Iwis presents the new chain condition monitoring system for measuring chain elongation. The CCM system for continuous chain monitoring measures the wear elongation of chains in operation and warns the maintenance staff in time if the chain needs to be replaced. During this year’s Hannover Fair, the new CCM system received the "Best of 2016” award for the category of “Production, Technology and Engineering”.

The CCM system is compact and can be easily integrated into most chain applications with a simple retrofit procedure. Commissioning takes place according to the plug-and-play principle without calibration and contactless measurement that does not affect the chain drive performance. The wear status can be read on the LED display in graduations of 0.5 percent increments and also presented onto a laptop interface via USB cable and simple software.

Variable speeds and changeable directions are no problem for the CCM system which consists of corrosion-resistant materials and wear-resistant chain guide material. It is IP67 compliant and can be used at temperatures from 0°C to 70°C with special designs possible for abrasive applications. The CCM system can be used for most chain sizes including Simplex, Duplex and Triplex chains, since only one strand of the chain is detected by each device. Applications for chains with attachments on both sides or extended pins require special inspection by Iwis.

"With the new CCM system, we have implemented predictive maintenance, a key subject of Industry 4.0: The system enables predictive action by the service staff in chain applications with smart data analyses," explains Florian Madlener. The engineer is working in the engineering and design department at Iwis’ headquarters in Munich, Germany, and is a key developer of the system. "The most valuable customer benefit is that the maintenance staff can react in time. This prevents long downtimes of plants and machines, danger to promised delivery times and interruptions of the logistics chain – all of this helps to avoid financial loss from production failure. Additionally, the system also serves permanent monitoring of highly precise chain applications."