Talking about the application of sensors in industry 4.0

From Germany's "Industry 4.0", the United States' "Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Strategy" to the United Kingdom's "High Value Strategy", the Industrial Internet has become a commanding height for major industrial countries to seize the international manufacturing competition. As the core driver and strategic focus of current industrial transformation, intelligent manufacturing is closely related to the Industrial Internet.

The concept of intelligent manufacturing began in the late 1980s. Professor P.K. Wright of New York University and Professor D.A. Bourne of Carnegie Mellon University published the book Manufacturing Intelligence, which first proposed the concept of intelligent manufacturing and pointed out that the purpose of intelligent manufacturing is to integrate Knowledge engineering, manufacturing software systems, machine vision and machine control, models the skills and expert knowledge of manufacturing technicians to enable intelligent machines to produce small batches without human intervention.

With the development of the times and the advancement of technology, intelligent manufacturing has also been given new meanings, and the goals have become more ambitious. my country is a big manufacturing country, and the manufacturing industry is the main body of the national economy. At present, my country's manufacturing industry is faced with the strategic tasks of improving production and manufacturing efficiency, energy conservation and emission reduction, and industrial structure adjustment. "Intelligent Manufacturing Development Plan (2016-2020)" pointed out:

Promoting intelligent manufacturing can effectively shorten the product development cycle, improve production efficiency and product quality, reduce operating costs and resource and energy consumption, and accelerate the development of intelligent manufacturing. of great significance.

The manufacturing industry is changing from traditional mode to digital, networked and intelligent, from extensive to quality and efficiency, from high pollution and high energy consumption to green manufacturing, and from production to "production + service". In this transformation process, intelligent manufacturing is an important means.

The more common definition of smart manufacturing is:

Oriented to the whole life cycle of the product, based on the new generation of information technology and the manufacturing system as the carrier, in its key links or processes, it has certain autonomous perception, learning, analysis, decision-making, communication and coordination control capabilities, and can dynamically adapt to the manufacturing environment. changes in order to achieve certain optimization goals.

The above definitions put forward clear goals and expectations for intelligent manufacturing—high efficiency, low cost, and high quality, and provide methodological guidance for its realization path. Emphasize autonomous perception, connect everything that can be digitized through the Internet of Everything, and use data and algorithms to gain intelligence.

Smart manufacturing requires not only the adoption of new manufacturing technologies and equipment, but also the penetration of rapidly developing information and communication technologies into factories, the construction of a Cyber Physical System (CPS) in the manufacturing field, and changes in the production organization and interpersonal relationships of the manufacturing industry. Bringing innovative changes in R&D manufacturing methods and business models.

What is the Industrial Internet of Things?

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has become synonymous with smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0. The Industrial Internet of Things can deploy intelligent technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR), digital twin/threading, cloud/edge computing as needed and permeates all aspects of smart manufacturing.

The Industrial Internet of Things also provides a platform to support smart manufacturing applications, a communication backbone between sensors, devices, machines, controllers, databases and information systems, capable of connecting to existing technologies and packaging and extending their functionality and longevity.

The biggest benefit of IIoT is the various data that is collected and analyzed later. Manufacturers can use this data to improve quality control, sustainable and environmental initiatives, supply chain traceability and increase supply chain efficiency.

In addition, IIoT can help field technicians determine when machines need repairs, detect corrosion levels in refinery pipelines, monitor infrastructure in industrial operations, and even track assets.

In terms of automation, optimization, and better supply chain and logistics, Industrial IoT networks provide these industries with stronger system integration. By using smart sensors and actuators, practitioners can more easily and efficiently monitor and control infrastructure in operations such as transportation, utilities, and healthcare. Such intelligent communication networks have the potential to dramatically change and improve industrial processes.

The use of sensors in Industry 4.0

Sensor refers to a multi-component integrated circuit with the functions of information acquisition, information processing, information exchange, and information storage. It is a system-level product that integrates sensor chips, communication chips, microprocessors, drivers, and software algorithms. Basic, leading and strategic industries for the overall development of the industry and national economic security.

With the rapid development of new-generation information technologies such as industrial Internet, big data, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence, the sensor application market is showing an explosive growth trend. According to market research institutions, the size of my country's sensor market will reach 166 billion yuan in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of about 11.65% in the next five years (2019-2023), and it will reach 258 billion yuan in 2023.

Driven by policies and markets, my country's sensor industry ecology tends to be complete, and key links such as design, manufacturing, packaging and testing have backbone enterprise layouts. At present, there are nearly 2,000 related companies engaged in sensor research in the country, including nearly 30 listed companies. Various sensor products basically meet the needs of the domestic market.

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Smart sensors are all kinds of sensors used in various industrial scenarios such as energy, petroleum, chemical, metallurgy, electric power, machinery manufacturing, automobiles and other industrial manufacturing processes. They generally refer to the force, heat, light, Magnetic, acoustic, wet, electrical, environmental, etc. are measured and converted into electrical signal output devices and devices. It is a kind of industrial product that involves the integration of multidisciplinary basic technologies. It has the typical characteristics of technology-intensive, multi-variety, small batch, flexible use and wide application distribution.

The German Association for Sensing and Measurement Technology (AMA) pointed out in the report "Sensor Technology 2022 - Connecting Innovations" that sensor technology is the core technology for the competitiveness of many machines, equipment and vehicles, and a means to increase their value. Like the current fast-growing Internet, the development of sensors brings both opportunities and challenges. The sophistication of future sensors determines international competitiveness in the fields of machine building, automotive, process control and manufacturing.

The United States established an international technical team (BGT) in the 1980s to coordinate government resources, enterprises and related departments to carry out work in sensor technology, functional materials and other aspects at the national level, serving American industrial manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing and military industry. field. At the end of the last century, Japan has listed sensor technology as the top ten technologies in this century. The Japanese business community directly believes that "the new era can be dominated by sensor technology", and the development and utilization of sensor technology has been listed as a national priority in this century. Develop one of the six core technologies.

Epilogue

And today, the emergence of smart cities, smart homes, and smart buildings also requires sensor technology, and many sensor innovations in Industry 5.0 are already mid-to-market applications in other technology-oriented markets, such as the rapid adoption of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in new vehicle models. The deployment, and the development of electric vehicles, semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles, have a huge demand for sensor applications as well as industrial systems.

From the continued development of Industry 4.0 to the introduction of the concept of Industry 5.0, the importance of sensors is self-evident. The continuous technological innovation of the semiconductor industry promotes the application of sensor technology to the practical implementation, while promoting the continuous development of industrial production, it also creates a better and smarter life for us.