The maintenance-free system consists of wireless, remotely-powered sensors that communicate with transponders. It will allow users to:
• predict equipment failures, thus avoiding costly, unplanned downtime;
• prolong equipment life by monitoring points of weakness more accurately to know when to fix rather than replace equipment; and
• monitor installations even in remote, extreme locations where other forms of monitoring would be difficult or impossible.
“Unplanned downtime is a significant source of economic loss and frustration for operations and maintenance teams at manufacturing plants,” says Nikola Labs’ CEO, Will Zell. “Predictive sensor data is a powerful tool for manufacturers to reduce unplanned downtime and to enable their machine maintenance experts to be more proactive.
“Wireless power,” he continues, “is game-changing for predictive maintenance. Our system provides the benefits of wireless sensors without the burden of replacing batteries on hundreds or thousands of wireless devices in a plant.”
Nikola’s proprietary wireless technology converts radio frequency (RF) energy into DC power. It provides power and communications for uninterrupted flows of sensor data from critical and difficult-to-monitor components and processes. It can be used where cabled connections would be inefficient, impractical or dangerous.