JP2002175172A - Energy monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an energy monitoring system made capable of recognizing the attaining state of saving energy and the operating state of equipment at a monitoring object plant and the like at a glance. SOLUTION: Data on energy such as energy used amount are collected from various kinds of monitoring object equipment D via a communication line and stored in a data base 2. The collected data and a point definition file 7 corresponding to the collected data are retrieved according to operations on prescribed screens 10 and 11. The retrieved data are compared with a prescribed target value and the comparison result is displayed together with the operating state of the equipment D. The point definition file 7 has a data inserting function capable of inserting data processed by software 14 of a computation processing on the market.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the display of the state of consumption of various types of energy, such as electric power, steam, air, gas, and water, and the target value of the amount of energy consumption, thereby achieving the state of achievement of energy saving and the operation of equipment. The present invention relates to an energy monitoring system capable of grasping at a glance.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A major challenge today in the field of energy saving management is to make users aware of how much energy they have already consumed and to launch energy management plans.

Conventionally, as an energy monitoring system for energy saving management, a system for displaying energy consumption such as power demand in a trend graph, recording and calculation of energy consumption, an energy consumption unit index, and a target of energy consumption. What displays a value etc. by numerical value is provided. However, since these are difficult to understand visually, it has not been possible for anyone to immediately grasp the degree of achievement of the target value of the energy consumption and the operation state of the device.
Moreover, since data on the amount of use of various types of energy is collected for each individual energy, much time and man-hours are required to collect the entire energy saving related data.

Further, the conventional energy saving control is a fixed control method such as keeping a room temperature or room brightness constant. On the other hand, the power tends to reach a peak in the morning, noon, and night when the temperature fluctuation is large, such as spring and autumn. Peak power is the single largest factor in determining power supply costs, and lower peak power results in lower maximum power supply, resulting in lower power costs.

[0005] Efficient use of energy and energy saving management are based on the basic requirements of factories, that is, energy usage within a range that is suitable for the purpose of factory line operation, and whose operating environment is safe and hygienic. It should be realized after satisfying the requirement of suppression.

[0006]

In view of the above, in order to smoothly manage a control system for energy saving, not only the previous and current energy consumption but also the current consumption amount is required.
It is important to know in advance the comparison of future energy use with target values.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to display the energy saving status and the operation status of equipment at a glance by displaying various energy consumption statuses and target values of energy consumption using icons, graphs or tables. An object is to provide an energy monitoring system that can be grasped.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided:
A data collection unit for collecting data on energy such as energy consumption from various devices to be monitored via a communication line, a database storing a display item definition file defining items to be displayed on a predetermined screen, and a predetermined screen Data display means for searching the data and the corresponding display item definition file in accordance with the above operation, comparing the searched data with a predetermined target value, and displaying the comparison result together with the operation status of the device; An energy monitoring system comprising:

According to a second aspect, in the above energy monitoring system, the definition file has a data insertion function capable of inserting data processed by software such as a commercially available calculation process. The contents can be changed online.

A third aspect is a data collection means for collecting and accumulating energy-related data from various devices to be monitored via a communication line, a database storing templates of various form formats and a comment for preparing a report, An energy monitoring system comprising: a form output unit that searches a predetermined form format and comment based on the data collected by the data collection unit, and inserts the data into the searched form format and outputs the data. .

[0011] A fourth aspect is a data collection means for collecting data related to energy from various devices to be monitored via a communication line, and checking an energy use state with respect to an energy target value based on the collected data.
When the energy usage is higher than the target value, the operation status of the device, a status determination unit that determines a status by comparing with other items such as an outside air temperature, and based on the determination by the status determination unit. And an improvement proposal generating means for generating the content of a proposal to improve the situation.

[0012]

According to the present invention, a comparison between the value of energy consumption and the target value of energy consumption and the degree of achievement are defined and displayed, and a graph of the energy consumption and equipment are displayed. Since the operation status is displayed on the same screen, the monitoring status is easy to see for a monitoring person or the like, and the energy data can be grasped at a glance.

That is, while automatically collecting data such as energy consumption and status change, by monitoring the status online, the operation status of factory lines and the like is monitored, and an energy management plan and a proposal for an implementation method thereof are made. Can be performed accurately.

[0014] The screen setting can be performed by a linking function with generally commercially available software without requiring special dedicated software or specialized knowledge. Further, even when a change occurs in a factory line, factory equipment, or factory equipment, it is not necessary to reintroduce or newly install all software, and the system can be reconfigured by a simple input operation. Therefore, it is not necessary for the user to prepare a new environment, and the processing can be automatically performed in an operating environment that has been used conventionally.

When an environmental report to be submitted to a public organization or a related department is created, data on energy consumption is automatically collected, so that a comment template can be prepared on a server by preparing a template for the comment. And create a report online.

[0016] By making the actual energy consumption and energy consumption target values easy to understand and understand, anyone can check the energy use situation and conduct improvement proposal activities for energy conservation measures at the factory based on the Energy Conservation Law. be able to. Furthermore, by making it a database and reusing it, it is possible to promote improvement proposals and activities for the environment and energy saving.

Comprehensive quality management (ISO 9001) and environmental management (ISO 14001) systems, including the Energy Conservation Law (Law Concerning the Rational Use of Energy) to complete energy management and optimize the environmental impact of energy conservation measures As part of the energy management plan, which is an important part of the project, it can contribute to the implementation of further advanced energy conservation measures.

[0018]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an entire system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In this system, data indicating the energy usage status of a factory or the like is collected by a monitoring server S via a communication network (LAN) E such as Ethernet (registered trademark).

In particular, the energy-saving data described later can be browsed on a site on a network or a terminal such as a personal computer having a function of accessing a database provided in the system. The terminal for receiving the distributed energy-saving data may be of any type such as a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a mobile phone, but is a terminal device capable of bidirectional communication and receiving an image or graphic signal. It is desirable that it be possible.

The monitoring server S includes various devices D (integrated wattmeters and other instruments, sequencers,
Controller, input / output device, etc.) and changes in the target value or status by the communication network E
Is transmitted to the user's terminal C (client PC) via e-mail. Therefore, each device to be monitored has a serial conversion module (SCH) required according to its type,
It is connected to a communication network E via a communication interface such as a web adapter (WA) having a protocol conversion function.

Each energy consumption is constituted by the consumption of various kinds of energy such as electric power, steam, air, gas, and water. The user uses the terminal C such as a personal computer or the like connected to the communication network E to access the monitoring server S to the database having functions for various displays and graph displays such as each energy consumption and each energy target value. You can also view the current collected energy usage data and the target energy usage values set from these collected data on the Web.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the monitoring server S in the system of FIG. The monitoring server of the embodiment creates a DB (database) access library 1, a database 2, a collection task 5, a data display processing unit 6, and a point (display item) definition file 7 as means for realizing necessary functions. Unit 8, screen definition unit 9, display unit for displaying floor screen 10 and graph screen 11, promotion program 1
2, a form function unit 13, an electronic mail transmitting unit 16, and the like.

The DB access library 1 is a common library that is a collection of programs used when using collected data and the like stored in the database 2 on the floor screen 10 and the graph screen 11 that can be browsed on the Web. The user can call and use this library from the above-mentioned terminal by a simple procedure. By using the DB access library 1 in this manner, access to the database 2 is unified, and the database 2
The number of client licenses can be adjusted.

The database 2 accumulates data such as energy consumption collected from the various devices D to be monitored via the communication line as described above. In this embodiment, a collection table 3 for counting and storing collected data
And a definition table 4 for storing a point definition file 7 defining items to be displayed on the screen as described later.

The collection task 5 includes a program for realizing a function of collecting data such as the amount of energy used for monitoring and storing the data in the database 2 as described above, and a CPU (not shown) for executing the program. Be composed.

The data display processing unit 6 searches the data stored in the database 2 and the point definition file 7, compares the searched data with a predetermined target value, and compares the comparison result with the operation status of the device D. , And constitutes data display means for displaying on the screens 10 and 11 of the display unit.

The point definition file 7 is a file in which items necessary for displaying data on the screens 10 and 11 are defined. The point definition file 7 is created by a CPU constituting the definition creating section 8 in accordance with a creation tool (program), Is stored in the definition table 4.

The screen definition unit 9 includes a paint tool 21 for defining a shape of a pie chart or a bar graph serving as a template for displaying data on a screen as described later, an image file 22 such as "GIF", And a CPU that executes a screen display process using the CPU.

The promotion program 12 has a function of inputting unsaved data (unpromoted data) to the database 2 or outputting data (promotion data) stored in the database 2 based on a command from the collection task 5. It will be realized.

The form function section 13 realizes a function of inserting data into a form such as a daily / monthly report which can be created by the general-purpose software 14 for form output, a form for public institutions, and the like. Is a generic CS
It is prepared as a V file 15.

The e-mail sending section 16 is connected to the database 2
Has a function of transmitting data retrieved from the terminal device 17 to a terminal device 17 such as a mobile phone or a personal computer by e-mail.

In the monitoring server S having the above configuration, data collection is performed as follows.

In the data collection task 5, the elapsed time for each data identifier (tag) from the monitoring target including the device D shown in FIG. When 3 seconds have elapsed, the tag value is acquired by the communication interface (DDE server) 18. The data display processing unit 6 performs a process for displaying the collected data based on the value of the tag collected from the communication interface 18, and stores the display data in the database 2 via the collection task 5.

Next, the definition table 4 in the database 2
, The point definition file 7 is read, and an initial process of data collection is performed. Since the points (display items) are defined by the data display processing unit 6 and the creation tool 8, when a change occurs in a factory line, equipment, or device, the definition file 7 is changed and saved. Then, by reading from the definition table 4 in the database 2 through the collection task 5 in the same manner as in the initial processing, the operating environment of the monitoring target can be grasped in the same manner as before the change.

Searching of data and display of the result by the display means of the embodiment are performed as follows.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a predetermined icon (for example, a display pattern on the screen 10) or an item (for example, a pie chart display portion 11a or Line graph display part 11
When the operation of selecting b) is performed, the display unit receives an operation input (search command) on the screen 10 or 11 as “DB access”, and in response to the received signal, the DB access library 1 1) The data and the point definition file 7 respectively stored in the collection table 3 and the definition table 4 of the database 2 are searched. (2) The searched data is compared with a predetermined target value to obtain the result. 3) Display on the screens 10 and 11 of the display unit.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show examples of graphs and the like displayed by a browser on the display screen of the server or the user terminal.

FIG. 5 is a pie chart in which the energy consumption for one month is color-coded for each type of electricity, gas, water and the like. In detail, in the pie chart, the power, gas, water,
Green, orange, yellow,
Each color of red, dark blue, red, blue, and gray is distinguished at a glance.

FIG. 6 is a line graph showing the energy consumption per hour for each day, and a bar graph color-coded for each type of electricity, gas, water, etc. in the same manner as the respective consumptions in FIG. I have.

FIG. 7 shows the amount of consumption of electric power, gas, etc. per hour per day in a line graph, and also shows the status of each factory line, such as operating hours, in a time chart.

The conventional system for energy saving is as follows.
Data was displayed numerically, and data collection, management and monitoring could only be performed for each energy consumption individually.Starting collection of energy consumption data, reporting on public organizations, internal reports, ISO environmental reports, etc. A great deal of time and man-hours were required for document preparation. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, not only can data be collected, managed, and monitored for each energy collectively, but also information can be obtained from the definition table 4 in the database 2 when necessary on the server, and a form such as a form as a template can be obtained. The report function unit 13 that defines the document file
It is possible to edit or delete the form data stored as the V file 15 (a display screen for that is shown in FIG. 8). For this reason, the form function unit 13
Commercially available software for document creation and / or spreadsheets 14
By simply running, you can print out forms online. That is, it has a function of inserting data stored in the CSV file 15 into the software 14 in association with the data field.

As shown in FIG. 9, the user can use a terminal device such as the personal computer 17a or the portable telephone 17b to monitor the operation environment of the factory (FIG. 7). The achievement status of energy consumption to be described in documents, in-house daily reports or monthly reports can be stored online in the database 2, and can be retrieved and displayed or used as needed. Thereby, it is possible to promote improvement proposals and activities for environment and energy saving in the user's company and the like.

As an example of an improvement proposal, a database such as that described above is used to classify, by day, hour, energy type, use location, etc. A format of an “improvement proposal check sheet” as shown in FIG. 10 is prepared. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, in accordance with the collected data and the target value data of the database 2,
"Check if there is no waste in relation to the operation time and power on", "Is the light turned off for each floor", and "Check the water consumption" ), And outputs a concrete improvement proposal check sheet created from the above format based on the check results. In this way, the specific situation of where and which energy consumption is high is shown, and support is provided to make it easier to work on improvement.

According to the above-described embodiment, whether the value of the energy consumption is upward or downward with respect to the target value is determined by comparing the actual energy consumption with the target value of the energy consumption. The achievement level is displayed at a glance using icons. In addition, the energy consumption is displayed on a floor screen or a graph screen, and the operation status of the device is displayed in a time chart format using a status display. For this reason, the monitor can grasp at a glance the energy data and the operating environment of the device on the same screen.

A function such as linking with software that is commercially available outside of the company makes it possible to create pictures such as icons and set screens online. At that time, it can be operated without the need for special dedicated software or special knowledge.

Even when a change occurs in a factory line, factory equipment, or factory equipment, it is not necessary to reintroduce or newly install all software, and the system can be reconfigured by a simple input operation. . Therefore, the processing can be automatically performed in an operating environment of a personal computer, a peripheral device, or the like that the user is familiar with.

Since energy consumption data is automatically collected when submitting an environmental report to a public organization or a company, when entering a comment, prepare a template for the comment so that the comment can be input to the server. In addition to executing on-line and creating reports online, in cooperation with commercially-available document creation and spreadsheet software's form creation function, output forms such as printing and insert data from CSV Can be.

Since the actual energy consumption and the target energy value are displayed in an easy-to-understand manner by icons and the like, not only can anyone grasp the state of energy consumption, but also data collection from the measuring instrument can be performed with respect to the energy consumption. It has a function to check the energy consumption status and status changes online, including the output of data usage and the status of the operating environment.

Further, in the first-class energy management designated factory, the second-class energy management designated factory, and other factories based on the Energy Conservation Law, the search for specific countermeasures for the entire energy conservation was conducted. All the members can carry out improvement proposals for countermeasures, and promote environmental improvement and energy conservation improvement measures and energy conservation proposals and activities.

[0050] Through the server, data totalized automatically and online can be displayed for each of various facilities or lines where each energy consumption status is provided. In addition, the status of icon floors, graphs, tables, and operating environments can be recorded in the form of a time chart and displayed on the same screen, as well as notification to an external designated address when a status change occurs. By doing so, the current situation can be grasped more specifically. For this reason, anyone can check the status of energy conservation promotion at a glance from any place, so that everyone can raise their awareness of energy conservation, propose measures for improvement and activate their activities. Opinions are stored in a database and are expected to contribute to the development of energy conservation as a means for solving future problems.

[0051] Structural energy management is not possible without a good energy monitoring system. The setting of the optimum operating environment can be set by a simple input of the definition of the definition tool. Status changes are displayed in graphs and time charts via sequencers and module devices, and the number of database clients can be adjusted by a centralized database access method, achieving stable and efficient energy-saving use and efficient operation. it can.

The increase of system equipment in a factory, the introduction of a new mechanical device, and the change of a factory line are most often determined for the purpose of improving factory production. By incorporating the present invention into an improvement measure for efficiently consuming energy, it is possible to set a target value of a future energy cost and reduce the amount by comparing and managing energy consumption.

Since the floor and graph of the amount of energy used in the above embodiment can grasp the state of energy use at a glance, good energy monitoring, efficient use of energy, and better operation can be realized.
Controlling energy use not only serves the important function of contributing to the quality of the environment, but also raises the awareness of allocating funds to other purposes by reducing operating costs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an entire system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a server in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary view showing a method of accessing a database by an operation on a display screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing a procedure of a data search and a result display by an operation on a display screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a pie chart on a display screen.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a line and a bar graph on a display screen.

FIG. 7 is an example of a display screen showing the amount of energy used and the status of each line of a factory.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen for editing and deleting form data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state in which data search or the like is performed online using a terminal device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an “improvement proposal check sheet”.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state in which a specific improvement proposal check sheet is generated in accordance with collected data and target value data of a database.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... DB access library, 2 ... database, 3 ...
Collection table, 4 ... definition table, 5 ... collection task, 6
... Data display processing unit, 7 ... Point definition file, 8 ...
Definition creating unit, 9: screen definition unit, 10: floor screen, 11
... Graph screen, 12 ... Promotion program, 13 ... Form function part, 14 ... Form output software, 15 ... General-purpose software for data insertion, 16 ... E-mail sending part,
17 terminal device, 18 communication interface.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A data collection means for collecting energy-related data such as energy consumption from various devices to be monitored via a communication line, and a database storing a display item definition file defining items to be displayed on a predetermined screen. And searching for the data and the corresponding display item definition file in accordance with an operation on a predetermined screen, comparing the searched data with a predetermined target value, and displaying the comparison result together with the operation status of the device. An energy monitoring system comprising: 2. The energy monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the definition file has a data insertion function capable of inserting data processed by software such as a commercially available calculation processing. An energy monitoring system characterized in that the contents of the information can be changed online. 3. A data collecting means for collecting and accumulating energy-related data from various devices to be monitored via a communication line, a database storing templates of various form formats and comments for creating reports, and said data collecting means. And a form output means for searching for a predetermined form format and comment based on the data collected in (1), and inserting the data into the searched form format and outputting the form. 4. A data collecting means for collecting data related to energy from various devices to be monitored via a communication line, and based on the collected data, checking an energy use state with respect to an energy target value, and checking the target value. On the other hand, when the energy consumption is high, the situation is determined by comparing the operating status of the device, other items such as the outside air temperature with other items, and the status is improved based on the determination by the status determining device. An energy monitoring system comprising: an improvement proposal generating unit configured to generate contents of a proposal to be performed.