Condition Monitoring of APS Motors, Gearboxes, and Drive Bearings with Aurora® 213MM2-R1 to Ensure Safe Automated Parking Operations

Background & Pain Points

• Automated parking towers rely on precision drive mechanisms—including motors, gearboxes, and bearings—for smooth vehicle storage and retrieval.
• Long-term operation often leads to aging, abnormal vibration, poor lubrication, bearing wear, gear damage, or mechanical looseness.
• Mechanical faults can cause vehicle positioning failures, APS drops, vehicle damage, or personnel injuries, severely compromising operational safety and efficiency.
• Routine manual inspections are labor-intensive and prone to missing hidden defects. Operators face the key challenge of deploying an effective monitoring system quickly and cost-effectively.

Equipment & Sensor Models Deployed

• Aurora® 213MM2-R1 Smart Sensor: Four sensors configured per APS unit, featuring high-precision vibration and temperature sensing alongside ISO-10816 diagnostic models, outputting feature data via RS485 Modbus.
• APS Motor (1 unit): Monitors overall vibration, bearing damage energy, motor-gearbox eccentricity energy, misalignment energy, foundation looseness energy, and motor temperature.
• APS Gearbox (1 unit): Monitors overall vibration, bearing damage energy, motor-gearbox eccentricity energy, misalignment energy, and gear tooth defect energy.
• APS Drive Bearings (2 units): Mounted on both sides of the bearing assembly to monitor overall vibration, bearing damage energy, misalignment energy, and shaft unbalance energy.
• Z920L Wireless Converter: Transmits sensor data with high RF power, high sensitivity, strong anti-interference, and low power consumption, supporting 1-to-many synchronous data transmission and through-wall penetration.
• Industrial Gateway Powered by IOTECH Edge Expert® Edge Software: Aggregates data and delivers real-time dashboard visualization for control room personnel, enabling proactive maintenance requests.

Results & Benefits

• Reduced Unplanned Downtime: Detects anomalies in APS motors, gearboxes, and bearings early, avoiding sudden failures that cause vehicle entrapment or damage.
• Enhanced User Experience: Reduces abnormal vibration and noise while improving system reliability for smoother vehicle storage and retrieval.
• Lower Maintenance Costs: Enables predictive maintenance, reducing routine manual inspections and boosting repair efficiency.
• Data-Driven Asset Management: Gathers long-term operational data and leverages AI monitoring to support proactive parts procurement and maintenance planning.