Condition monitoring / predictive maintenance

Condition Monitoring vs Predictive Maintenance

Condition Monitoring (CM) is the monitoring of several parameters such as equipment vibration and temperature to identify potential issues such as misalignments or bearing failures. Condition monitoring tools can for instance map equipment degradation when a vibration analysis shows a change in the harmonic frequency of rotating equipment components. Frequency analyses can be based both on vibrometer and microphone data.

Continuous Condition Monitoring techniques can be applied on several pieces of equipment such as compressors, pumps, spindles and motors and can also be implemented to identify partial discharge on machine or vacuum leaks.

Predictive Maintenance is based on Condition Monitoring, anomaly detection and classification algorithms, and integrates predictive models which can estimate the remaining machine runtime left, according to detected anomalies. This approach uses a wide range of tools, such as statistical analyses and Machine Learning to predict the state of the equipment.

ST's portfolio for Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance

Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance are value-added yet challenging applications in Industry 4.0. ST has therefore deployed advanced ICs and an ecosystem of evaluation tools, software, documentation and online dashboards for remote monitoring, which are continuously updated to be in keeping with industrial needs.

Microcontrollers and microprocessors

STM32 Arm® Cortex® M4/M33/M7-based microcontrollers and STM32 Arm® Cortex®-A7® microprocessor series with floating points capabilities can process sensor data at the edge. The STM32Cube.AI toolchain allows users to implement Neural Networks and Machine Learning for a deep learning approach.

Sensors and Inertial Measurements Units (IMU)

ST also offers high-performance, cost-competitive sensors and Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) with a 10-year supply guarantee (longevity program), including accelerometers and ultra-sound analog microphones enabling vibration analysis from simple Pass/Fail monitoring to high-accuracy, frequency-based data analysis. Our portfolio also includes a wide range of environmental sensors for temperature, humidity and pressure sensing and advanced MEMS sensors containing digital functions optimized to run Machine Learning algorithms that allow the data processing to be shared between the IMU and the host processor.

Wired and wireless communication solutions

A range of wired and wireless communication solutions complement our offer: IO-Link-compatible devices for industrial wired connectivity, and a portfolio of wireless technology such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) SoCs and network processors, as well as LPWAN SoCs and transceivers supporting LoRa, Sigfox and license-free ISM and SRD frequency bands.

Together with our partners to help with your challenges

Predictive Maintenance is a key challenge for the industry and the necessary skills to implement these techniques may not be easy to find or acquire. We have therefore brought together an ecosystem of trusted Authorized Partners to support our customers in the tailored design and implementation of their solution. To find out more, visit our Partner page and our Tools and Software section on st.com.