Why RFID?

Wind turbine towers are made of large steel sections that go through many production stages. Tracking them manually is slow and error-prone. RFID lets parts be identified automatically by antennas, without the need for line of sight, so the factory knows where each part is and which stage it has passed through.

At SENAI CIMATEC, I helped develop a pilot system for tracking metal parts with RFID for TEN (Torres Eólicas do Nordeste), a manufacturer of steel wind turbine towers. The goal was to track each part throughout production on the factory floor, from the first manufacturing steps to the finished section, replacing manual control with automatic identification.

Patent

The system resulted in a development patent, on which I’m one of the inventors. It was a great recognition of the team’s work and of the practical value of the solution for the industry.

What I did

• Python service for the fixed RFID antennas, collecting reads over Ethernet with the manufacturer’s protocol
• Handheld app for Motorola devices (Windows Mobile) in C++/MFC, which read tags and sent data to the dashboard via REST
• C# desktop app (Windows Forms) with a DLL for printing QR codes on a printer

The metal challenge

Metal is one of the hardest environments for RFID, since it reflects and interferes with radio signals, so the choice of tags and antenna positioning matters a lot. On top of that, in one production stage the RFID tag got crushed. The solution was an RFID → QR code → RFID transition: the part received a QR code during that stage and returned to RFID tracking afterwards, with no loss of traceability.

Results

All the data fed a dashboard with more than 15 reports, giving the factory visibility over each part’s location and production flow.

What I learned

This project showed me how to integrate very different technologies (Python, C++, C#, RFID, QR codes and REST) into one working solution, and how real factory conditions often require creative solutions that don’t show up in the original design.

Learn more

• Torres Eólicas do Nordeste (in Portuguese): https://brasilenergia.com.br/cenarioseolica/cadeia-produtiva/torres-eolicas-do-nordeste