Internet of Things
The soluTion on a shoesTring
These tips are not the only way manufacturers can implement digitalisation. Professor Duncan McFarlane of the University of Cambridge founded a programme at Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, aimed at educating small businesses on digital technologies for manufacturing. McFarlane has coined this programme ‘Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring’. Digital manufacturing on a shoestring is
said to be a low risk, low-cost approach to digital solutions. To create this programme, McFarlane's team surveyed and classified low-cost technologies that they then organised into a set of 59 digital solution areas that can be reused, adapted and combined. Some of the solutions in this programme
include consumer-grade microcomputers, like the Raspberry Pi, and low-cost sensors. These low-cost alternatives can be placed in an industrial-proof casing, protecting them from the factory environment in a cheaper way. Using this programme, 14 industry partners have successfully started or completed a pilot with a Shoestring solution, giving overwhelmingly positive feedback. Although industrial digitalisation may
be difficult for small businesses to implement, it is not impossible. With helpful tips and low-cost alternatives available, it is time for all manufacturing companies to move into industry 4.0.
EU Automation
www.euautomation.com/uk
IIoT mInIng InsTrumenTaTIon receIves IndusTry fundIng
metre-wide boulders. This is then loaded onto large haul trucks and transported to an ore crusher. When oversized rubble reaches the crusher, it can block and damage it, halting production while blockages are removed, or parts are replaced. Omniflex and AMOG have collaboratively
M
developed IIoT instrumentation to boost oversize detection capabilities for the global mining industry. The system uses sensors to detect the size of ore rubble as it is loaded into haul trucks to be carried from the blast site to the crushing plant. This information is wirelessly communicated in real-time to the driver, mine operations and/or remote data storage for later analysis. “The sensors, designed jointly by AMOG
and Omniflex, detect signals onboard the truck as ore is dumped into the tray,” explains David Celine, managing director of Omniflex. “The data is processed using machine-learning techniques to estimate the size of the rocks as they are dumped into the truck. This information is then communicated wirelessly through a gateway on the haul truck to the driver and to mine operations to notify them of the oversize ore load before the truck departs after being loaded. “The technology has demonstrated a
detection accuracy of above 80 per cent, which is a vast improvement on common detection methods that are estimated to be less than five per cent accurate. Notably, the technology does not rely on
Instrumentation Monthly May 2022
visual detection or cameras and so works in almost all conditions. It is also simple to retrofit and is expandable to numerous other high value applications” The initial technology creation was
possible thanks to METS Ignited Collaborative Project funds. Based on the success of the first pilot projects, this new project aims to accelerate the scaling up of the business to meet global industry demand. This includes expanding production, testing capabilities, certification, enabling rapid adoption of this innovative digital technology. In six years of operation as a
government-funded industry growth centre, METS Ignited has invested more than $13m in 26 projects, with over 60 industry participants. This latest round of project funding is focussed on scaling commercialisation. The other companies backed to scale their technologies include MyPass Global, ZERO Automotive, Safescape, Universal Field Robotics and 3ME Technology.
Omniflex
www.omniflex.com 49
ines often operate by blasting mine and pit faces with explosives, producing rubble of various shapes and sizes, from small pebbles to
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