19 June 2014
41st “Ingénieur général Chanson” award: ChronoMEMS on SPRAT, a step forward for predictive maintenance of equipment
Developed by French SME SilMach, ChronoMEMS provides detection and passive counting of mechanical events likely to affect structures by fatigue, as well as mechanical storage of data without batteries:
- the ChronoMEMS sensor, fabricated on silicon substrate using methods derived from microelectronics, directly provides the number of overflows of one or more predefined stress thresholds. Purely mechanical and extremely robust, tamper-proof, insensitive to electromagnetic environments, almost perpetual, it is fully reliable because, unless destroyed, it never loses history displayed on the counting wheel. Highly compact, maintenance free, easy to install and operate, requiring no wiring or connection operation and yet permanently accessible for direct or remote reading, ChronoMEMS needs no power source to operate as it is designed to react to the occurrence of an event, using only its energetic input;
- Chronosoft software keeps track of the cumulative change in the fatigue of a structure during its entire life.
ChronoMEMS+Chronosoft form a coherent monitoring equipment system for fleet management and on-condition maintenance.
Integrated into the modular assault bridge SPRAT, ChronoMEMS allows monitoring of the use of the bridge spans which are subjected to high stresses resulting of high requirements.
These works present a dual interest. The small size of the sensors, the absence of electrical wiring and electronic processing, the robustness and reliability of ChronoMEMS make them suitable for many applications, including harsh environment. Their use is considered in a wide range of applications in industrial or scientific fields.
The “Association de l'Armement Terrestre” brings together members of the community of the land armaments belonging or having belonged to the DGA, armed forces, industry or research. It annually awards the “Ingénieur général Chanson” prize designed to highlight and reward work leading to important progress in the field of land armament.
The jury of the “Ingénieur général Chanson” prize has selected for 2014 the work on ChronoMEMS initiated by Pierre-François Louvigné (DGA), conducted by Patrice Minotti (SilMach) and implemented on the modular assault bridge SPRAT by Alexandre Ganzin (CNIM).
The 2014 price will be handed over on June 18, 2014 at 4 p.m. on the “espace Défense” of the Eurosatory exhibition by IGHC Vincent Imbert, DGA Deputy Director General.