Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS
For a perfect production environment, the environmental parameters must be right next to the process sequences. Especially in production plants and in the industrial environment, it is crucial that environmental conditions are kept within an optimal range in order to keep product quality high and rejects low. This requires sensors that permanently monitor, for example, air temperature or humidity. To help companies to make informed decisions about adding value to sensors in their specific business environment, we have developed EnsiroAmbit. This makes it possible to quickly check whether it makes sense to permanently monitor certain environmental parameters in one's own company. After a short lead time (preliminary discussion, site inspection and requirements survey), the customer has a complete package available to set up a wireless sensor network. This includes all necessary components from the sensor, via the radio transmission, to the visualized data output.
Over a period of 3 or 6 months, the basic version will install 10 measurement nodes with air temperature, pressure and humidity sensors in the enterprise to provide accurate statistics. The connection to an IoT cloud solution enables the user to retrieve the measured values online and to carry out their own graphic evaluations. Our scientists provide intensive support to the company throughout the evaluation period. Through regular discussions, the benefits of such a measuring system in the company are evaluated.
In the basic version, causes and effects on storage or production can be identified by disturbances such as inappropriate air temperature, humidity or air pressure. Further parameters such as VOC or CO2 can be captured by the uncomplicated connection of further sensors. In addition, external data sources can be integrated in the future, such as existing MDE values, which are related to the acquired parameters in order to show correlations.
Areas of Application
For example, the EnsiroAmbit can be used in production environments or warehouses to find out whether a permanent and reliable monitoring of environmental parameters with high accuracy could add value to the company. After completion of the evaluation process, the Fraunhofer Application Center supports the resulting research projects.
Examples of Application
On the basis of the collected data quality losses due to moisture during the production process can be detected. The storage of raw materials at optimum air quality values can also be verified with EnsiroAmbit. Energy management can be optimized. The need for targeted heating or cooling of rooms or halls of the production environment can be revealed with EnsiroAmbit.