The Internet of Things is an interesting and growing idea in both the home and the industrial workplace. It is essentially the concept of connecting any device that can be turned on and off to the Internet. Thatās right ā the Internet of Things connects everything from cellphones to table lamps to even parts of items, like the engine of an airplane or the drill on an oil rig, to the ānet.
In a recent whitepaper from Walter Surface Technologies, inclinations are made that the Internet of Things might even have a connection with industrial shops via the Surfox Smart Passivation Tester, which is a unique that is technique allowing manufacturers to test the passivation of stainless steel prior to preparing items for shipping.
What exactly is passivation? In a nutshell, it is the act of using a light coat of protective material ā perhaps a metal oxide, for instance ā to create a sturdy shell that protects a stainless steel product against corrosion. Pairing passivation with the Internet of Things could allow machine shops to perform more real-time quality testing to better guarantee an even layer or protection and even guarantee that metals and the equipment that has been coated will hold up over time.
The Internet of Things allows the Surfox tester to obtain tests results wirelessly. It does this by syncing with smartphones and then checking the metals as a technician sweeps the tester over the surface of a coated item. Once the device gets a reading, it then transmits the resulting logs to an online cloud-stored database where the machine shop can then analyze the results of the passivation tests, says MMS Online.
Of course, there are safeguards, as the process doesn’t only rely strictly on a connection to the Internet. If offline, results can still be monitored without a Wi-Fi network via the Surfox app. It is a great process and knowing that products are being consistently treated within the shop before being sent out into the field is a great way for machine shops to maximize their quality and productivity.
It can be a complicated process, but the whitepaper lays out the groundwork and the potential applications quite well, and it is certainly worth a look.
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