Robotic Signature Analysis (RSA)
6IX for RSA is a subscription-based condition monitoring solution for industrial robots, provided by our Official American Partners Strategic Maintenance Solutions.
6IX for RSA (Robotic Signature Analysis) is an advanced vibration monitoring solution for Industrial Robots. 6IX for RSA utilizes an industry-proven method for monitoring reducer joints and servo motor health on operational robots, ensuring accurate and predictive notifications of impending functional failures.
With advanced alerting up to several months before failure, 6IX for RSA ensures opportunities for advanced planning and scheduling of maintenance and repairs, ultimately reducing safety risks and unnecessary rework on assets. 6IX for RSA drives a proactive approach to asset management, focusing on production uptime instead of reactive maintenance and repairs which in turn will incur production downtime.
Wireless vibration sensors are installed on critical reducer joint locations, providing 24/7 data collection, monitoring and analysis. When anomalies in the data are detected, alerts, notifications and maintenance recommendations are presented in SMS's 6IX user interface, backed by subject matter experts in the maintenance and operation of industrial robots.
Overview
1. Introduced RSA technology, January 2014.
2. Budget set up for 20 robot checks to prove concept/technology.
3. March 2014, SR51B robot found with suspect signature during monitoring.
4. Began tracking vibration signature daily against grease analysis as control method.
5. Proved Promac RSA technology through use of grease sampling/analysis as control.
6. Next Fiscal Year, Budgeted for 40 A rank robots to continue proving technology.
7. 4/15/2015 J3 reducer failure @ MH81B Slide door causes 4 hours downtime (Not being monitored yet).
8. Approval to begin RSA on all of Weld 1 robots begins after MH81B failure.
9. Multiple reducer failures have been predicted and replaced before any actual downtime occurred since implementing the process.
*Once the use of Promac RSA was implemented as the chosen process, equipment availability was the only obstacle.
Why Choose RSA Technology
•Planning and scheduling of repairs helps reduce safety risks to technicians and rework created by unnecessary repairs.
•Reducer failures can cause large downtime events or quality related defects from repeated teaching issues during production shifts.
•Reduce troubleshooting time needed to determine whether a robot is suffering an electrical and/or mechanical failure.
•Early grease replacement can extend the life of costly reducer replacements.
•Eliminating downtime cost to replace reducer or teach robot during production shift can account for 2-4 hours of production downtime. 4 hours = €110,000.00 (€ 460/minute)
The below graph shows the efficiency of using RSA technology to monitor robotics and how the early detection of any reducer issues is invaluable in eliminating downtime. Early intervention allows for the damaged reducers to be identified and replaced without any actual downtime being required.
Engineering Analysis & Methodology
Customer Example
Welding Department - Impact & Benefit
Benefit: During reducer analysis, the RSA solution was able to detect motor bearing failures and servo amp phasing issues before the occur.
68 issues discovered in the first 12 months
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27 motor bearing functional failures were avoided = €915,000 savings (90min downtime potential ea)
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1 robot servo amplifier functional failures was avoided = €12,000 savings (60 min downtime potential ea)
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41 reducers functional failures were avoided = €3,300,000 savings (240min downtime potential ea)
Total mitigation savings over first year of 1 department =
€4,227,000 saved in mitigated downtime
(Downtime figures are estimated at €350.00 per minute during production)
