Acoustic monitoring system listens for errors in production

A number of products are manufactured in large individual components and then glued or fitted together with robotic arms.

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“Component tolerances play an important role: if they are too large, they can cause collisions and displacements,” said Danilo Hollosi, Head of Acoustic Event Detection at Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg. The error is often noticed too late, which leads to unscheduled downtime and high costs.

Hollosi and his team have developed smart sensors that can be fitted directly to the machine or equipment and used to identify faults immediately. The sensors are sensitive to airborne sound and recognise faults based on noises.

“When mating connectors join together, it makes a click that the microphone or sensor picks up. If the click doesn’t happen, the acoustic monitoring system displays an error, which is reliably documented. At the same time, the relevant worker is notified,” said Hollosi.