Welcome to Our Factory!
As you pass through the open doors to marvel at your local factory production, your earbuds are almost bursting from the intense noise. Looking to your left, you see a control room with numerous indicators, dials, and a jungle of screens visualizing analytics. Looking right, heavy machinery and the clinking of metal, engines humming in the background, impact tools, welding tools, all together creating continuous, intermittent, or impulsive sound patterns, much like an orchestra out of sync.
What has Happened?
Suddenly, silence falls, so that you can hear a pin drop; only, my ears are still ringing from past noise. An unexpected failure occurred in one of the machines, causing all others to shut down or enter emergency standby mode. While it saves precious human lives, it is expensive considering the number of machines that now remain idle.
Short Unplanned Downtime is Critical
Every minute of downtime costs significantly more than it appears, as continuous production is essential to meet customer commitments. Even a short downtime can trigger a snowball effect, leaving technicians scrambling to resolve the problem. Suddenly, one of the technicians approaches the broken machine confidently. He reaches for one of the actuators inside and fixes it without hesitation. But wait-- how? How did he know exactly where the problem was?
Intelligent Solution
Although it may not be immediately apparent, this factory floor utilizes intelligent solutions. I have just witnessed intelligent diagnostics in action. Analog output components such as the AD5758,AD5460, or the configurable input/output AD74416H, to enable real-time diagnostics and pinpoint the issue.
Value of Diagnostics
Intelligent diagnostics helps to anticipate issues before they occur—delivering timely, advanced insights that keep operations running smoothly. Standard diagnostic approaches typically offer power supply or temperature monitors in the form of single-bit information, signaling an operational (OK) or faulty (not OK) state. Short and open circuit diagnostics, communication errors, or conversion errors may also be part of the standard diagnostic tool set.
Intelligent Insights and the Value of Diagnostics
Consider the AD74416H. It is a quad-channel Software Configurable Input Output (SWIO) offering numerous operating modes, inputs, outputs, and other features. Under the hood of the AD74416H, we can also find the standard tool set of diagnostics. Beyond standard diagnostics, the AD74416H also provides real-time monitoring of multiple voltage nodes, temperature, and current, offering deeper insight into system performance and health.
This means that the user is no longer dependent on the internal single-bit setting of standard error monitors (OK or not-OK indication). Real-time values of voltage, current, or temperature enable the development of intelligent controllers for entire systems.
Figure 1: User-Selected Diagnostics
The red text highlights the comprehensive diagnostics coverage of the AD74416H,making it a good fit for intelligent diagnostic systems.
Value of Intelligence from the Chip to the System
A chip with intelligent diagnostics adds significant value to the system. The user can visualize the measured electrical quantities of the chip state or the connected load, which represents the end node sensor/actuator. For example, Intelligent diagnostics can be utilized to monitor channel voltage. In the event of actuator failure or a suspicious voltage reading, the system will intervene or alert the user.
Real-time monitoring, data gathering, and processing provide sufficient insights to analyze any suspicious drifts in the performance of either the connected load, power supplies, or the chip itself. Diagnostics enable the collection of information both before and at the time of failure. The system can then take relevant action automatically.
Smart Factory with Minimal Downtime
Intelligence starts with data gathering. Real-time and recurring diagnostics and measurements of the electrical properties of the chip and system are essential for minimizing or perhaps eliminating factory downtime. The future of the smart factory relies on intelligent chips and diagnostics-driven insights. The ideal time for this transformation is NOW.
Read all the blogs in the Configurable Industrial I/O series.