The future of industrial data processing will be taken over by so-called edge devices, which already collect and preprocess data in the control cabinet. In the project EMILIE, the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM is working with partners to improve these technologies. Among other things, the researchers are focusing on the energy efficiency of large mills.
EMILIE stands for Embedding Machine Intelligence Logic and IT Security into Edge Devices and is used on site, e.g. in the technical center of Gebrüder Pfeiffer SE. The company specializes in material processing and offers mills and rollers for various substances, such as cement and other construction materials.
In the age of the Industrial Internet of Things, edge computing is becoming increasingly important due to security and efficiency. »Here, data is not processed in remote data centers or the cloud, but at the edge of IT and as close to the sensor as possible, in the control cabinet on the DIN rail,« explains Dr. Benjamin Adrian, project manager at Fraunhofer ITWM.
The edge devices in the project EMILIE are either integrated into magnetostrictive sensors and high-resolution cameras or connected by cable via edge gateways. This enables camera-based vibration monitoring, in which observed pixels serve as acceleration sensors, so to speak – torque, angle of rotation, and speed are recorded contactlessly, magnetostrictively via a single sensor.
With the cement mills of Gebrüder Pfeiffer SE, the Edge devices are tested in real production operations. »When crushing construction debris, large forces act that cause the mills to vibrate and accelerate their wear. We want to prevent this by optimizing machine settings with a digital twin and transferring them to the real mills,« Benjamin Adrian describes the project goal.
In the EMILIE project, the interdepartmental team of Fraunhofer ITWM contributes mathematical competencies and develops suitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods. In doing so, the researchers make use of Machine Learning (ML) methods from signal and image data processing. The project goal is an implemented reference system for
EMILIE is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and will run until mid-2025.
At the »touchpoint.innovation.digital«, a special action area of the Dortmund trade fair elektrotechnik, Fraunhofer ITWM presents its research on building, energy, and industrial technology. Visit us from February 8 to 10 in hall 5, booth number 5.B08.
For more information on EMILIE, please visit our project website and our event page.
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM