Strangers in the Night—Smart Process Sensors in Our Current Automation Landscape

Abstract

The departure from the current automation landscape to next generation automation concepts for the process industry has already begun. Smart functions of sensors simplify their use and enable plug-and-play integration, even though they may appear to be more complex at first sight. Smart sensors enable concepts like self-diagnostics, self-calibration, and self-configuration/parameterization whenever our current automation landscape allows it. Here we summarize the currently discussed general requirements for process sensors 4.0 and introduce a smart online NMR sensor module as example, which was developed for an intensified industrial process funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (www.consens-spire.eu).

Keywords

• smart sensors
• intensified processes
• sustainable production
• reaction monitoring
• NMR spectroscopy
• Industry 4.0
• Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
• continuous manufacturing