This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop an innovative method to increase manufacturing efficiency and cut production costs. Low-cost and small electronic components can bring large and expensive systems to a crashing halt when they fail without warning or notice. Manufacturing plants are an important user of electronic devices, requiring assurance of critical system functionality and key electronic devices. Current mitigation techniques rely on early replacement of critical devices, a limited and expensive methodology that drastically increases costs and downtime. Building upon years of magnetic interference (EMI) analysis, this project will develop a system to predict electronic problems, providing the opportunity for scheduled maintenance and equipment repair before failure. This system leverages the emitted electromagnetic spectra of electrical components to identify deterioration and degraded functionality as the device ages. Testing has identified fault indicators in a select number of electronic devices. This Phase I project will focus upon finding the spectral characteristics that indicate impending failures of multiple targets suitable for a manufacturing environment. Upon completion, the project will have a signature list of failure prediction indicators to create an automated Manufacturing Electronic Health Monitoring (MEHM) system.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is direct maintenance and quality improvements for manufacturing systems, saving resources and improving profits. Building upon years of EMI analysis, this project will develop a Manufacturing Electronic Health Monitoring (MEHM) system to predict electronic problems before failure to the benefit of numerous customers. An early warning system for component failure will provide maintenance personnel the ability to both replace identified electronics within scheduled downtime prior to system failure and forgo maintenance on healthy sub-systems. American manufacturing companies have always innovated, maximizing capabilities, efficiency, safety, and performance. The MEHM system is the next step in achieving a realizable advantage to any manufacturing company. As any manufacturer employing electronics can use this system, the market potential is vast.
This NSF Phase I effort progressed the development of an innovative system to predict when the electrical components of manufacturing systems will fail. The system enables manufacturers to diagnose problems present in production equipment before faults occur. A Manufacturing Electronics Health Monitoring (MEHM) system can drastically lower maintenance costs by preventing the unexpected failure of equipment. The vast electronic controls found in manufacturing environments continue to increase. When components fail unexpectedly, the effect on large, expensive systems can be catastrophic. An assembly line controller failure may cause an immediate and crashing halt to the line, causing mechanical damage to the system. Due to the master controlling nature of the electronics, failures can cascade resulting in damage to subsystems, thereby significantly increasing the cost and time associated with event failure. The damage of components requires part replacement that may extend to the entire affected system. Often, parts for the damaged system have long lead times and are difficult to procure. Manufacturers must wait for the system to be back online, requiring not only a troubleshooting and repair period, but also a reprogramming and initialization period. The loss in revenue experienced during an unscheduled shutdown is significant, and is a serious concern to the manufacturing community. Currently, there is no reliable way to identify degraded components to alleviate these problems. Manufacturing maintenance departments need a way to predict imminent failure such that preemptive maintenance can be performed. While a periodic replacement of system components before the end of their lifespan is a partial solution, this procedure dramatically increases cost as healthy components are scrapped well before their lifespan has expired. MEHM seeks to mitigate these problems by providing accurate feedback indicating the current status and reliability of equipment. The MEHM system is designed as a passive stand-alone device. The technology creates no interfering signals and requires no reconfiguration or modification of the monitored equipment. Equipment is monitored, analyzed and evaluated from a stand-off distance and MEHM is designed for capability and configurability with any electronic equipment. The Phase I work proved the viability of using the MEHM technology to detect, track and predict electronic degradation and failure. The general tasks that encompassed the work performed in this Phase I included measurement of device phenomenology for aged and unaged electronics. The work undertook extensive evaluation of the signatures for indications of imminent faults and the research and development of health monitoring algorithms. A methodology was developed and tested that measures, analyzes and predicts the health of electronic devices throughout an accelerated life cycle. The combination of need, exploitable phenomenology, advanced technology and a strong product development team position Nokomis to mature MEHM into a marketable technology. There exists significant opportunity to dominate the market space created by the need to predict the failure of electronic systems in the manufacturing environment. MEHM represents an enormous opportunity due to the need and interest directly expressed by the manufacturing community. Multiple manufacturing companies have shown interest in the MEHM technology, including requests for quotation as well as volunteering to serve as initial testers and technology adopters. A profitable business model was developed that will be executed upon further development of the technology. Phase I investigations dramatically proved the feasibility and novel capability of the MEHM technology.
