Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM

Key Research Areas

Condition Monitoring Systems

Evaluating the condition of technical equipment involves a complex assessment of cause-and-effect interrelationships between the design and stresses and changes in conditions during set-up, start-up and during operation while also taking into account the manufacturing and maintenance history.

Apart from recording operating and condition data using appropriate sensor technology for ongoing monitoring and documenting of parameters - as is usual in conventional condition monitoring systems - we use intelligent evaluation to quantify loading and classify and assess the condition of equipment and their components. Using this data, we can derive reliability and lifetime, assess the risk of failure to make decisions that improve the planning of operating and maintenance processes.

Services

Projects: Condition Monitoring Systems

CoMoLeFo

In this project, we are developing a condition monitoring system for power electronics in photovoltaics to implement condition-oriented maintenance using lifetime predictions for power electronic components.

InCoMo

The research project “Intelligent Condition Monitoring - Models, Algorithms, Autonomous Microsystems” is establishing the basis of models and analysis methods for condition monitoring and lifetime prognosis and for the development of appropriate microsystem technology for autonomous sensor and monitoring systems.

ECoMoS

Here we are developing a sensor network that monitors engines and storage facilities in industrial environments. The sensor nodes harvest the power required for operation from their environment and communicate wirelessly, which makes cabling redundant. Vibration sensors detect failures, for example in a paper factory, and alert a technical control center further on down the line.