Registration is still open for registratio to both the full two-day conference and the last day of the conference which is open for anyone. During the last day of the conference we will disseminate highlights from the center after 8 years in operation. We also have some invited external keynote speakers on the program on the last day. Prof. Sebastian Trimpe, Institute for Data Science in Mechanical Engineering, RWTH Achen University will give an introduction to learning based approaches for dynamical systems and control*. Elling Rishoff, Senior Vice President DNV Incubation, will talk about digitalization challenges in the offshore industries.
*Background on the topic learning for dynamics and control
“The explosion of real-time data that is emerging from the physical world requires a rapprochement of areas such as machine learning, control theory, and optimization. While control theory has been firmly rooted in the tradition of model-based design, the availability and scale of data (both temporal and spatial) will require rethinking the foundations of our discipline. From a machine learning perspective, one of the main challenges going forward is to go beyond pattern recognition and address problems in data-driven control and optimization of dynamical processes.” L4DC.org
Reduced costs and increased productivity without compromising health, safety and environmental requirements is critical for sustainable and competitive offshore operations. Maintenance and repair strategies have an impact on machine availability and reliability, which in turn have an impact on costs and productivity.
In the traditional periodic maintenance strategy, the risk is that machines are maintained too early or too often, resulting in elevated costs, or too late resulting in unplanned downtime. This has motivated the offshore industry to new maintenance strategies such as condition-based maintenance, predictive maintenance, preventive maintenance, risk-based maintenance, and resilience-based maintenance or to put it simply – smarter maintenance.
However, 24/7 operation in the remote and harsh conditions of the offshore environment is a demanding business. Any planned downtime must be carefully considered and unplanned downtime hampering operations leads to potentially high production losses. A resilient maintenance strategy may also factor in contract and market conditions such as penalties, price fluctuations, cost and availability of spare parts, skilled personnel, and infrastructure such as vessels and cranes.
Why is it hard?
Machine health and the need for maintenance is impacted by multiple factors, including machine usage and operating conditions such as loads and weather conditions. Another challenge is that wear issues can be hard to identify by visual inspection and would in most cases require downtime due to the need for disassembly to access components and parts. But what if we could identify problems at a very initial stage, in time to operate the machine securely and reliably until the next feasible maintenance opportunity?
This is the type of question addressed by the SFI Offshore Mechatronics work-package on condition monitoring techniques (WP5). Based on feedback from the industry partners, condition monitoring of hydraulic cylinders was identified as a relevant research topic. Hydraulic cylinders are used in a broad range of machines in the offshore industry, such as clamping units, skidding systems, tensioners, cranes, and heave compensation. Robust and affordable solutions for condition monitoring of hydraulic cylinders would therefore be of high value.
How is it done today and what are the limits of current practices?
Monitoring of rotating machinery such as electrical motors, pumps and gearboxes is commonly solved by bolting vibration sensors on the machine. The vibration data is recorded, and once analyzed it can indicate if maintenance is needed. A drawback of vibration sensors is that they are not performing well with non-rotating machinery such as hydraulic and electro-mechanical cylinders and reciprocal machines using pistons to induce motion. But what type of sensor would be a good fit for monitoring cylinders?
For a moment, let us go back to the very early start of the SFI Offshore Mechatronics. In 2015, Senior Researcher Rune Schlanbusch started his research on monitoring of large diameter steel ropes and welds using Acoustic Emission (AE). At the same time, but on the opposite side of the world, Vignesh Shanbhag started his PhD at Deakin University, Australia. Vignesh used AE techniques in his research on measuring tool wear in metal forming processes. An advantage of AE-based condition monitoring is that AE signals are sensitive to damage on microscopic level. Another advantage is that the effect of environmental noise or machine vibrations are severely limited for AE-signals due to the high frequency.
Outline of the research
Subtask WP5.6 was established with the aim of using AE to identify oil leakage from hydraulic cylinders at very initial stages. Vignesh Shanbhag was recruited into WP5.6 as a PostDoc researcher at NORCE Research under supervision of Rune Schlanbusch, and he started his work in late 2019. Specific wear conditions such as piston rod wear, spindle wear and seal-wear were considered. The scientific results of the performed research on hydraulic cylinders and spindles are published in several journal papers, a majority on the highest scientific level (Level 2).
Who cares and what’s next?
In his research Vignesh Shanbhag presents robust AE-based condition monitoring techniques, that can be used in industries to monitor multiple faults in hydraulic cylinders at the same time.
The results have been presented to the industry partners, but development of sensor systems is not in their core business. They are foremost users of such systems and rely on vendors to supply commercial products and services. Non-technical barriers such as business models and lack of incentives are also part of the consideration.
The technology demonstrated in the research is well positioned within emerging trends such as digital vessel classification services, asset integrity management, asset performance management and digital twins. However, the sensor system used in this research is bulky and expensive lab equipment (Technology Readiness Level – TRL 3-4). To be considered for larger investments and industrial implementation TRL 7-9 is expected.
For these reasons, NORCE has decided to proceed with a separate spin-off project to reach a higher technology readiness level. In 2021 a pre-project with funding from the Research Council Norway FORNY program was granted. In early 2023 a FORNY main project with 5MNOK funding was granted. The project will prepare for commercialization of the AE technology. A spin-off company to industrialize and bring the technology to the market will be considered as part of this process.
More details on the research results can be found in the publication “Defining acoustic emission-based condition monitoring indicators for monitoring piston rod seal and bearing wear in hydraulic cylinders” [1].
The journal MIC will organise the 6th special edition on offshore technology within the fields of Modeling, Identification and Control.
The fields of primary emphasis by MIC are: • Modeling: General methodology of modeling including choice of structure, model reduction, numerical aspects, systems for computer aided modeling, etc. • Identification: General methodology including system structure, identifiability, convergence, numerical aspects, systems for computer aided identification, etc. • Control: General methodology including system specification, derivation of control strategies, analysis of system properties such as stability, sensitivity, etc. • Applications: Demonstration, by simulations or experiments, of applications of theory within the above fields to engineering, biological, economic, ecological, social, geophysical, agricultural systems and others.
All papers published in MIC are peer-reviewed. All papers will receive a permanent DOI number and a printed edition will be handed out at the conference. MIC counts as publication level 1 in Norway.
Guest editors in this edition are Daniel Hagen (former PhD fellow in SFI Offshore Mechatronics) and Asle Pedersen (SFI Offshore Mechatronics).
Submit papers to: asle.pedersen@uia.no, daniel.hagen@uia.no with a cc to: editor@mic-journal.no. If you intend to submit, please let us know as soon as possible with a short description of the topic. This will be helpful in the planning of the review process. The submission deadline is August 31, 2023. Manuscripts must be prepared using the MIC template available at https://www.mic-journal.no/for-authors/
The paper “Embedding Clustering using Lightweight Contrastive Learning For Cross-Modal Classification” was awarded with Best Student Paper Award at the The 8th International Conference on Computer and Communication Systems (ICCCS 2023). The event took place on April 21-24, 2023 in Guangzhou, China.
The first author of the publication is José Amendola, which is doing his PhD at University of Agder as part of WP3 in SFI Offshore Mechatronics. The publication co-authors are Linga Reddy Cenkeramaddi and Ajit Jha.
Congratulations to José and his co-authors on this achievement.
You are invited to this innovation workshop initiated by NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, SFI Offshore Mechatronics and SFI Smart Ocean and GCE NODE and GCE Ocean Technology. The workshop will explore ocean technologies that will form the basis for future needs within operation and maintenance in the offshore, marine and maritime sectors.
SFI Offshore Mechatronics are now in its ending phase while SFI Smart Ocean is still in its startup phase. These two SFIs have overlapping and adjacent thematic areas which is relevant for the evolving offshore renewable energy sector and ocean farming. Common possibilities relevant for the industry will be approached in the workshop.
Who is the workshop intended for?
The workshop is relevant for everyone working in offshore, marine, and maritime sectors. It is especially for those who design, service or operate systems related to monitoring, performance tracking and decision support.
What is the goal of this workshop?
The goal is to create an arena where stakeholders from different regions and along the value chains within offshore, marine, and maritime industries meet to discuss common challenges and opportunities. Through sharing our perspectives and outcomes of the SFI we believe we will gain an insightful and genuine innovation processes.
The program contains selected inspirational talks from academia and industry, and a workshop element where the participants will suggest and develop their ideas in collaboration. The organizers are open for coordinating efforts originating from the workshop to initiate cooperation for further developing selected prominent topics.
When and where?
24th of August 2023 09:15 – 15:45 Kreativt Møtesenter Ground floor at Terje Løvås vei 1, Grimstad
The SFI Offshore Mechatronics Annual and Final Conference will take place on June 20.-21 at UiA, campus Grimstad. The first day of the conference is for the consortium members only. The last day of the conference is also opened up to external participants. Use this registration form to sign up for the open day conference program on June 21.
Wednesday 21/6
Open Day – Preliminary Program
08:30 – 09:00
Registration
09.00 – 09.10
Welcome & introduction Geir Grasmo (Center Director), Tom Fidjeland (Chair of the Board)
09.10 – 09.40
Technology Vision in GCE NODE Rune Johnsen, Chair of the Board, GCE NODE
09.40 – 09.50
Result presentations: WP7 (Technology Vision / Business Model Innovation) Dr. Ellen Nordgård Hansen
09.50 – 10.10
Mechatronics in SLB; Tomorrow & Today Harald Langenes – Business Domain Expert – SLB Kristiansand (Cameron Sense)
MacGregor leveraging on SFI Mechatronics Dr. Hugo Rosano, Senior R&D Manager, Offshore Solutions Division
11.30 – 12.15
Lunch
12.20 – 12.50
Learning based approaches for dynamical systems and control Prof. Sebastian Trimpe, Institute for Data Science in Mechanical Engineering, RWTH Achen University
12.50 – 13.20
Result presentations: WP1: Drives (Prof. Torben O. Andersen – AAU) WP5: Monitoring Techniques (Dr. Rune Schlanbusch – NORCE) WP6: Data analytics & Big Data (Prof. Baltasar Beferull Lozano – UiA)
