New K7TM Heater Condition Monitor from Omron Reduces Downtime and Product Waste by Detecting Early Deterioration in Heaters

Industry-leading automation solution provider Omron Automation Americas recently launched a new heater condition monitor that supports predictive maintenance by preventing heater failure. It allows engineers and maintenance managers to monitor heater conditions and reduce unplanned downtime in the automotive, food and commodity, semiconductor, and electronic industries.

Heaters fail through a variety of methods like contamination, thermal fatigue/heat cycling, and improper power input and wattage for application. When heater deterioration goes unnoticed, it can lead to excess product waste and costly machine downtime.

Recommended AI News: Husqvarna Affirms its Commitment to Autonomous Mowing and Leadership in Robotics as a Service (RaaS) with Expanded Investment in Robin Autopilot

What if you could be alerted to the early stages of deterioration when there is still plenty of time to get a replacement? Omron’s K7TM Heater Condition Monitor makes this possible by measuring resistance values while a heater is active (as opposed to manual inspections, in which the heater must be turned off). Resistance values are calculated by measuring the voltage at both ends of the heater in addition to its current.

The latest in Omron’s predictive maintenance product line, the K7TM works with any resistance-type heater, including sheathed, cartridge, band, cast, silicon carbide, and ceramic heaters. It is equipped with a local alarm bar, transistor output, and two RS-485 communication ports. Each unit monitors two heaters and can be easily retrofitted onto existing equipment.

Recommended AI News: Crescent Bank Partners with Informed.IQ To Simplify the Lending Process for its Auto Dealers

Manual inspections often do not detect likely failures, particularly because they require the heater to be turned off for safety reasons. This makes data collection less accurate and less likely to reveal a change in condition during trend analysis.

The strategy underlying Omron’s predictive maintenance solutions — an umbrella that includes the K7TM and other condition monitoring devices — is using real-time data to identify component failures early, thereby reducing unplanned downtime and avoiding costly repairs.

Recommended AI News: Leavened Announces New ConfigAI Feature

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]