browser interface.  Cincinnati will install systems at RRAD and Caterpillar. The systems will be exercised for about two months, gathering data on machine cycle times, down time, machine utilization, and health and diagnostics data such as temperatures, pressures, and so forth.  Machine tools with modern controls are capable of gathering very sophisticated data such as torque.  Older machines will be interfaced using single board computers with discrete input/output and communications ports.

This project will also benefit through collaboration with the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  NIST will contribute data it has collected in its Manufacturing Engineering lab.  The National Science Foundation funded Intelligent Maintenance Systems Center will use their expertise to analyze data from NIST and Caterpillar with the intent of developing prognostics algorithms.  This short Phase I effort is expected to lead to a more comprehensive Phase II proposal where the lessons learned here will be applied to more sophisticated applications such as prognostics.

Program Manager: Tony Haynes, (734) 995-4930, tonyh@ncms.org