Q: Please briefly explain your role, involvement, and experience with Tribo-sensing and practices of condition monitoring
Honor Powrie (HP): I work for General Electric and have been working on CM systems for the past 30 years. I currently work in Data Science, delivering CM related solutions for commercial engines and Aviation systems. I have experience across multiple domains including Wind Turbines, Oil & Gas, Industrial Power and Land vehicles. I am also a Visiting Professor at nCATS (national Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton University), advising on tribo-sensing technologies.
Ling Wang (LW): I am Professor of Tribo-Sensing and head of the national Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton (nCATS), University of Southampton. I have over 20 years of research experience in sensor and signal processing development for condition monitoring especially for tribological systems such as bearings, engines, lubrication and wear. I have led research projects in tribology, developed novel sensing techniques (e.g. electrostatic sensing for hybrid bearings, thick film sensors for oil degradation) and intelligent fault detection methods (e.g. artificial neural networks for pump fault detection and Gaussian mixture models for automatic fault detection for rolling element bearings), with an £8M research grant portfolio from the UK, EU and industries. I have published over 100 scientific journal papers in relevant areas. I also teach a sensing and condition monitoring module for master students at the University.
Michael Burkinshaw (MB): I lead research and technology within Materials Science and Engineering for Cummins Engine Components. I’ve worked in the field of tribology for ~ 17 years, with significant experience of applying science to resolve tribological problems.
Philip Shackleton (PS): My background is in rail vehicle dynamics and the simulation of vehicle-track interactions, which stems from my PhD on the computer modelling of wheel-rail contacts. Tribology is a key factor in rail system performance, from the traction, braking and steering forces transmitted between wheels and rails, and the material damage those induce, through to moving components within vehicles, such as friction suspensions and, of course axle bearings.
Outside the rail industry I am also involved with the condition monitoring of wind turbine blades, using measurement data to better understand performance and operating environment, to detect and monitor damage, and to identify damage inducing events.
Roger Lewis (RL): While I have worked in tribology for nearly 25 years, I have only recently become involved in tribo-sensing as we realised that it was very important to understand what is happening in a contact in real time to understand the system performance better.
Stefan Fuchss (SF): As a Chief Engineer on Electric Drive Units (EDU) at Jaguar Land Rover, I am working at the forefront of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) technology, leading the EDU Team on delivery the future JLR Electric Drive Units for the next generation of BEV Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar cars.
Tomasz Liskiewicz (TL): Tribo-sensing, an area of tribology that focuses on the development and application of sensing technologies, is increasingly recognized as a crucial domain within the field. Acknowledging its significance, I have actively engaged in projects cantered around the development and implementation of sensory coatings. Furthermore, in a recent collaborative effort, I have participated in the authorship of a comprehensive review paper that explores the diverse applications of sensors in tribology.
Q: What is the top challenge facing your industry at present?
HP: 2-fold:
- Developing propulsion technology to meet future environmental sustainability targets.
- Collecting reliable and relevant data.
LW: The top change industry faces in the condition monitoring and tribo-sensing is to have more robust techniques that minimise false detections and diagnosis. This relates to two main areas, i.e. cheaper, more robust and easy operating sensors; and intelligent algorithms or models that can extract the most useful information from sensor signals to enable early and accurately detection of abnormality in machinery to allow timely maintenance planning. One of the key requirements in establishing robust condition monitoring solutions for high value high risk machinery is the lack of data for effective model development, especially generalised models that enables ‘one fits all’ capabilities.
MB: Net zero; the drive to decarbonise the commercial transportation industry. This is leading to the use of:
- Zero emissions technologies
- Low to zero carbon fuels
- Fuel agnostic internal combustion engines
This technology roadmap is driving the development of new, unique and difficult Materials Science and Engineering challenges, which are both complex and very rewarding to solve.
A particular example from a tribology perspective is the use of hydrogen as a fuel for the internal combustion engine; the lubricating properties of the fuel are significantly different to that of diesel, impacting tribological performance of critical components. It is imperative that our industry identifies robust solutions to enable a sustainable approach to decarbonisation.
PS: I think one of the top challenges for rail freight at the moment is the adoption or transfer of technologies which might be common place for condition monitoring in other sectors. The biggest problem being that freight wagons don’t normally have any on-board power or data connections. Vehicle mounted monitoring systems therefore need to be self-powered and include some form of wireless communications, and at a price point which brings net benefit.
The landscape is also shifting, digital automatic couplers (DAC) are set to be the norm at some point in the future and could provide power and comms to wagons – so does an asset owner invest in self-powered, wireless, tech now or hold out for the more complete package (missing out on the interim benefit)?
RL: Condition monitoring has become very important for the railway industry. To reach the aim of a 24/7 railway maintenance needs to become streamlined which means that all aspects of the infrastructure needs monitoring. This will also help with safety, as much of the inspection of track is currently done by people.
SF: One of the top challenges at the moment is the supply-chain disruptions. It remains difficult to enhance particular products whilst key components like latest design microchips still are hard to secure.
TL: The primary ongoing challenge in tribology, despite advancements in technology and scientific discoveries, lies in comprehending the fundamental mechanisms of friction and wear across different scales and operating conditions. This requires investigating the complex interplay of physical, chemical, and mechanical forces, and exploring the effects of various parameters such as temperature, pressure, and lubrication. Additionally, the identification and characterisation of emerging tribological phenomena and materials add further complexity to the field.
Q: How would you say your industry has evolved over the past two years?
HP: The industry continues to expand as we see increased demand for flying. What we deliver now will be in-service in 25+ years. The pressure is ramping for Aviation and Aerospace to establish effective, sustainable solutions.
LW: Tribo-sensing and condition monitoring has been around for decades and has experienced a significant boost in the 1990s when artificial intelligence (AI) techniques were firstly introduced and applied to signal manipulation. Over the past few years, due to the stormy ‘comebacks’ of AI and machine learning (ML), using ML for intelligent fault detection and diagnosis becomes a new frontier research topic. Together with numerical modelling of interfaces, tribo-sensing, e.g. monitoring wear, friction and lubrication using sensors for tribological systems, is leading the future of tribology digitalisation.
MB: The decarbonisation of the commercial transportation industry has increased significantly in pace, with numerous OEMs now offering new products and technologies to meet the growing customer demand.
PS: I have seen that the industry is seizing more opportunities to use data to improve operational safety and inform maintenance. Currently that is mainly coming from track-side monitoring systems, but I’d expect it to also transfer to vehicle-mounted sensors in the near future as barriers to adoption are overcome.
RL: Innovation in the area of infrastructure monitoring has grown exponentially in the last few years as big data, AI etc. have been introduced. New sensors and inspection techniques such as the use of drones are also being introduced.
SF: The BEV industry is evolving very rapidly, increasingly focusing on higher efficiency, higher speeds, more power density and performance. All of these trends drive innovative electric machines, inverters and gearbox designs. They also put higher demands on cooling systems as well as on innovative materials and fluids.
TL: The evolution of computational tribology has been a source of great excitement, as it continues to offer increasingly robust tools for modelling and simulation purposes. This field has witnessed significant expansion, empowering researchers with enhanced capabilities to gain deep insights into the complex phenomena underlying tribology and to devise optimal solutions. The advancements in computational techniques have enabled the simulation of intricate frictional processes, wear mechanisms, and lubrication dynamics, providing a virtual platform to explore and understand the behaviour of materials and interfaces at various scales.
Q: What developments are going on in your industry that may have an impact on the future work of tribologists?
HP: The introduction of new materials, lubricants, fuels and designs required to meet propulsion sustainability targets. New propulsion concepts and operational requirements that we have not previously deployed.
LW: My team has developed ‘intelligent bearings’ for aero-engines, where multiple sensors have been incorporated in engine bearing designs as part of the new bearing system. ML based models have been developed to detect and diagnose bearing faults to automate engine bearing health monitoring without the requirements of new training data, i.e. a generalised model has been developed, based on a novel signal processing technique and ML (classic and deep learning) models, that can be used to diagnose bearing faults without the requirement of training the model again. If successfully applied, we expect revolutionary changes in bearing health monitoring for a wide range of machines.
MB: In the search of robustness and efficiency as we drive towards net-zero, the focus of commercial transportation powertrain tribology is becoming broader, encompassing a far wider field of components.
New lubricants, fuels, materials, surface treatments, coatings, etc. are being developed to meet the requirement of the customer in terms of total cost of ownership / reliability / performance.
Advanced simulation techniques, coupled to real-world correlated empirical test methods, are affording an opportunity to introduce novel, right-first-time, solutions into the marketplace.
PS: The wheel-rail interface is critical to safe performance. The obvious case is that there is sufficient adhesion for the train to stop at a red signal, but low adhesion and wheel slide under braking can generate flats on the wheel tread which can cause rail damage (including rail breaks), and in extremes can grow to such a size that a vehicle derails. Even small flats which don’t cause such damage are costly to remove as the wheels have to be re-profiled on a wheel-lathe to remove the damage.
This is a bigger issue for freight vehicles, as passenger vehicles tend to have wheel slide protection (ABS for trains). A better understanding of the friction conditions experienced by freight wagons on the network, particularly at the ‘ultra-low’ adhesion levels, will be a key insight in to improving safety and reducing maintenance costs in this area.
RL: Tribologists can contribute to many aspects of the railway, but mainly where there are rolling or sliding interfaces such as the wheel/rail contact.
SF: The impact will be clearly felt by asking a lubricant to take on more tasks than just lubrication. The future fluids in electric drivetrains will have a multitude of requirements to address.
TL: Similar to other domains of technology, tribology is poised to undergo a transformation through the integration of new AI and ML capabilities. Particularly in the realm of condition monitoring, advancements in these fields hold the potential to revolutionize predictive maintenance practices, leading to substantial energy savings and fostering more sustainable operation of tribological systems. By harnessing the power of AI and ML algorithms, we can expect improved accuracy and efficiency in detecting and anticipating potential faults or wear in tribological components.
Q: What will you be presenting at the ‘Tribo-sensing and Condition monitoring’ seminar and how will this benefit participants?
HP: I will overview current condition monitoring practices used in the Aviation industry, as they relate to tribology and how things might look in the future. It’s important to have a vision from where we are today to where the art of the possible might take us.
LW: I'm going to present the intelligent bearing research we have conducted at nCATS, including both experimental and data-driven modelling approaches we developed. I hope this will provide an insight to our innovative research methodologies and results for participants with academia or industrial interests in tribo-sensing and condition monitoring.
MB: I will be talking about industrial tribology problems and the impact of such problems on product performance and the customer experience.
I will discuss how the introduction of tribo-sensing and condition monitoring can be used to manage tribological interfaces for improved system-level robustness.
PS: The subject of my presentation is a business case analysis for the adoption of condition monitoring systems for freight vehicle axle bearings. We looked at two high level options of either an on-vehicle system or a track-side system to determine which had the best potential to return a net benefit to the industry.
The study is from the perspective of an end-user of tribo-sensing and condition monitoring technology, and I hope it will give an insight into addressing one of the biggest barriers to adoption of technology, which is being able to demonstrate a net benefit to stakeholders.
RL: We are presenting our work on a machine learning technique that uses image captured (from a train) of railway track and track surroundings with environmental measurements to predict wheel/rail friction. Participants will be able to see how AI novices can use the techniques to develop a very useful tool using an approach that can be rolled out to other industries.
SF: I am looking forward to delivering a presentation on: Jaguar Land Rover’s journey to zero tailpipe emission; Cooling and Lubrication as a combined EDU functionality and Challenges to create a sustainable fluid that covers multiple tasks. The presentation will benefit the participants from the standpoint of 1) understanding JLR’s commitment to a net zero carbon future, 2) latest state-of art technology on cooling-lubrication system and 3) sharing the challenges of developing a sustainable fluid for a wet eMachine EDU application.
TL: I will be presenting a perspective talk titled "Internet of Surfaces." In this presentation, I will argue that the transfer of sensing and responsive functions from devices to surfaces signifies a technological shift towards emulating natural systems. By harnessing the potential of surface-based technologies, we are moving closer to replicating the dynamic and adaptive characteristics found in nature. This paradigm shift allows for the integration of smart functionalities directly into surfaces, enabling them to sense, respond, and interact with their environment in a more seamless and organic manner.
Q: Which other speakers and presentations are you looking forward to hearing at the forthcoming seminar?
HP: I am interested in the holistic event to hear about current developments and future challenges and how we are going to deliver for a sustainable future. I am interested to learn about the approaches and challenges from other industries.
LW: I haven’t seen the list of other talks but I would be very interested in all talks relevant to tribo-sensing, such as novel sensing techniques, signal processing methods (both conventional and ML based), condition monitoring research and successful practices, for tribological contacts.
MB: I’m really interested in learning about how the commercial transportation industry can utilise tribo-sensing and condition monitoring technologies from adjacent industries, in order to improve our product performance and reliability.
PS: I am particularly looking forward to seeing Roger Lewis’ presentation about on-train adhesion estimation, for obvious reasons, and to Rob Dwyer-Joyce’s presentation on monitoring wind turbine bearings – I used ultrasound to measure wheel-rail contact on a scale lab rig during my PhD, so I’m interested to see how ultrasound is applied to monitor lubrication and loads here, and also to get an insight into the monitoring of another critical component of wind turbines.
SF: I am looking forward to hearing from all the presenters, especially on the presentation covering tribo monitoring in situ.
TL: The seminar programme appears exciting, featuring excellent speakers and a diverse range of interesting topics. However, I am particularly eager to attend Stefan Fuchss' talk, as I am keen to learn about Jaguar Land Rover's progression towards achieving zero tailpipe emissions.
Q: Why is it important for academia and industry to come together at this event and share experiences and project developments?
HP: It’s important for academia and industry to be clear on their respective perspectives. Industry needs to be aware from academia about new and emerging technology initiatives and academia from industry about current challenges and future requirements. Future success will depend on a convergence of the two.
LW: Academics focus on developing novel techniques that will be applied to industry in the near future. In a research environment, we have the freedom to think, explore and develop more in-depth understanding of the systems without being subject to too much constrains from production and business economic pressure. However, without directions from industry and understanding challenges in real world, research can be ‘pointless’ and have no impact to the society. Industry is often at the forefront of technology development and implementation, so it is definitely beneficial for academics to learn from the real experts at an event like this.
MB: Engineering is a social exercise. To achieve decarbonisation of the commercial transportation industry in a robust and sustainable manner, we must effectively collaborate to drive innovation from the low TRL academic environment into the high TRL marketplace.
PS: Impact is a key factor for measuring research success at the moment, and rightly so. We can maximise impact by targeting research at real-world problems and by disseminating our findings to those who are ready to exploit them.
RL: Most of the work we do involves industry so we know the value of interacting with industry to establish their needs and focus our work to make the most impact we can.
SF: It is very important to have the opportunity to meet face-to face and to expand your network, to learn from others, to exchange knowledge, share ideas and technologies.
TL: Academia and industry collaboration plays a crucial role in facilitating the exchange of knowledge and bridging the gap between theoretical concepts and practical applications. Such collaboration not only promotes the transfer of technology but also accelerates the pace of innovation and contributes to the development of a skilled workforce.
Tribo-sensing and Condition Monitoring: The Journey to Net-Zero will be taking place on 25 October 2023 at One Birdcage Walk, London.
Join this seminar to address:
- Hear about the role of tribo-sensing and condition monitoring in addressing sustainability and the net-zero carbon mandate
- Learn about the latest developments in tribo-sensing and condition monitoring from academia and industry
- Find out how industry is adopting these methods to improve in-service operation and maintenance
- Benefit from face-to-face networking with key academic and industrial players to share views and solutions to key challenges
- Understand the connection between component design optimisation and improving performance/efficiency focus on net-zero carbon 2050 challenges
To book your place, please visit www.imeche.org/tribo-sensing.