Could SNAP SIGNAL be the “Swiss Army Knife” of IIoT & condition monitoring systems?

05May

Turck Banner’s SNAP SIGNAL is a versatile, complete suite of products to facilitate the collection of data from machines that were never designed with data in mind.

The products also enable cost-effective signal conversion for those times when, for example, you need one more analogue input and only have a digital input left.

The suite comprises everything you will need to unlock your machine’s valuable data, without compromising the current control system and risking unplanned downtime.

There are currently 20 in-line converters, with M12 connectors, that take various types of signals, such as analogue, digital or thermistor, and convert these to smart protocols like IO-Link or Modbus. These converters are used with splitter cables to connect to the existing control wiring and convert outputs from the existing sensors into a unified protocol, whilst leaving the control system intact. There are 59 splitter cordset variations to match any requirement.

The unified signals are then fed back to a variety of Hubs, Masters, Controllers and Gateways to enable the collection, real-time analysis and consumption of the data. Valuable data can now be passed to existing SCADA and Cloud systems, or the Cloud platform provided by Turck Banner.

Everything that you need to complete the installation is included:

• Filters to suppress or filter electrical noise and transients

• Adaptors to match outputs to inputs in the various M12 wiring configurations

• Hundreds of cordsets both single and double ended to connect the parts together

• Mounting brackets and other hardware

As all SNAP devices are in IP68, field mountable housings are not required.

SNAP Signal makes it easy to upgrade a brownfield site and reap the benefits of smart data. The overlay network solution is extremely cost effective and virtually risk free, as the existing control system does not require any additional programming or changes.

Downtime is kept to an absolute minimum, as the SNAP network can be added a little at a time during periods of inactivity, or during other times of planned maintenance.

Turck Banner will even provide three months of free trial access to its cloud to reduce your costs and commitments further. This ensures that you will immediately get useable data.

We frequently see modern factories where smart machines are not as interconnected as would be desirable. Instead, machines in the same production line are isolated in multiple automation islands, often due to different manufacturers or machine builders using different protocols. Once again, SNAP SIGNAL “comes to the rescue”, allowing you to connect two previously incompatible device types so data can be seamlessly transmitted across multiple IIoT ecosystems.

The modular nature of SNAP SIGNAL makes it easy to introduce extra sensors for monitoring the condition of critical components. This provides early warning of failures due to wear and facilitates planned maintenance. Extra sensors can also be added and relocated, without interfering with the normal running of the machine, in order to provide the data for tracking product throughput at different stages in production thus identifying bottlenecks, slow downs and short stops. The ability to relocate these sensors without stopping production greatly simplifies and speeds up the process of identifying the cause of lost production and improves the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

For companies just starting their journey into OEE, condition monitoring, smart machines etc., this is an easy place to start learning where the benefits are for you. Its flexibility ensures that nothing will be wasted and you will not need a Capex to start. It truly is an IIoT enabler.

Is SNAP SIGNAL the Swiss Army Knife? While it doesn’t have quite as many blades, it is a lot more useful than a hoof pick tool, and with more converters being added all the time, it could prove invaluable.