Energiemanagement
HYDRA Energy Management
Cost Pressure and Energy Policy
The price of natural gas and other forms of energy has been increasing steadily for years. Consequently, the cost pressures companies have to deal with also increases. In addition, environmental consciousness is growing: a company’s reputation is also now affected by its environmental and climate protection activities.
Moreover, the current development of environmental policy also requires industry to change its approach to energy. Governments have established new conditions and enacted
stricter environmental regulations, resulting in manufacturing companies being required to save energy. For example, the German government has established new conditions by issuing regulations, such as the Renewable Energy Law (Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz EEG) and the German Energy Taxation Law. Manufacturing companies can benefit from a recovery of taxes stipulated by these laws as regards the EEG reallocation charge as well as for energy and current. In other words, companies are almost forced to actively save energy for financial reasons and to implement an energy management system based on DIN EN ISO 50001 as of 2013.
Systematic Energy Management
An energy management system designed to address regulatory requirements should support companies in the systematic reduction of their energy consumption.
The above logical system represents a continuous improvement process (CIP) within the company. Target specifications for the shop floor are derived from management’s energy policy and compliance. Processes are constantly optimized by taking improvement measures and continually checking whether objectives have been achieved. The cycle is finally closed by additional planning processes to achieve better energy consumption values.
Ideal Support by MES
Efficient IT systems are required to realize this logical system with reasonable expenditure. Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) provide an ideal platform, as they collect the required pieces of information and reveal background information on energy wastage. In this context, MES systems generally offer two points of action with regard to energy savings:
• As a result of extensive data collection at production facilities, relationships can be established between energy consumption and other production process data, which in turn provides additional information about energy wastage.
• Energy consumption can be reduced indirectly, e.g., by lowering scrap rates that often result in rework or by improved detailed scheduling to reduce wait and lead times.
Energy Management with MES HYDRA
The HYDRA module Energy Management (EMG) was designed in conjunction with the Fraunhofer Institute for Process and Automation Technologies (IPA)
to meet and represent the requirements of a standardized energy management system. As part of this development, proven HYDRA functions were added through new features in the software development process.
Consumption needs to be recorded by meters in order to detect appropriate starting points where energy demand can be reduced. In addition to measuring equipment for electrical energy, meters for heat quantity, water or gas are also required. HYDRA provides a meter management that enables the automatic and manual collection
of data using collection plans and correction functions.
Measuring equipment collects the energy consumption at machines and forwards it to HYDRA along with other machine data, such as status and quantity.
Current Information at the Push of a Button
Graphical layouts show the physical location of meters as well as current meter readings of energy consumption and machine performance. Not only are the recorded data displayed as total values, but they are also in chronological order. In addition, action and tolerance limits can be defined and power values can be permanently monitored to show whether or not they respect these limit values. Trends result from the visualization of these developments and, as a result, the persons responsible can respond before a problem occurs. Consequently, it is possible to briefly switch off machines that are in standby mode, like air conditioners, during peak loads.
Comprehensive Reports and Analyses
Energy consumption needs to be specifically analyzed, as it is an important prerequisite for making the right production decisions regarding energy. Consumption, summarized and displayed over individual periods of time, and chronological consumption profiles, provide the user with all the required pieces of information. In this manner, changing machine consumption can be recognized and countermeasures can be taken. Energy consumption can be determined on a daily basis.
If required, energy efficiency ratios can also be calculated to provide a better basis for comparing production facilities. The resulting planning strategies can help systematically improve energy efficiency. When production orders are assigned, machines with a better energy balance are preferred to machines that require higher energy demands.
The graphic process analysis shows the development of consumption or power values
including the specified target and limit values.
The energy monitor provides different views to read current consumption.
All energy data are available at a glance. Energy consumption of similar plants can also be directly compared.
Consumption analysis evaluates energy data and uses it as the basis for decision-making
to take measures to reduce consumption.
