12 - Febbraio - 2025

The importance of the granite sector in the Galician economy is fundamental. The Galician granite industry is the 2nd most important in Europe (after Italy) and the 5th in the world, ahead of powers such as Belgium, Portugal or Germany.

In this context, the DIAMANTE project represents an opportunity for Galicia to increase production and improve the competitive situation of the natural stone production sector, after years of relocation to countries with lower labor costs, thanks to an innovative control system developed for multithread cutting machines for granite blocks. Specifically, DIAMANTE proposes the development of a solution capable of analyzing the reality of the cutting process thanks to the implementation of advanced sensorization and control systems, under the paradigm of Industry 4.0.

The objective of DIAMANTE is the improvement of the main factors affecting the process, which in this case are the consumption of diamond wire (main cost factor of consumables) and the inherent costs of multiwire machines in downtime due to breakdowns and unforeseen failures. As an example, a company with a monthly production of about 45,000 m2 of laminated granite loses about 150,000 euros for each day of stoppage. As for the cost of the diamond wire, it can represent about 40-50k€/month.

Therefore, DIAMANTE proposes a solution based on the Industry 4.0 paradigm, allowing greater control of all the parameters of the cutting machines, which will lead to an improvement in production, a reduction in waste that will transform the process into a more environmentally friendly one, with an increase in the added value of the product and an improvement in production costs.

During the last 2020 year of the project, actions have been carried out for the sensorization and control of the cutting wire. These activities have focused on the installation of artificial vision cameras, together with modifications in the cutting wire to facilitate its correct detection, and the installation of different optical sensors and accelerometers, all with the aim of performing predictive maintenance of the DIAMANTE demonstration machine during the process of cutting different qualities of granite.

With the installation of these sensors and the pertinent modifications in the wire, the aim is to control different important points both for the control of the correct stone cutting and for the correct functioning of the wire, being able to measure and report key parameters during the cutting process, such as rotation, speed or wire wear.
Another line of work has consisted in measuring the size of the bead to determine when it can be replaced, measuring the wear between the beginning of its life cycle and when it is approaching its end, being able to observe a decrease in its width during the process.

Figure 1: Images of the wear process in the bead width.

Another key point throughout this last year in the control of both the correct cutting process and predictive maintenance has been the analysis of vibrations that occur in the motor drum that produces the wire rotation. The frequency of these vibrations increases the greater the wear of the wire or when there is a problem in the cutting of the stone, since any possible problem is transferred to the motor drum and this factor causes vibrations.

Figure 2: Example of graph for vibration analysis in DIAMOND

The image shows the increase in vibrations over time. Green shows the vibrations that occur on the first day of the yarn’s life, yellow shows its vibration at 2 weeks of life and red at the third week of its life cycle.
In yellow it shows the vibration at 2 weeks of life and in red in the third week of its life cycle.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the different partial developments have been integrated into the demonstrator installed at GRANISA. More specifically, this has entailed the integration of the artificial vision systems, the acquisition systems and the control and processing hardware architecture. Likewise, the final validation phase has involved the corresponding tests in a relevant environment and the analysis of pre-industrial implementation.

DIAMOND CONSORTIUM
To achieve the above objectives, the Galician companies of the DIAMANTE consortium cover the entire value chain of project activities and have formed a multidisciplinary group with the complementary know-how necessary for the proper execution of the project:

NODOSAFER, leader of the project, is an international benchmark in the manufacture of industrial stone cutting machines and its equipment is one of the best performing cutting wire. NODOSAFER has a wide experience in R&D projects related to its products.
SYSPRO is an engineering company focused on the integration of technologies in the field of automation, industrial software, robotics, artificial vision and advanced sensorization and has made a qualitative leap in recent years in R&D initiatives.

WDIAMANT is a developer of diamond cutting wire for the natural stone sector, with extensive experience in R&D projects related to its products, established in the world market and with a high volume of exports.

GRANISA is the end user and ultimate recipient of the technology developed in DIAMANTE. It is the 5th company in added value in the sector in Galicia. It has
contributed its experience in granite transformation and has implemented the solutions in a real environment for pre-industrial validation.
With the aim of promoting innovative activity within the companies, strengthening their international leadership capacity, improving their competitive position and complementing the developments of the project, the consortium has had the support of the AIMEN Technology Center, an entity with proven experience in artificial vision, monitoring, industrial control and advanced data processing activities.

PROJECT FUNDING:
The DIAMANTE project, framed in the CONECTAPEME 2018 program, is funded by the Xunta de Galicia through the Axencia Galega de Innovación (GAIN) and the support of the Consellería de Economía, Emprego e Industria and is co-financed by FEDER Funds under Axis 1 of the Feder Galicia 2014-2020 operational program.