A processor can take two approaches when considering options to reduce energy consumption. The first is to evaluate the facility piecemeal, looking for ways to save on specific functions, such as using more efficient injection presses or auxiliary equipment. It's an effective approach and provides great returns for those that take the time to evaluate the facility in great detail.
The other approach is to start at the top and look for big-picture improvements that affect energy consumption throughout the entire building. These solutions are often (but not always) more expensive than the piecemeal approach and require a little more time to evaluate, implement and optimize. But the payoff usually is bigger, and a single plantwide initiative often delivers major benefits that last long into the future.
They are by no means mutually exclusive approaches, and in an ideal world, every plant manager would have the time and ability to evaluate the energy efficiency of every aspect of the operation. For the ambitious processor that wants to analyze and optimize energy consumption from the top down, the options are expanding.
Electrex
Electrex is a brand of Akse srl in Reggio Emilia, Italy, which offers software and instrumentation for industrial, commercial and residential energy efficiency and automation. The company is serious about finding innovative ways to increase energy efficiency — 40 percent of its workforce is dedicated to R&D.
The company's Energy Brain software is a comprehensive approach to managing energy consumption, offering equipment monitoring, data acquisition and storage, analytics and automation. It's designed for organizations that want to measure their usage of electricity, gas, or water; track environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, luminosity and CO2 levels; and monitor the status of all of the equipment in a facility.
Electrex has released a Pro version of Energy Brain, which offers the ability to export device data, import external data and assess information with a variety of user-friendly graphs and charts.
The software can compile all of the data from disparate systems and apply analytics that help to identify trends and create benchmark consumption levels, said Skender Musaj, export sales manager for Electrex.
"Energy Brain can provide significant benefits to plastics processors," he said. "It can be used to reduce energy consumption in both extrusion and molding machines. Some of the benefits are related to the configuration of the machine and how it is being used in the production process."
For example, Energy Brain can:• optimize the speed of the extruder,• switch off as much equipment as possible when not in use,• ensure that the housing of the extruder is well-insulated,• keep the melt temperature of resin as low as possible,• analyze and optimize cycle times, and• determine the ideal pressure based on the product being made.
Initially offered in 2013, the software is constantly being upgraded and is now in its sixth iteration. Version 4.0 of the Energy Brain cloud debuted in 2017, enabling users to view equipment and system performance, as well as send commands to the devices being monitored through a web browser on a computer, tablet or smartphone.
One of the biggest advantages of the Electrex monitoring and control system is its ability to time stamp all of the data it collects regarding energy, environmental conditions and process parameters. When comparing the energy usage of two different machines, the data must come from the exact same timeframe, or it won't be an apples-to-apples comparison.
"If the data logging of two devices does not refer to the exact same period of time, the performance indicators can't be considered accurate," Musaj said. Time synchronization "is a very important feature, because the calculation of KPIs [key performance indicators] and other benchmarks requires synchronized data. All of the data logged from multiple devices [in the Energy Brain] use the same time reference."
Analysis of the energy data provides advantages to processors.
"The greatest benefits for processors will derive from monitoring the machines," Musaj said. "Indeed, our system makes it possible to gather real-time and historical data on the equipment and how it performs throughout the production process. Thus, it will be possible to discover abnormal consumption and define benchmarks."
Siemens
As is usually the case with enterprise-wide software, Siemens has been constantly tweaking and upgrading Version 7.0 of its Simatic Energy Manager Pro to optimize its performance. The successor to the company's Simatic B.Data software, Simatic Energy Manager Pro is an ISO 50001-compliant energy-management system that provides a holistic view of a facility's energy consumption.
For example, the system can tell a plant manager what energy costs are per individual part manufactured, work shift or machine. That makes it easy to identify outliers that are consuming more energy than they should.
In addition, the system aggregates and analyzes complex raw data to generate data points — such as the energy utilization factor, energy efficiency and energy quality rate — that are easy for nonexperts to understand. It's also easy to customize, allowing users to create customized dashboards and detailed reports, and track specific KPIs.
Among the most important new features is a widget-based web dashboard, which makes it easy to use the system effectively, even for beginners. The layout of the user interface can be customized and specific widgets can be added or deleted at any time. The system has widgets to display line diagrams, reports, matrices, pie charts, gauges, values, text and images. If the user wants to examine any of those things in greater detail, he or she can zoom in on them and drill down for more detailed analyses.
Version 7.0 also includes a link to the company's Simatic Energy Suite, where production-related energy measurement data is stored. It also offers the ability to seamlessly transfer engineering data, saving time and increasing efficiency.
Other new features and improvements include:• The ability to evaluate the efficiency of loads, such as a machine or group of machines. This makes it possible to automatically generate data and reports for entire cells, lines or even individual cost centers.• A high-performance Microsoft SQL database that archives energy data.• New functions for automatic preprocessing of data; backing up and restoring of data, authentication and access rights to the active directory; and support for major software programs, such as Microsoft Windows 10 and Office 2016.
Finally, Simatic Energy Manager Pro does more than help a plant optimize the energy usage inside the facility's walls. The system also provides information that helps plant managers identify the best energy-procurement opportunities. It provides data to make it easier to compare energy suppliers; forecasts future energy consumption and simulates various types of contracts to identify which provides the best returns; and automatically verifies incoming invoices by comparing them against actual usage.
Michael T. McCue, copy editor
For more information
Electrex,Reggio Emilia, Italy, 39-0-522-924-244, www.electrex.it/en
Siemens Industry Inc.,Alpharetta, Ga., 800-743-6367, www.usa.siemens.com
