Singapore-based Hoestar has licensed technology from A*STAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) covering wireless piezoelectric sensors for remote machine health diagnosis.
The wireless sensors will track vibrations and stresses that affect the health of machinery such as motors, pumps and generators.
The technology will increase productivity by saving time, reducing manual checking and offering detection precision.
The IMRE piezoelectric sensor technology gives users real-time updates on the physical integrity of the machine and acts as an early warning system to alert users about impending machine failures.
Hoestar will combine the IMRE technology with its own expertise in machine health diagnosis.
Data on deteriorating equipment health allow factories and businesses to plan for a timely replacement of crucial components before they fail completely, thereby minimising costly delays in production. The system eliminates the needs to manually check the equipment.
IMRE customised its piezoelectric technology so that the extremely miniature millimetre-sized sensing element could be integrated with wireless technology to enable remote monitoring.
The team from IMRE's Sensor & Transducer Programme was able to develop a sensor prototype with Hoestar in just over a year, integrating wireless technology so that the sensors remain inconspicuous and can be conveniently applied to the moving parts of a machine.