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In the last blog, we tackled issues like power quality and harmonics mitigation in motor drive systems. This time we deal with issues such as asset management and maintenance and integration with automation systems.
With respect to Operation Technology convergence with IT, StruxureWare bridges the gap between automation systems (OT) and enterprise level applications like ERP (IT). IT/OT convergence makes simpler, more scalable and flexible industrial architectures possible, leveraging the best of IT technologies, like cloud computing and virtualization, and the OT advances driven by IoT.
Sensors can work 10 years off a button size battery while transmitting data over wireless mesh networks with a lifetime cost up to 10 times lower than classical wired sensors. In the context of IIoT, this will revolutionize the way buildings and factories are monitored and controlled.
Embedded soft-HMI
In this scheme, it is possible to control a motor drive directly from a WiFi-connected iPad or tablet without additional devices. The drive has a soft-HMI embedded, which allows a customer to build a web page for the drive for controlling the system, all within a connected SCADA environment.
Services Oriented Drives operators may start, change the speed of a drive, and stop all in real time via a smart connected devices. The Altivar Process allows operators to extract real-time intelligence from all aspects of their plant.
Previously, there was little focus from plant managers to monitor the efficiency of their devices, such as pumps and determine whether each pump is operating at its best efficiency point (BEP). The performance of an operating pump is affected when it operates outside of its BEP. The likely effects are low efficiency, noise and vibration giving reduced life to bearings and temperature rise due to dissipated energy created by low efficiency.
Altivar Process with embedded process control allows information to be extracted via the drive from a smart connected device. In the case of a pump, the Altivar Process would display the pump curves of each individual pump based on the flow rate, head and how efficiently the pump is pumping, informing the user of any drift from the BEP.
Altivar Process is the first Services Oriented Drive with embedded power measurement and energy dashboard, embedded process monitoring and control and low harmonics (THDi < 48% at 80% load or THDi < 5% with low harmonic offer), while a Stop and Go function reduces energy consumption in standby mode.
Dynamic traceability is provided by a combination of macrotests and real-time scheduler which contributes to preventive maintenance. More effective asset management is another emerging requirement for today’s asset-intensive industries.
Services oriented drives can provide embedded maintenance functionality as services to support both schedule-based preventive maintenance and condition-based predictive maintenance. The latter utilizes equipment and process data gathered at the drive level, but typically processed into actionable information remotely at the plant or enterprise system level.
