The branch had the good fortune of hosting two technology events this month, but due to the Covid-19 virus threat and the current lockdown situation, the management team has decided to do virtual training for the rest of the year. Pepperl+Fuchs hosted the technology evening and Schneider Electric the training day.
Technology evening
Bradley Woollon from Pepperl+Fuchs went back to the fundamentals during his virtual presentation about photoelectric sensors, pulsed ranging technology (PRT) and LiDAR. Bradley covered PRT and LiDAR as well as the various applications of these sensors in industry. He presented how they can be used on both darker and lighter coloured material, as well as with reflectors and as standard diffuse mode sensors. He discussed how this technology is also capable of doing ranging measurements due to incorporating pulsed light instead of a solid beam, which means that the power of the light can be much greater. It can therefore travel further and measure range more accurately than a standard light source. Bradley concluded by explaining how the various technologies benefit industry.
Training day
Tyrone Govender from Schneider Electric presented a MS Teams training session where he invited us to join him as he took us on a journey through the IIoT and connecting the factories of tomorrow.
He started the journey with a short history and some examples of the IoT and the IIoT, outlining the differences between the two concepts. Then the electrifying part started when Tyrone introduced us to a project in which he implemented an IIoT system for monitoring and predictive maintenance.
The project requirements were outlined and then we were taken through the processes and criteria that were applied for selecting sensors and an edge device. Tyrone explained why an edge device is used and the reason he selected Node Red for this industrial use case. He presented the challenges often faced when implementing an IIoT system as we journeyed through his project implementation. This concluded with how the project was then integrated into the cloud and how the cloud data could be used to optimise a real-world maintenance application.
A big thank you to both Pepperl+Fuchs and Schneider Electric for hosting their respective events.
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