Forming Technology Smarter Groove Stone in Presses is Intended to Enable Predictive Maintenance

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The intelligent groove stone Smartnotch is directly installed in the T-slots of presses and measures forces on the workpiece. The sensor technology is intended to enable condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, among other things.

For mechanical engineers, the year 2025 will be about investing in future-proof technologies despite declining orders and sales figures. The modernization of manufacturing contributes to greater competitiveness and economic stability. The intelligent groove stone Smartnotch, a development of the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT, provides the basis for efficiency improvements with its sensors.

As part of the research project "Edge Cloud Continuum for Production" (ECC4P) by CCIT, sensor data along the entire processing chain is aggregated, analyzed, and transformed into valuable insights for more efficient operations using learning systems such as artificial intelligence—combining the benefits of retrofitting and cognitive internet technologies. Smartnotch is a key component for sensory data acquisition.

Forming machines such as presses and rollers are fundamental components of the industrial manufacturing process. However, they are very expensive to purchase and require significant time for setup and adjustment, leading to high investment costs. This poses a challenge for users and manufacturers: reconciling efficiency, cost savings, quality, and the durability of the machines with the considerable initial costs.

Retrofitting, i.e., the modernization, technological enhancement or conversion of existing systems, allows

• to specifically increase efficiency,
• to extend the lifespan,
• to implement new functions,

without having to invest in completely new systems.

In addition, current standards and technologies can be utilized to meet new regulations and, if necessary, address required safety requirements.

Smart Sensor Technology for Agile And Successful Manufacturing Companies

An example of such retrofit technology is the intelligent groove stone Smartnotch from Fraunhofer CCIT. This is an innovative sensor that is directly installed in the standardized T-slots of a press and measures the applied force on the workpiece. The groove stone is therefore used directly at the site of the forming process without disrupting the established workflow. The sensor system is being developed in several sizes, allowing it to be installed in both large and small slots.

Smartnotch continuously monitors and automates production processes within the press. Classic use cases for Smartnotch include condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. The groove stone is installed, for example, at the interface to the tool and in the T-slots of the press table and ram. This turns machine components, which previously had no specific function, into valuable data sources for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance.

The responsible parties receive transparent information, enabling them, with the help of artificial intelligence, to detect wear, predict failures, and identify production errors at an early stage. This makes it possible to plan maintenance work proactively to avoid downtime, material damage, and consequently, revenue losses.

With the groove stone Smartnotch, machines can also be prepared for a new project in a resource-efficient way. An example can be found in research on market-ready hydrogen production. To achieve the status of industrial-scale series production, cost-effective materials, high-quality components for innovative electrolyzers, as well as the scalability and networking of production processes, are essential.

Smartnotch makes an important contribution to quality monitoring by complementing and aggregating data on system and process conditions with the measurement results of the sensor technology. This increases transparency in times of growing complexity, making production more efficient and agile—both factors impacting product costs. Challenges such as high demands on production facilities due to new materials, complex geometries, or small batch sizes thus become manageable.

Trustworthy Data Spaces As A Foundation

The sensor system Smartnotch is part of the research and development project "Edge Cloud Continuum for Production" (ECC4P) by Fraunhofer CCIT. ECC4P combines the advantages of edge and cloud computing—low latency on the one hand and scalable computing capacities on the other—thereby providing manufacturing companies with the possibilities of a closed and sovereign data space.

In practice, this means: On the one hand, the implemented sensor technology, Smartnotch, is used for data acquisition. Parameters such as temperature, vibration, process force, or pressure are recorded there.

Augmented by data from machine sensors and other sources (forming force, stroke rate, operating time, error messages, or material consumption), comprehensive information about the entire processing chain can be collected. A new added value for factory operators arises when data from the various sources is consolidated, structurally analyzed, and evaluated on an Edge IPC (Industrial PC). This allows processes to be optimized more easily and precisely and, if necessary, shared with other involved stakeholders (manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, etc.)—a demand that is increasingly coming to the forefront when considering the entire value chain.

The results obtained are already suitable for regulating machines without latency and drawing general conclusions about production processes. Only through the combination with machine learning (ML) technologies do manufacturing companies fully benefit from all advantages. ML models analyze and interpret the data to detect and prevent production waste, process anomalies, or tool wear. This process takes place in the cloud, where the necessary computing power is available.

For further use, the insights are fed back to the local IPCs in the form of specifically trained models. The transfer takes place in a sovereign data space, meaning third parties do not have uncontrolled access to the information. This creates a continuous and seamless processing of data in the so-called Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) pipeline.

Future-Proofing With Industry 4.0

Cognitive internet technologies such as the intelligent groove stone Smartnotch form the foundation for the competitiveness of industrial companies. They not only enable existing systems to be prepared for the demands of digitalized production instead of making costly new purchases but also increase the efficiency, transparency, and agility of production, among other things, through condition monitoring and predictive maintenance.

The combination of robust sensor concepts with sovereign data processing and intelligent analysis significantly expands the functionality of forming machines and makes them valuable data sources. Artificial intelligence and machine learning play a crucial role in deriving insights from the data and using them for process optimization.

A trustworthy data space, where cognitive internet technologies operate, is thus the key to agile and resilient production systems.

Michael Fritz is the head of the office of the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT.

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