Condition Monitoring for Maintenance, Repair and ReUse

Condition monitoring is the key technology for predictive maintenance as well as for pro-active repair and high quality re-use. This paper describes concepts, aspects and exemplary approaches of condition monitoring, especially for electronic and power electronic devices. Besides technological aspects, economic and environmental aspects are discussed and the resulting challenges are shown. Furthermore, two examples of implementation are depicted. The first one describes a condition monitoring system for photovoltaic power modules which predicts their remaining life time. The second example introduces an energy self-sufficient radio sensor network for condition monitoring of a production line. It is shown that by applying condition monitoring systems, the reliability and sustainability of products and processes can be improved.