With this mind, I would like to get your opinion on a few aspects:
- From a benchtop testing perspective, are there any important measurements that are not being captured? If so, is this because of lack of development in the sensing technology or other reasons.
- As much as bench top testing provides time and cost saving, it is no secret that those tests rarely correlate to real-life applications which limits our understanding of mechanisms and processes that occur in components. This limitation is certainly a challenge for research & development in different areas. What can we do to ensure benchtop test provide useful insights regarding the actual applications and would this need new standards?
The use of sensors on actual components provide real-time data that can only be useful when accurately processed. For components that operate 24/7, huge amounts of data will be collected over time.
- Do we currently have enough expertise within the tribology community to analyse this ‘big data’ to get useful insights? If not, should this be an aspect for consideration alongside development of sensing technology?
- Facilitating the application of sensors on real components requires input from various stakeholders. How do you get buy-in from everyone?
- What are the current challenges in developing tribology sensors for real applications?
- For those who have successfully applied tribology sensor in real applications, what would you say has been the main reason for success?
The Tribology Technical Network have organised a webinar with a presentation from Dr Phil Harper, Founder of Tribosonics Ltd on the above topic on 1 December 2020, if you've not yet registered you can do that here.
Posted on behalf of Doris Khaemba, Vice Chairman, IET Tribology Technical Network.