Funded by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia within the Technology Transfer Programme 2021, with the financial aid of the ERDF, the MINA project (file number 6/12/TT/2021/00006) focuses on the integration of energy-self-sufficient multipoint sensors in metal components that, in addition, will be able to emit the captured data wirelessly.
Developing solutions associated with power transmission to the transducers is one of the key technological challenges posed by data capture data from the most inaccessible areas of manufacturing processes. These zones host some of the most relevant phenomena of the manufacturing process that are of great interest to advance in the development of intelligent manufacturing solutions.
As PhD. Garikoitz Artola, Director of Forming Technologies at AZTERLAN, contextualizes, “within the SUSIE project (funded within the Elkartek program), we were able to demonstrate the feasibility of inserting power wiring on the surface of tools to ensure power for the transducers… in the new MINA project we wanted to take a step further betting on a strategy without wires, using the energy available in the transformation / manufacturing processes to capture the necessary power to supply these devices and ensure the emission of their signal wirelessly.”
More specifically, the MINA project (“Development of Multipoint, Wireless and Self-Powered Sensors for the surface monitoring of production tools and metal components subjected to extreme conditions “) seeks to show that it is possible to “create sensitive components, that is, to integrate into the skin of metallic components a multipoint sensor system, that absorb energy from the environment and emit their reading wirelessly”.
To achieve this, a key area of work has been the “shielding” of these elements both to prevent them from being manipulated and to “avoid the deterioration of the electronics involved, while ensuring the in-service behavior of the tools and mechanical components of the manufacturing tools, without affecting their durability (resistance to wear, corrosion, plastic deformation and cracking)”. To achieve this, the research team works on techniques for embedding these systems through laser welding and laser cladding processes.
“For AZTERLAN this is a very important field of work, and it relates to other relevant areas of research and development our technology center is currently working on. In addition, it offers great opportunities for application and advance in various areas related to 4.0 Industry and intelligent manufacturing”. As Artola explains, “we hope that MINA’s results will allow AZTERLAN to position ourselves in a position to transfer to the manufacturing industry the foundations to manufacture sensitive components that can be integrated into the value chain of the Intelligent Industry”.
Subsequently, the transfer of this technology to different industrial applications “must be particularized in each case, so, currently, the objective is not to bring a marketable product, but to enable us to accompany the industry around us incorporate the enabling technologies demanded by the Industry of the Future”.
The project “MINA – Development of Multipoint, Wireless and Self-Powered Sensors for the surface monitoring of production tools and metal components subjected to extreme conditions” (file number 6/12/TT/2021/00006) is financed by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia within the 2021 Technology Transfer Programme and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
