HID Global has developed a highly intelligent and robust RFID tag solution in collaboration with GE Hydro and Asygn that allows customers in the renewable energy sector to optimize availability and avoid unplanned outages. The tag’s rugged design opens up possibilities in applications that require industrial-grade performance.
Hydropower plants, which are typically located in harsh environments, typically have aging connections between the rotor poles, which can cause drastic temperature rises and unplanned production failures, among other issues. GE Hydro needed an antenna and a sensor chip embedded in a rugged tag that would not deform or fail during equipment operation in order to reliably measure temperatures, deformation, and improve monitoring.
HID Global’s tag technology uses a special UHF RFID chip developed by Asygn, a leading developer and semiconductor integrated device manufacturer (IDM). When HID’s tag forwards that data contactlessly to an RFID reader, the chip not only captures temperature, but it can also get strain measurements. Traditional wired or infrared measurement solutions were not applicable due to the unique environment and high rotation speed of the equipment.
The final solution will function as an intelligent gateway capable of calibrating, collecting, filtering, averaging, and transmitting data locally after thorough design reviews and validation testing. The data is then aggregated and analyzed by GE Hydro’s Asset Performance Management software platform, which includes machine-learning capabilities, to provide a unique intelligent reading of generator components that could not previously be measured in operation.
Customers of GE Hydro can use this technology to push hydropower equipment to its limits while improving network power factor, reducing the risk of unseen bad connection temperature rises during rotor current increases, which are critical in today’s complex electric grid systems.
The rugged tag’s new use case won the prestigious 2022 AIM Case Study Competition in the RFID category. AIM is a global industry alliance and standards organization dedicated to RFID, bar coding, smart devices, and other AIDC technologies.
“The collaboration with HID Global and the project was great, because GE focused on the constraints, the context of usage and the handling and modeling of the data, while HID focused on the design requirements of the tag, meeting all specifications in terms of performance and integrity within harsh environments,” said Vincent Bouillet, in charge of IIoT and advanced technologies development at GE Renewable Energy Hydro Organization.
“Our field application and engineering teams worked closely with Asygn and GE Hydro to meet the unique requirements of this project, and the result is an innovative RFID Sensor tag design that can benefit many other large industrial applications,” explained Marc Bielmann, HID Global’s Sr. Vice President and Head of IDT.
GE Hydro intends to deploy pilots around the world and collect data on customer sites, as well as offer related services such as machine eligibility, RFID integration, bonding, and data collection.
Share on Facebook «||» Share on Twitter «||» Share on Reddit «||» Share on LinkedIn