SmartBelt 4.0

The “SmartBelt 4.0” project was concerned with the evaluation, further development and industrial transfer of a solution developed in the SmartBelt project for the predictive maintenance of power transmission belts. A self-sufficient sensor platform was integrated into the power transmission belt, which can wirelessly record and transmit wear-relevant data in real-time operation. The purpose of this is to use relevant data, such as the elongation of the belt, to precisely predict the expected time of failure and proactively carry out maintenance work in line with predictive maintenance. The importance of such “intelligent” components will increase massively against the backdrop of current developments in digitalization in the sense of Industry 4.0. As part of the “SmartBelt 4.0” project, the system was evaluated and optimized under realistic conditions for an industrial application. With the help of the exploitation partner Continental, an industry workshop was organized and held on possible exploitation prospects in order to transfer the system into an industrially applicable solution.