A Wireless IIoT Solution Sushi Sensor

What is Sushi Sensor?

To improve the availability ratio and profitability of plants, timely identification of health conditions and efficient maintenance of aged equipment are required. Various sensing technologies are needed to monitor conditions and maintain diverse equipment. In order to maintain equipment distributed across a plant efficiently with limited man-hours, quantification of measurement data and automated data acquisition and storage systems are required. Sushi Sensor monitors vibration, temperature, and pressure as data and detects the condition of steam traps for inviting the maintenance of the equipment. The monitored sensor data and detected conditions are stored in host systems such as the cloud or the on-premises via wireless communication.

Since Sushi Sensor complies with LoRaWAN®, which is a low-power wide-area (LPWA) network for long-distance communication, the Sushi Sensor can be deployed anywhere in a plant and cover a vast area. Also, it has environmental resistance features to support heavy-duty use (IP66/67, explosion proof).

Users can identify equipment conditions by trend monitoring in the cloud or the on-premises, and then plan and perform maintenance efficiently, tailored to the equipment conditions. Comprehensive monitoring the condition of the whole plant helps create priorities of equipment risks and maximize investment in equipment maintenance in a balanced manner.

System Configuration

Features

[Easy Installation]

• Compact, lightweight, battery-powered sensors.
• Operable in harsh environments including hazardous areas (waterproof, dust-proof, and explosionproof).
• The LoRaWAN^® standard enables long-distance communication of up to 1 km, and thus flexible installation.

[Easy Setting]

• Parameters can be set with a smartphone via near-field communication (NFC).

[Easy Data Collection and Monitoring]

• Data can be collected over a wide area via long-distance wireless communication.
• Collected data can be accessed from user applications in the cloud.

 

Benefits

（Digitizing）Sensing

Sushi Sensor monitors vibration, temperature, and pressure and detects the conditions of steam traps as data for maintaining equipment. The monitored sensor data and conditions are stored in host systems such as the cloud or the on-premises via wireless communication.

（Digitalizing）Sensemaking

Users can identify equipment conditions by trend monitoring in the cloud or the on-premises, and then plan and perform maintenance efficiently, tailored to the equipment conditions.

（DX）Digital Transformation

Comprehensive monitoring the conditions of the whole plant helps create priorities of equipment risks and maximize investment in equipment maintenance in a balanced manner. For this purpose, quantification of measurement data and automated data acquisition and storage systems are required.

How Does Sushi Sensor Realize DX?

[Effects of Sensing and Sensemaking]　

- Reduce inspection man-hours by automatically collecting data on equipment (even in high and hazardous areas) in online
- Quantify and visualize inspection results that depend on individual experience, intuition, and on-site know-how
- Reduce variance in inspection quality due to differences in staff skill
- Enable early detection of abnormal signs ("something wrong") and avoid oversight by trend monitoring of equipment
- Conserve steam and energy by detecting the condition of steam traps and maintain them efficiently

[Effects of Digital Transformation]

1) When an anomaly is detected by a simple diagnosis, the operator performs a detailed diagnosis and identifies the cause of failure.
2) Based on the results, the operator determines the appropriate next action and schedule of maintenance.

Where:
Simple diagnosis: Monitor trends of equipment and detect “abnormal sign” by Sushi Sensor.
Detailed diagnosis: Assess the cause of abnormal sign or failure by portable measurement instrument by the operator.

The operator can focus on value-adding tasks such as detailed diagnostics and determining next steps. Sushi Sensor detects signs of abnormalities and contributes to CBM.

Why is it Called "Sushi Sensor" ?

Sushi Sensor is named after sushi, a hand-pressed traditional Japanese food which combines rice with various toppings.

1. Like sushi is easy to eat, Sushi Sensor can be easily installed.
2. Like skilled professionals prepare sushi, Sushi Sensor is a robust, finely-crafted product.
3. Like sushi comes with various toppings, various kinds of sensors are being developed for Sushi Sensor.

Yokogawa Advocates APM

Yokogawa enhances the value of customers’ equipment through asset performance management (APM).

 To maximize the value of equipment, APM focuses on the availability of equipment and evaluates their performance. To maximize performance, APM should be performed not only in maintenance but also in operation and other areas where maintenance and operation must be collaborated to complement each other.

 Conventionally, plant operation systems aim to improve production efficiency and product quality while equipment maintenance systems aim to both maximize operational efficiency and minimize costs. However, when maximizing production efficiency, maintenance costs are not necessarily optimized. Although operation information and maintenance information must be combined to maximize profits for the whole plant, this is rarely achieved mainly because maintenance is not always quantified.

 To solve this problem, Yokogawa has developed Sushi Sensor, which consists of a sensor that collects basic data for equipment maintenance and functions that quantify, accumulate, and analyze these data, enabling operators to make objective judgements.
 Sushi Sensor strengthens collaboration between operation systems and equipment maintenance systems, achieving APM that optimizes all phases from the detection of equipment conditions by sensors to decisions on appropriate actions by operators.

Yokogawa’s APM not only optimizes equipment maintenance but also improves the operation of the whole plant.
Complementary collaboration between operation and equipment maintenance.