Periodic Reporting for period 3 - RECLAIM (RE-manufaCturing and Refurbishment LArge Industrial equipMent)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2023-09-30
The vision of RECLAIM is to demonstrate technologies and strategies to support a new paradigm for refurbishment and re-manufacturing of large industrial equipment in factories, paving the way to a circular economy. Its ultimate goal is to save valuable resources by reusing equipment instead of discarding them. RECLAIM will support legacy industrial infrastructures with advanced technological solutions with built-in capabilities for in-situ repair, self- assessment and optimal re-use strategies. It will establish new concepts and strategies for repair and equipment upgrade and factory layouts’ redesign in order to gain economic benefits to the manufacturing sector. The technological core of RECLAIM is a novel Decision Support Framework that guides the optimal refurbishment and re-manufacturing of electromechanical machines and robotics systems. The framework uses IoT sensors, novel prediction, and process optimisation techniques to offer machine lifetime extension and thus increased productivity.
Innovative fog computing and augmented reality techniques are combined with enhanced health monitoring and failure inspection and diagnosis methodologies that enhance the effective use of materials, improve maintenance capabilities and eventually, drastically increase the return of investments (ROI). RECLAIM re-use approach also fosters servicing and upgrading of legacy equipment. For that, European machinery industry will move from an equipment-based business to a value-added business, where equipment servicing and equipment knowledge are main business drivers. RECLAIM solution has been demonstrated in six real industrial environments to evaluate the lifecycle of the industrial equipment and show the feasibility of the approach for integration and scale-up to other industrial sectors. Having RECLAIM technology available, drastically increased efficiency, lifetime extension and high economic benefit will be achieved and a significant step towards 100% re-use will be made.
Innovative fog computing and augmented reality techniques are combined with enhanced health monitoring and failure inspection and diagnosis methodologies that enhance the effective use of materials, improve maintenance capabilities and eventually, drastically increase the return of investments (ROI). RECLAIM re-use approach also fosters servicing and upgrading of legacy equipment. For that, European machinery industry will move from an equipment-based business to a value-added business, where equipment servicing and equipment knowledge are main business drivers. RECLAIM solution has been demonstrated in six real industrial environments to evaluate the lifecycle of the industrial equipment and show the feasibility of the approach for integration and scale-up to other industrial sectors. Having RECLAIM technology available, drastically increased efficiency, lifetime extension and high economic benefit will be achieved and a significant step towards 100% re-use will be made.
Within the first reporting period, most of the activities focused on the development of methodology and software for the various algorithmic components of the RECLAIM solution. A key step regarding the methodology was a literature review of lifetime extension strategies for Circular Economy and the definition of their specifications and impact on Key Performance indicators. A key component it th Decision Support Framework (DSF). As regards the development of algorithms for the DSF, the „Reliability Analysis Tool“ currently supports the statistical analysis of failure events, the Failure Mode Effect Analysis and the Reliability Block Diagram analysis, relying on failure events data collected. The „Machinery Operational Profiling“ provided the mathematical definitions of the three main profiles of the industrial equipment to be studied in RECLAIM: Health, Production and Performance. For the „Fault Diagnosis and Predictive Maintenance Simulation Engine using Digital Twin“ component, the first prototype of the Digital Twin was developed, and algorithms for fault diagnosis and predictive maintenance were developed and integrated with a draft version of the „Optimization Toolkit - Refurbishment & Remanufacturing Planning“ component, for which an optimization planning algorithm was developed. Regarding the „Prognostic & Health Management Toolkit“, degradation models were defined for particular pilots, and an algorithm finding stop correlations was developed, while hardware and software interfaces for data acquisition were also tested. Another activity was the definition of the methodology and the development of the initial algorithm for the „Cost Modelling & Financial Analysis Toolkit“, based on the activity based costing approach. On top of the previous components, the „DSF Core“ was developed in a draft version as a component providing integrated decision support for refurbishment, remanufacturing and other defined strategies. Apart from the above components, which are part of the DSF, other algorithmic components were also partly developed. These are the „augmented reality (AR) mechanisms“, for which the indoor localization and 3D registration, AR visualization and feature recognition modules were developed within this period, as well as the „In-situ Repair Data Analytics“ component, for which machine learning image processing models were developed for optical control of product quality. Most of all above algorithms were implemented using artificial data based on the pilot requirements.
The second period concentrated on the integration of RECLAIM technology into the Pilots. Firstly, interfaces have been implemented to make production data available for further processing and evaluation of the algorithms developed. To do so, various sensors have been mechanically and electrically integrated and also interfaced to the data communication mechanisms. Secondly, various RECLAIM solutions have been integrated. Where neccessary, those solution have been tailored to the specific need of the respective Pilot. Among others, the following RECLAIM solutions are now available at Pilot #1 Gorenje: Predictive maintenance algorithms for spot and seam welding, Pilot #2 Fluchos: Degradation monitoring of shoe making machine, Pilot #3 Podium: Digital twin model for shop floor simulation for impact evaluation of planned and predictive maintenance activities, Pilot #4: Harms&Wende: AR glasses for In-Situ Repair and faster failure finding and repair for friction welding machines, and Plilot #5 Zorluteks: An Adaptive Smart Sensorial Network and Digital Retrofitting Infrastructure for machine inspection and quality assurance of fabric's bleaching processes.
The second period concentrated on the integration of RECLAIM technology into the Pilots. Firstly, interfaces have been implemented to make production data available for further processing and evaluation of the algorithms developed. To do so, various sensors have been mechanically and electrically integrated and also interfaced to the data communication mechanisms. Secondly, various RECLAIM solutions have been integrated. Where neccessary, those solution have been tailored to the specific need of the respective Pilot. Among others, the following RECLAIM solutions are now available at Pilot #1 Gorenje: Predictive maintenance algorithms for spot and seam welding, Pilot #2 Fluchos: Degradation monitoring of shoe making machine, Pilot #3 Podium: Digital twin model for shop floor simulation for impact evaluation of planned and predictive maintenance activities, Pilot #4: Harms&Wende: AR glasses for In-Situ Repair and faster failure finding and repair for friction welding machines, and Plilot #5 Zorluteks: An Adaptive Smart Sensorial Network and Digital Retrofitting Infrastructure for machine inspection and quality assurance of fabric's bleaching processes.
RECLAIM addresses the following aspects in order to make a significant step beyond the state of the art in lifetime extension of large industrial equipment. More in detail, RECLAIM targets on the following technical solutions:
1. Decision Support Framework of used industrial equipment for sustainable manufacturing
2. Refurbishment and Re-manufacturing Techniques of industrial equipment
3. Smart Sensor Network for Industrial Environment
4. Prognostic and Health Management (PHM) Approach
5. Cost Analysis and Cost Modelling Tool
6. Optimization Planning for Refurbishment and Re-manufacturing
7. Digital Twin Simulation for Machinery Fault Diagnosis
8. Cybersecurity for IoT devices for connected smart environments
9. Augmented Reality on the Plant Floor
The technological breakthroughs that will come out the RECLAIM approach will promote the creation of new high-tech working places that demand highly skilled staff. Novel paradigms for manufacturing education, such as the ‘Teaching Factory’, will further pursue the integration among research, innovation and education, and help prepare the next generation of knowledge-workers that will take over the use of the new technologies within the factories of the future. RECLAIM also successfully prepared a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA 18038) on the "Methodology for managing maintenance strategy and remanufacturing projects of large industrial equipment".
1. Decision Support Framework of used industrial equipment for sustainable manufacturing
2. Refurbishment and Re-manufacturing Techniques of industrial equipment
3. Smart Sensor Network for Industrial Environment
4. Prognostic and Health Management (PHM) Approach
5. Cost Analysis and Cost Modelling Tool
6. Optimization Planning for Refurbishment and Re-manufacturing
7. Digital Twin Simulation for Machinery Fault Diagnosis
8. Cybersecurity for IoT devices for connected smart environments
9. Augmented Reality on the Plant Floor
The technological breakthroughs that will come out the RECLAIM approach will promote the creation of new high-tech working places that demand highly skilled staff. Novel paradigms for manufacturing education, such as the ‘Teaching Factory’, will further pursue the integration among research, innovation and education, and help prepare the next generation of knowledge-workers that will take over the use of the new technologies within the factories of the future. RECLAIM also successfully prepared a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA 18038) on the "Methodology for managing maintenance strategy and remanufacturing projects of large industrial equipment".