Reliability of a piston rod position measurement system is key when applied to large hydraulic cylinders. This and other requirements lead to the development of the CIMS (Cylinder Integrated Measurement System), a contactless and highly accurate system that uses the Hall effect to detect an encoded piston rod. To eliminate deviations caused by mechanical tolerances, temperature and air gap variations etc., the raw signals are filtered and compensated.
Its functionality has been extended by making statistical data available, based on the values measured. These include the number of strokes, cumulative stroke length, stroke length distribution, maximum velocity and acceleration, temperature classification and extreme temperatures. Assessment of these data enables the user to optimize his application. Comparison to historic data can give input to the preventive maintenance plan to reduce (unforeseeable) system downtime and to increase the system reliability.
This development resulted into the CIMSmart. It is a significant step towards cylinder intelligence
