Condition Monitoring of Electrical Machines with

Internet of Things
Hunter Barksdale, Quinton Smith and Dr. Muhammad Khan
Department of Electrical Engineering
Arkansas Tech University
Russellville, AR, USA
hbarksdale, qsmith3 and mkhan3@atu.edu

Abstract— The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has a

potential of profound impact on the move toward smart
manufacturing enterprises. The IIoT combines data collected
from industrial sensors with machine-to-machine communications
and automation technologies to enable smart enterprise control,
asset performance management and informed operators. In
condition based monitoring (CBM) process, the state of machinery
is determined while in operation through a three step data
management process. This includes data collection, processing,
and assessment for maintenance decision-making and fault
diagnostics and prediction. Electrical machines are widely used in
industrial manufacturing processes. These machines can develop
faults due to a variety of reasons. Traditionally, electromagnetic
field monitoring, temperature measurements, noise and vibration
monitoring and motor current signature analysis have been used
to identify these faults. In this project, we focus on sensing
vibration, temperature, current and voltage of the running
electrical machines to monitor and analyze its condition. The data
from sensors will be wirelessly transmitted to the cloud service for
processing. The data will be downloaded from the cloud and
analyzed to determine the condition of the machine.
Keywords— Smart manufacturing; Machine to machine
communications; Condition Based Monitoring; Noise and vibration
sensing; Cloud service.
I. INTRODUCTION
Electrical machines are essential to most manufacturing
processes, and these machines are susceptible to faults for
several reasons. In the case of an induction motor, engineers
monitor the electromagnetic field within and around the
machine, along with motor current, temperature, and noise
measurements to detect faults within the machine. For condition
monitoring, the data from industrial devices is routed to
secondary controllers connected to a secondary data bus.
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) provide connection to
the primary data bus and human interface computer
workstations. A central server provides connectivity to the web
and processing power for the workstations. A traditional PLC
based monitoring system for electrical machines is shown in Fig.
1. A major drawback of this traditional approach to control and
monitor electrical machines is its dependence on extensive
wiring through the industrial facility. The wiring is a waste of
resources that could be eliminated by using a wireless
978-1-5386-6133-8/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
Fig. 1. Traditional PLC Based Industrial Monitoring System.
monitoring approach through the use of industrial internet of
things (IIoT). The traditional system also doesn’t have the
capability to predict due to limited processing power of PLCs.
The ability to predict machine faults can be very advantageous
as it can prevent production downtime and resulting loss of
revenue.
II. PROJECT OBJECTIVES
In this project, the group is aiming to develop an Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT) for Condition Based Maintenance
(CBM) of electrical machines. The process involves data
collection, processing, and assessment for maintenance
decision-making and fault prediction. The data acquired from
industrial sensors installed on electrical machines can be
communicated between multiple machines and will enable
automation technologies that create smart enterprise control
and asset performance management. This approach allows
industrial devices to be independent, enabling them to be
locally-connected and cloud-connected. One of the major
benefits of IIoT implementation is the cost saving through
CBM that focuses resources on assets that actually need
maintenance and whose failure can cause production downtime.
The IIoT also uses wireless Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity
and cloud based computing that overcomes the costs of cabling
to the sensors and integration with other systems. A conceptual
block diagram of the IIoT implementation is given in Fig. 2.
Implementation of the IIoT consists of various sensors that will
acquire data ranging from temperature to motor current. The
data from the sensors will be routed to an internet gateway
which will provide the data processing and routing to the cloud.
Fig. 2. IIoT implementation for CBM of industrial machines.
III. BACKGROUND AND RELATED WORK
Recent developments on the use of IoT for industrial
process monitoring and control applications indicate the
manufacturing companies collaborating with IT solution
providers to automate the CBM and acquire prediction
capabilities to predict machine condition. As an example,
Schaeffler AG is working with IBMTM to monitor wind turbines
[1]. These turbines have sensors in the equipment that can
report the condition of various components in real-time. Real-
time monitoring allows operators to account for wind
conditions and develop efficient plans for turbine maintenance
[2-5]. Schaeffler is also applying the IIoT to railway systems by
using cognitive insights from the cloud to enhance its predictive
maintenance systems for railways [6]. The result is improved
repair efficiency and overall safety of the railways system.
Other companies are also exploring the use of IIoT for
monitoring their facilities. Companies like Amazon, Boeing,
Caterpillar, etc. are looking to utilize the power of cloud
computing through IIoT to cut operating and shipping costs,
and increase warehouse and machine efficiency [6]. As an
example, Amazon is utilizing Wi-Fi connected robots to
automate its product handling process. The robots bring the
product to the human worker rather than the workers searching
for a particular product. The IIoT based industrial monitoring
systems work with sensors that detect vibration, temperature,
torque and speed [7]. Some of these sensors will be used in the
current project.
IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
For the preliminary data collection, both temperature and
vibration sensors needed to be specified. An inexpensive, yet
accurate sensor was needed for each condition being monitored.
Options for temperature included thermistors, thermocouples,
and the LM35 temperature sensor. The temperature sensor
chosen was a negative temperature coefficient (NTC)
thermistor (Amphenol, JS5698) because of its excellent heat
transfer, long-term stability, price and ability to adhere to a
machine on the inside or outside of the case. A piezo cantilever
type vibration sensor (TE Connectivity, MinSense 100) was
chosen due to its excellent linearity, dynamic range, size, and
price.
A data acquisition device was also needed. This choice was
also easy because we already had an inexpensive and versatile
DAQ available to us. The data acquisition device chosen – the
NI-USB6009, was best suited to be used with its LabVIEWTM
interface. Microsoft Excel and MATLABTM were used for data
analysis. The sensors were placed on a Hampden IM-100 three-
phase, 208-V, 1/3 hp, continuous duty induction motor. The
sensors were connected with the DAQ and LabVIEWTM to
record the data. Fig.3 illustrates LabVIEWTM Virtual
Instrument (VI) block diagram for data acquisition from
temperature and vibration sensors placed on the induction
motor.
Developing ideas for putting our data on a cloud service
presented a challenge. The IoT has been an emerging field for a
few years, and many industries have begun to recognize its
advantages. For this reason, many devices are being developed
or improved to work in an IoT based system. Though many of
these devices are very expensive, the device chosen was the
Raspberry Pi 3 for its relatively low price and Wi-Fi capabilities.
Being built with the IoT in mind, the device makes future data
acquisition and movement easier, and provides data processing
and predictive capabilities. It will be used in conjunction with an
Arduino Microcontroller that will be responsible for data
acquisition and analog to digital conversion.
V. DATA ANALYSIS
As previously stated, machines can experience catastrophic
faults in industry. These faults, however, manifest themselves
through change in the operating condition of the machine such
as changing its temperature or vibration profile. A mechanical
Fig. 3. LABVIEWTM block diagram for data acquisition.
 Fig. 4. Temperature Profile – Healthy Machine.
failure, misalignment or bad bearing can cause dramatic changes
in its vibration. We recorded the vibration pattern of a healthy
machine. The time domain plot is given in Fig. 4. It can be
observed that a healthy machine has a relatively stable vibration
pattern. This data represents the vibration an induction motor is
currently experiencing sensed as a change in voltage output of
the vibration sensor. Observing the ‘Y-axis’ we notice there is
little to no change in voltage, implying the machine is operating
normally. If there are dramatic peaks over a period, then the
machine could possibly be experiencing an abnormal stress or
malfunction. Vibration data from induction motor with excess
vibration manually introduced is given in Fig. 5. It can be
observed that there is an increase in the number of peaks on the
plot compared to the plot in Fig. 4. The presence of these
frequent dramatic peaks demonstrates that the machine is
vibrating or experiencing a fault that is causing its vibration
pattern to deviate from its normal operating signatures. The
pattern of voltage changes measured in Fig. 5 also show that the
machine is vibrating significantly more than a stable or healthy
machine. An engineer seeing this in real-time, can immediately
begin shutting the machine down, before the machine
experiences a catastrophic failure that may result in production
downtime and loss of revenue.
Fig. 5. Temperature Profile – Machine with fault
Fig. 6. Vibration Profile – Healthy Machine.
Another important parameter that can indicate the condition
of a machine is its temperature profile. To monitor temperature
of the motor in our experiment, we mount the thermistor on the
outside casing of the machine. Most running machines heat up
during their regular operation within an operating temperature
range. Fig. 6 shows the temperature profile of a healthy machine
over time. The plot shows that as the machine is running under
normal operating load, the machine temperature remains stable.
In our experiment, the particular machine did not experience any
dramatic changes in temperature and the casing temperature
remained consistent at around 95˚F.
To observe the temperature profile of a machine that is
heating up due to a fault, the induction motor in our experiment
was heated up using an external heat gun. The temperature
change was recorded. The plot of data is shown in Fig. 7. It can
be observed that as the machine heats up, the temperature profile
dramatically increases in a short time span. For the induction
motor in our experiment, the temperature jumped from 101˚F to
120˚F in about 2 minutes. An engineer would immediately be
able to notice such a dramatic rise in machine temperature and
will power the machine down after observing this rising
temperature trend. A timely intervention made possible by
access to the real-time machine condition data can be a
difference between a fixable problem and a machine with burnt
out windings that will need costly and time-consuming repair.
VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
The proposed project looks at developing an IoT based
solution to monitor condition of the electrical machines for
industrial applications. We are looking at monitoring the
machine condition by acquiring real-time data on machine
temperature, vibration, current and voltage. The data will be
acquired through the industrial grade sensors mounted on
electrical machines connected to a microcontroller and an IoT
gateway. The data will be made accessible through a user
interface to any internet-connected device thereby providing
real-time condition monitoring capability.
The work on this project is in progress by a team of two
undergraduate Electrical Engineering students. The team has
 Fig. 7. Vibration Profile – Machine with fault.

experimented with temperature and vibration sensors to acquire

data from healthy and faulty machines and analyzed it using the
existing software tools. The team is also in the process of
developing an interface between the sensors and the IoT
gateway. Collaboration with students and faculty in Computer
Science department will enable the team to develop a user
interface for accessing the data through the cloud. The team is
also looking at monitoring voltage and current profiles of the
electrical machines to distinguish between a machine working
under its normal operating parameters and a machine exhibiting
symptoms of a developing fault. The authors hope that this
work will facilitate future research into other IoT related issues
such as data security over the wireless and web interfaces.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors would like to thank the financial support provided
by the Arkansas Tech University Undergraduate Research
Office for work on this project.
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