SIEMENS has released the Simatic ET 200S PM-E RO power module which allows effective power management of factories.
According to the company, the module will allow operators to switch off entire sections of a factory during production breaks and subsequently turn them back on. This can result in energy savings of up to 80%.
The manufacturer claims industrial power saving programs tend to be complicated due to the high number of separate machines which need to be coordinated with one another. Simply powering them down can result in synchronisation problems.
Additionally, different pieces of equipment require different startup times. A gluing robot, for example, has to restart sooner than a welding robot, in order to warm up the adhesive.
Siemens Industry Automation claims the new function module can manage the energy of entire plant sections. It is connected to the Simatic ET 200S control unit, allowing it to intelligently and automatically manage the power up and down operations of each component machine.