The advent of IoT technology has made a huge impact in making a connected environment in industries and automating processes that were earlier operated manually. While the footprint of this technology can be seen in fields associated with supply chain, transportation, and maintenance, one area where this technology has made a huge difference is in the field of energy management.
The interconnection between all the machines along with all the sensors or other hardware devices embedded on them, enable operators and managers to collected data associated with energy utilization. This raw data when analyzed and evaluated using an analytical engine results in useful information and insights in the form of charts, graphs, and visual representations.
This information when used fruitfully offer various benefits that a company can leverage for seamless operation, reduced machine downtime, and to save energy. Here are some of those benefits:
1) Daily Energy Management:
Machines though being an important asset for any industry, eat up a lot of energy and resources in order to support production. As per an estimate, the industrial sector in 2020 consumed roughly 36% of the energy produced all over the world. A lot of this energy is bound to be wasted due to many factors.
Machines though being an important asset for any industry, eat up a lot of energy and resources in order to support production. As per an estimate, the industrial sector in 2020 consumed roughly 36% of the energy produced all over the world.
With the help of smart and connected technology of IoT, a lot of electricity through an interlinked machine to machine interface and automation can be saved in the long-run. IoT systems through its interoperable connection can identify unattended machine and detect when they were on unnecessarily. The daily consumption data can also be used by a business’s management to identify the electricity it really requires on a daily basis. With the help of an alarm system in place, alerts can also be received whenever a machine is left on standby mode for long durations. Hence, utilities can be effectively used and smart decisions can be made to reduce energy wastage.
2) Predictive Maintenance:
While it is not ideal for companies to put their machines on standby mode, it is an important step to conduct inspection and maintenance procedures properly. Even though this is a very standard and pre-scheduled action that is taken in almost every factory or workshop, putting machines on standby does hamper the productivity.
While this scheduled maintenance procedures have been the standard way of operation, companies require a predictive and preventive method to repair their machines, which along with keeping the machines available for more durations also prevent unwanted breakdowns and machine failures. With IoT based energy management solutions, companies can leverage the same and prevent machine downtime due to breakdown or standby.
Sensors installed on machines and assets can be used monitor and detect potential issues based on energy consumption before they result in machine breakdown. This helps in protecting machines from immediate malfunctions and breakdown and also limit the need for scheduled inspection and maintenance practices. This also boosts the efforts towards just-in-time maintenance and leads to more productivity.
3) Intelligent Planning and Analysis:
The ability to process data and analyze it is definitely one of the most beneficial application of IoT technology. The data collected from IoT sensors embedded on machines contains a lot of insightful information that a company can leverage to plan its future operations and processes to achieve operational excellence.
Data pertaining to energy consumption when analyzed through different advanced analytics and other similar algorithms can be used to identify loopholes that affect the overall efficiency and productivity of any company. Moreover, through predictive analytics, electricity consumption at a granular level can also be tracked and the exact energy needs for the future based on current energy utilization patterns can be estimated. Subsequently, this forecast can also be used to plan future procurement process accordingly to achieve optimum results and reduce energy consumption
CONCLUSION
By leveraging the benefits of IoT technology, a company can easily manage its energy needs to save money and improve its plant efficiency. In energy management, this technology allows companies to overcome a lot of challenges and reduce operational overheads that are generally the case in any industrial setup. The smart connections facilitated by this technology is surely to be seen to make strong impressions in businesses all around the world in the field of energy management.
