Development of Condition Based Self Diagnostic System for Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

In this work generic Multiprocessor Base Self-Diagnostic Process Control System has been developed. It features an Operator’s console that facilitates easy fault identification and maintenance and is robust enough to simplify system attendance. In order to demonstrate how a process can be regulated through a multiprocessing self-diagnostic procedure, a soap production process for quality soap manufacture was used. The prototype was realized using homogenous multiprocessor system for different stages of the manufacturing process. Industrial thermocouples (sensors) and solid state relays were used to achieve the precision desired. A self-diagnostic algorithm was developed in C programming language using Mikro C Pro platform and implemented in the system. The current status of the product is a functional prototype which has been successfully tested in real production conditions. The system was able to monitor and control the temperature and duration of each of the various stages in the soap production process and present identified errors to the operator via a remote display with a wireless computer interface. Results obtained show that the system availability is 98.7% compared to about 70% before the multiprocessor system was introduced. This means that the system has very low failure rate and very low maintenance time because of the self-diagnostic features incorporated in it. Not more than one maintenance action was required per month and the quality of the output and effectiveness of the system is quite good.