Products
11.12.2023
Not just “click clack”
Jerko Sprühsysteme GmbH, a manufacturer of special machinery based in Kempen, Germany, relies on smart sensors with SAMS features made by Balluff. Not only do users benefit from these new features, the condition data they capture also helps continuously improve the equipment.
More helpful data through condition monitoring — that was the starting point of the cooperation between the manufacturer of special machinery Jerko Sprühsysteme GmbH and Balluff. “Condition monitoring and avoiding unplanned downtimes are becoming increasingly more important to us and our customers,” explains Niklas Dahmen, Managing Director at Jerko Sprühsysteme GmbH, adding: “That's why we asked ourselves how we can collect more useful data from our equipment — without any extra effort."
Robot arm with Jerko spray system © Photo: Jerko Sprühsysteme
Increasing the process reliability of the supply
25 employees work for the manufacturer of special machinery based in Kempen, Germany. Based on individual customer requirements, Jerko Sprühsysteme builds one-of-a-kind spraying systems for the forging and metalworking industry. These systems range from small, manually operated spraying devices all the way to fully automated robots and manipulators designed to safely handle heavy loads.
The supply of spray equipment and systems plays an important role in machine uptime. If defects occur due to contamination, wear, or blockages in the pipe, the systems come to a standstill. “Our goal was to stabilize the process reliability when supplying the equipment by use of a pneumatic piston pump by providing an increased amount of useful data. The additional information will be used for predictive maintenance and targeted condition monitoring,” says Dahmen.
Using smart sensors
Together with the Balluff application expert Marius Edler, a solution using sensors from the Smart Automation and Monitoring System (SAMS) was developed.
In addition to process data, operating data such as temperature, hours in operation, number of strokes, signal quality, and vibration will be captured and transmitted using these sensors. “The signal quality, for example, provides information about the machine environment. It declines when sensors are contaminated. And the vibration figures show whether all the mechanics are working as intended,” Dahmen explains the additional features. This significantly improves condition monitoring.
Forging press with spray system for cooling and lubrication © Photo: Jerko Sprühsysteme
Intelligent sensors to optimize production
The Smart Automation and Monitoring System (SAMS) includes intelligent sensors and devices that can be individually programmed, configured, and thus universally attached to all machines. They offer many smart features because they also provide relevant operating data.
Easy integration thanks to IO-Link
“The fact that the customer implemented IO-Link very early on made the integration of the new, smart sensors very easy,” says Edler, who was responsible for the project at Balluff. According to him, the solution should be easy to integrate, and the effort should never outweigh the benefits, as he is sure that “nobody needs the Fourth Industrial Revolution if they can’t afford it.”
Little effort, great added value
„Our smart sensors don’t just go ‘click clack.’ They bring a lot more to the table, like vibration, temperature, installation position, operating hours and much more operating data," explains Edler.
Thanks to the additional data for condition monitoring, customers of Jerko Sprühsysteme receive tremendous added value. “Thanks to Balluff’s support, we fully achieved our goal to get a lot of useful data into the system with little effort,” says Dahmen. “We now know things about our machines that we didn’t know before, which will be tremendously useful with follow-up projects.”
