Electricity and Control June 2021

ENERGY MANAGEMENT + THE INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT

Smart energy management can minimise downtime Martin van Zyl, Segment Leader, Consumer Packaged Goods at Schneider Electric highlights critical considerations in energy management and equipment maintenance to achieve stable production and consistent product quality.

B y design, critical industrial equipment provides exceptional longevity coupled with robust quality, features that allow manufacturing facilities to run optimally and, more importantly, continuously. Often, however, little thought is given to the realistic lifespan of such critical equipment and this can result in failures with sometimes catastrophic consequences. Complacency leads to the failure tomaintain andupgrade equipment. With critical equipment such as generators and uninterrupted power supplies (UPSs) included in this mix – and operating without efficient monitoring – a manufacturing plant is set for the risk of failure. The reliability of equipment and continuous power supply form a fundamental part of business sustainability, particularly when it comes to production continuity and avoiding downtime. This is especially true for industries such as food and beverages and pharmaceuticals where the quality of manufactured products is non-negotiable. Monitor, monitor, monitor The importance of monitoring cannot be overemphasised. At Schneider Electric we understand the value of holistically and deeply monitoring critical equipment, using industry software solutions supported by cloud analytics and expert engineers. Translating this into real-life applications and benefits, it’s important to address the following factors. ƒ Identify and mitigate power quality issues from both internal and external sources through continuous monitoring. ƒ Improve power quality to reduce equipment failure, prolong equipment lifespan and eliminate unknown tripping-and-stoppage events. ƒ Reduce energy costs by pinpointing savings oppor- tunities related to operational usage, power quality mitigation measures and utility optimisation initiatives. ƒ Leverage contextual information such as busbar tem- perature, ambient conditions, the number of opera- tions, the loading of the equipment and information from other condition sensors for insightful monitoring of smart, critical, electrical equipment. ƒ Safety First through connected MV (medium voltage) and LV (low voltage) switchgear that provides remote switching functionality to establish safe environments, keeping employees out of harm’s way while also em- powering quick response time through remote moni- toring and control.

Martin van Zyl, Schneider Electric.

Power quality Power quality issues can go unno-

ticed and have a major impact on operations and process- es, leading to equipment damage, degradation of equip- ment longevity and unplanned downtime. And these issues are more common than one would expect. It’s estimated that 70% of power quality disturbances originate within fa- cilities and cause between 30 and 40 % of resulting down- time incidents. Here, a power management system has the analytical tools to help manufacturers understand which power quality events could adversely affect operations. Manufacturers can monitor and analyse power quality disturbances to determine specific actions needed to correct issues. This might include the installation of power quality correction equipment, such as Power Factor Correction and Active Harmonic Filters. Accelerating the benefits Monitoring and management are great steps forward – and more insight can be gained through analysing the collected data in the cloud. The benefit of Schneider Electric’s cloud analytics is that the data is evaluated firstly through machine learning tools together with research and development information – and further by an experienced Schneider Electric engineer who will evaluate the results and provide specific recommendations to the onsite team on how to proactively prevent an issue from becoming a safety or downtime event. A typical basic example of cloud analytics services might be in the monitoring of a transformer’s busbar temperatures in context of the ambient operating conditions and load profile, to understand when these contextualised thresholds are exceeded – which would then require immediate intervention on site, such as tightening of cable or busbar connections. Cloud applications will therefore evaluate a holistic data set and its relation to critical assets, such as a transformers or UPSs, to identify potential issues long before a failure occurs. Now is the time to focus on equipment reliability, using intelligent monitoring and management tools coupled to cloud analytics that can predict unplanned downtime events and prevent possible failure. □

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12 Electricity + Control JUNE 2021