Hi
So first post and i think this i hard one...

So i have thus brushes that sweep a runway to make it clean and they spin really fast and wear down over time.
My plan is to measure some data from the brush with sesorTag (For now maybe change later) then send the data with a raspberry pi to the cloud for stats.
No to the problem that i cant figure out how can you monitor wear down of the brushes ?

See the image i want to measure from the

start point the black arrow
end point the blue point
and small to fit at the red point


Some ides
1. Have small sensor with different length and detect when they breaks example 10cm 8cm and so on now I can detect that the 8cm is still intact.

2. when the brush spins up (Not pressed to the ground) measure the length in the brush "live there"

Extra question measure the pressure the brush is pressed against the ground....

Best // Matte

 

Hi
So first post and i think this i hard one...

So i have thus brushes that sweep a runway to make it clean and they spin really fast and wear down over time.
My plan is to measure some data from the brush with sesorTag (For now maybe change later) then send the data with a raspberry pi to the cloud for stats.
No to the problem that i cant figure out how can you monitor wear down of the brushes ?

See the image i want to measure from the

start point the black arrow
end point the blue point
and small to fit at the red point


Some ides
1. Have small sensor with different length and detect when they breaks example 10cm 8cm and so on now I can detect that the 8cm is still intact.

2. when the brush spins up (Not pressed to the ground) measure the length in the brush "live there"

Extra question measure the pressure the brush is pressed against the ground....

Best // Matte

Could you use a break-beam detector to view the unloaded brush from the side? You could use multiple beams to correspond to varying levels of wear.

 

Hi thanks for reply.

I have only access to the brushes itself for now so I think it need to be in the brush in some way.
Maybe you can mesure vibrations and detect if the brush is long ore short ?

Will check with if i can mount some more in the truck. Plan to have a raspberry but dont think i can mount it inside the system.
Here you see the brush spinning

 

Wish I had a simple solution to offer, but I don't. One point that I would make is that I don't see how any of the three varieties of Sensortag would be of much use for this. None of them, as I recall, are suitable for outdoor use and what you describe is, to me, not just outdoor use, but a use in a harsh outdoor environment. In principle, you would read one or more of the sensors available and then use that information to decide if the brush length was too short. I don't know how any of the available sensors would do that and, as mentioned, they would never last in that environment.

Is it possible to come at this with a less "sophisticated" approach? For example, if you knew the relationship between operation time and brush length, you might be able to simply measure usage time or spinning time and then issue an alert. Maybe that alert could prompt a visual inspection that could be facilitated by some kind of colored dye on the brush to indicate very little usable brush left - like the marker that tells you when you are nearing the end of a roll of register tape.

 

After seeing that photo, I thought of using an idler, basically a plate on a hinge that is pressed by a spring against the rotating brush. The plate advances as the brushes wear.

 

@Raymond Genovese Yess the sensortags are not used for outdoor but hope its easer to make a good case for them then to build and find sensors that can take the action. And they are approved by FCC and are cheep.
Havent found any other sensor kit with bluetooth but vill search on whare are there for other sensor kit matching sensortag ?


@wayneh That is smart will have a look if i can get that mounted inside.

One crasy ide and its crasy !! you think you can time when the brush is bean lowerd to the groun and then lissen with sound to hear when it will start brushing the ground. Then by detecting when the brush is bean lift also detect by sound when it stop tutching the ground and then now the diffrent. I then must get some data from the arm when its moved up and down but that can may be easier.

 

...when the brush is bean lowerd to the groun and then lissen with sound to hear when it will start brushing the ground. Then by detecting when the brush is bean lift also detect by sound when it stop tutching the ground and then now the diffrent. I then must get some data from the arm when its moved up and down but that can may be easier.

Any chance you could measure torque on the drive system for the brushes? Detecting when the torque shoots up would tell you when it has started contacting the ground.