Working with HPE, ABB has unveiled a high-performance wireless condition monitoring system for large industrial applications. The new system uses Aruba Wi-Fi networking together with ABB smart sensor technology. An early adopter of the new technology is Swiss renewable energy producer Axpo.

Firms with large sites, such as automotive manufacturing facilities, processing plants or airport baggage handling systems can use ABB Ability Smart Sensor technology together with Aruba Wi-Fi infrastructure to capture health and performance data from their rotating equipment. They can then access this information via a web portal, a cloud interface, tablet or mobile phone application for further analysis.

The use of wireless sensors is designed to eliminate cost and complexity associated with wiring and connection of sensors.

ABB says that it will be easier for customers to deploy condition monitoring across their entire operation potentially covering hundreds or even thousands of individual motors, pumps, bearings and gearing. The company says that its Smart Sensor technology for hazardous areas extends the scope of the technology to include oil and gas and chemical processing plants.

“Smart Sensor technology with Aruba Wi-Fi infrastructure is a game-changing solution for large-scale condition monitoring,” said Bernd Heisterkamp, Smart Solutions, business line Motion Services at ABB. “Smart Sensors are easy to install and commission – it is simply a question of activating the sensors, so they connect to the network by Bluetooth then you are ready to start monitoring.”

One of the pilot installations of ABB Ability Smart Sensors operating over Aruba infrastructure is being commissioned at Axpo, one of Switzerland’s largest producers of renewable energy and a leader in energy trading. Commercial installations are currently under discussion with a number of customers.

“When we first heard about this joint ABB-Aruba solution we knew that it would be a perfect fit for the 360-degrees approach of our digital power plant,” said Emil Bieri, Axpo’s Head of Digital Transformation Hydro. “ABB’s new offering is easy-to-deploy and provides us with the required insights and scalability for our large fleet of hydro power plants.”

HPE and ABB have been global, strategic partners since November 2017. The relationship combines ABB’s digital offerings with HPE networking, secure edge compute and hybrid information technology solutions, as well as new everything-as-a-service models.