How to monitor and analyze overall equipment effectiveness (oee) data with ctrlX OS and oee.ai cloud from ifp software GmbH

Prerequisites

Hardware

• ctrlX OS device (minimum ctrlX CORE X3) + power supply

Software

• Operating system on ctrlX OS device: ctrlX OS (last tested with Automation Core version 2.6.1 and core22)

• Apps installed on ctrlX OS device

  • ctrlX OS - Node-RED (last tested with V2.4.0+3.1.0-ctrlx)

Disclaimer: This How-to requires basic knowledge on ctrlX OS and ctrlX CORE (commissioning, installation, licensing, ctrlX Data Layer) as well as access to the Bosch Rexroth ctrlX Store in the ctrlX AUTOMATION Collaboration Room. If you’re new to ctrlX OS and ctrlX AUTOMATION find some basic information below:

• ctrlX CORE First steps / quick start guide

• Bosch Rexroth ctrlX Collaboration Room
  

Hint: If you don’t have access to the Bosch Rexroth ctrlX Store in the ctrlX AUTOMATION Collaboration Room yet, have a look at the FAQ for ctrlX Store to request access.

Overview

Find below the necessary apps and their purpose:

• Various apps to collect machine information from control systems.

• Node-RED: To read the data from data layer and transfer the information of e.g. downtime of machinery or data from process of pieces per time range to the ki-based oee.ai cloud or server instance solution.

In this How-To

the following chapter will lead you stepwise to the solution. An overview of the functions is explained in the app description: ifp Software - oee.ai Cloud Connector.

Enable communication between ctrlX OS device and your machine controller

• Hardware commissioning and connection.

Publish data into a database

• Set up Node-RED flow to connect the ctrlX Data Layer information to the cloud or your own server instance.

Visualize your data and information’s

• Short induction and first steps with cloud functionalities.

Enable communication between ctrlX OS device and machine controller

This chapter contains the commissioning and connection between the ctrlX OS device and the Janitza energy analyzer.

Hardware commissioning and connection

1. To commission the hardware components, follow the manufacturers specification:

• ctrlX CORE - First steps / Quick start guide

Send relevant data to oee.ai with the ctrlX OS - Node-RED app

This chapter describes how the data e.g. machine downtime or material sequence in a process can quickly be visualized in the Node-RED app and send over MQTT to the AI based cloud solution of ctrlX World Partner oee.ai.

1. To send relevant information of process state to the cloud with the Node-RED app, open the Node-RED app in the main view of your ctrlX OS device by clicking on “Node-RED > Flow Editor”.

2. Loading the required node to connect ctrlX OS with the oee.ai cloud in the Node-RED palette.
   
   Open in the right corner in the Node-RED flow editor the menu > manage palette > install > type “oee.ai” > install

   
   

   

   

   
   Hints:

   • ctrlX OS needs internet connection – it isn´t enough to have connection to the internet with the PC.

   • The proxy of the browser is to switch off.

   • If you have no possibility to connect the ctrlX OS device to the internet, follow this tutorial.

   • Find further information at oee.ai Node-RED Integration

   • Licenses information find here.
     

3. To access the machine or sensor data from the ctrlX Data Layer and send to the cloud, import the attached file to this tutorial as example.
   
   Note: it is important to buffer the data for 30 seconds, send to the oee.ai cloud and delete the buffer! These functions are included in the example for one data layer node.
   
   

   

   
   

4. Import the downloaded flow in Node-RED with the “import” function.
   
   

   

   

   
   

5. Double click on the oee.ai node and type the required credentials id and token for cloud connection. This information is available in the cloud at https://app.oee.ai/login
   
   

   

   

   

   

   
   
   

6. To enable Node-Red to access the ctrlX Data Layer, parametrize the “Data Layer Request”-node by double-clicking on it and entering the following information including the user credentials for your ctrlX OS device.
   
   

   

   

   
   

7. To access the data from the ctrlX Data Layer, configure the node as shown.
   
   

   

   

   
   

8. To add further data points, the desired data layer request nodes must be expanded in parallel.
   
   

   

9. Finally, the flow and every change must be restarted with deploy.
   
   

   

   
   

10. To manage the functions in the oee.ai cloud you need access with credentials. A quick guide is attached to this tutorial.