JP7473919B2 - Energy Management Device - Google Patents

Description

An embodiment of the present invention relates to an energy management device that calculates and manages the amount of electricity consumption and fuel required to produce a certain amount of product.

On product manufacturing lines, visualization of energy is important from the perspective of promoting energy conservation. In addition to simply displaying the time series trends of numerical values, energy visualization can also be done by displaying the energy consumption per manufactured product. In the former case, the values output from measuring instruments such as power meters and flow meters are displayed on the screen as is, or with adjusted scaling. On the other hand, in the latter case, a process is required to link the identification number of the manufactured product with the data on the energy consumed in manufacturing that product.

All manufactured products are associated with a product identification number (hereinafter referred to as product ID) that identifies each individual product. In addition, a tracking system is installed on the production line to track the position of materials in the middle of production, and the tracking system constantly monitors the position of the materials using tracking signals.

In a production line where a tracking system has been installed, the production line can be divided into multiple zones and managed, and the tracking signal can be described as "a signal that indicates that a certain product has entered and exited a certain zone." By appropriately linking the information on the electric motors and electrical equipment used in the production of the product, as well as on their upstream feeders, to the tracking signal, the energy consumption of the electric motors, etc. can be linked to the product ID.

In a rolling line, a technology is known that collects data on the power consumption of electric motors and other devices in a chronological order, associates the data with product information such as the product ID, material, width, and length, calculates the energy consumption in each zone for each product, and displays the results (for example, Patent Document 1).

How to calculate the amount of power consumed by electric motors and other devices, and how to link information about electric motors and other devices to tracking signals are important for accurate calculation of product basic units. When calculating power consumption, it is not always possible to collect data on a device-by-device basis, such as inverters that drive electric motors, but in many cases it is only possible to collect data on a feeder, which is the power receiving point, or on a higher-level feeder that bundles multiple feeders.

JP 2018-202475 A

The embodiment of the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and aims to provide an energy management device that uses an existing tracking system to calculate accurate and detailed product basic units for each product ID.

An energy management device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a data collection unit that receives a first tracking signal including information of entry times and exit times of a first subzone preset by a tracking system and linked to one product identification number; receives a second tracking signal including information of entry times and exit times of a second subzone preset by the tracking system and linked to the one product identification number; collects product information linked to the one product identification number from a host computer system; and collects first time-series data from a process controller for calculating energy consumption of a first device arranged in the first subzone and a second device arranged in the second subzone ; a tracking processing unit that links the product information to the first tracking signal and the second tracking signal via the one product identification number, respectively ; a power consumption calculation unit that calculates the energy consumption of the first device and the second device based on the first data; and a product basic unit calculation unit that links the energy consumption of the first device and the second device to the first tracking signal and the second tracking signal , respectively . The first device and the second device are powered by a first energy source common to the first subzone and the second subzone .

In this embodiment, an energy management device is realized that uses an existing tracking system to calculate accurate and detailed product basic units for each product ID.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an energy management device according to an embodiment. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a hot rolling line. 3 shows an example of the hot rolling line of FIG. 2 divided into a plurality of zones and further divided into subzones. This is an example of a tracking signal set for each subzone. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hot rolling control system including an energy management device according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of division of subzones in a tracking system. FIG. 13 is a schematic operational waveform diagram showing a method of applying a tracking signal to energy item data to link the energy item data to a product ID. 13 is an example of a tracking signal when a product having one product ID is present in multiple subzones at the same time, and a new tracking signal processed for each subzone. This is an example of how much power is consumed by each product in each zone. This is an example of how much power is consumed by each product in each zone.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The drawings are schematic or conceptual, and the relationship between the thickness and width of each part, the size ratio between parts, etc. are not necessarily the same as in reality. Even when the same part is shown, the dimensions and ratios of each part may be different depending on the drawing.
In this specification and each drawing, elements similar to those described above with reference to the previous drawings are given the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an energy management device according to an embodiment.
1 , an energy management device 10 of the embodiment includes a data collection unit 11, a tracking processing unit 12, a power consumption calculation unit 13, a product basic unit calculation unit 14, and a display unit 15. The energy management device 10 is connected to a tracking system 20, a host computer 30, and a remote IO system 40.
In the following, the case of a hot rolling line will be mainly described, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to hot rolling lines and can be applied to other manufacturing processes in which all products are tracked by tracking signals and product information such as an identification ID, product width, and product thickness are centrally managed for each product.
In the following, when we talk about energy, we are referring to energy generated by electricity, i.e., electricity consumption (unit: kWh). However, instead of calculating electricity consumption, the calculation can also be applied to the consumption of fuels such as coke and heavy oil, and the consumption of water used for cooling, etc. (unit: liters).

The data collection unit 11 is connected to the tracking system 20, the host computer 30, and the remote IO system 40. The data collection unit 11 collects tracking data from the tracking system 20. The tracking data is data including a tracking signal linked to a product ID. The tracking signal provides the time when a material having a product ID enters one or more subzones described below and the time when it exits the subzone. In the tracking data, when there are multiple subzones, the entry time and exit time of all subzones are linked to the product ID. In the case where there are multiple manufactured products, the tracking data is data including the product IDs of all products and tracking signals corresponding to the subzones.

The data collection unit 11 collects product information from the host computer 30. Product information is information that links a product ID with information about the product's attributes, such as the steel type, thickness, length, and weight. Depending on the system that makes up the rolling line, some or all of the product information may be managed by a process controller such as a programmable logic controller (PLC), and in such cases, the data collection unit 11 also collects product information from the PLC. In this case, the host computer 30 and the PLC are collectively referred to as the host computing system.

The data collection unit 11 collects feeder output data from the remote IO system 40. A feeder is a power receiving point for supplying power to electric motors, etc., and feeder output data is time-series data output by a meter such as a power meter installed on the feeder. The feeder output data includes data such as the current and voltage of the system for operating the electric motors, etc. connected to the remote IO system 40. Depending on the system that constitutes the rolling line, the PLC may provide data for calculating the power consumption of the electric motors, etc. In that case, the data collection unit 11 collects data such as the amount of power from the PLC instead of the feeder output. The remote IO system 40 and the PLC are collectively referred to as a process controller.

The tracking processing unit 12 inputs the tracking data and product information collected by the data collection unit 11. The tracking processing unit 12 processes the tracking signal and links it to the product information to generate a new tracking signal. The tracking processing unit 12 links the new processed tracking signal to the product information by linking this information to the product ID. Details of the processing of the tracking signal will be described later in relation to FIG. 8.

The power consumption calculation unit 13 inputs the feeder output data collected by the data collection unit 11. For each feeder, the power consumption calculation unit 13 calculates the power consumption of a single motor or a group of motors connected to that feeder. When the power consumption calculation unit 13 also collects data for calculating power consumption from the PLC, it calculates the power consumption of the motors controlled by the PLC, for example, for each motor drive device.

The product basic unit calculation unit 14 links the new tracking signal generated by the tracking processing unit 12 and the power consumption calculated by the power consumption calculation unit 13 to a product ID. In the product basic unit calculation unit 14, the new tracking signal is linked to the product ID, and the new tracking signal indicates that a product having that product ID is present in the subzone. Therefore, the data on the feeder output and the power consumption for each drive device is linked to the product ID for each subzone.

The display unit 15 provides an output interface that displays the power consumption calculated by the product basic unit calculation unit 14 as data extracted according to desired conditions. As described below, the display unit 15 can selectively display and output graphs, text data, etc., using an image display device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a hot rolling line.
As shown in Fig. 2, the hot rolling system 1 includes a heating furnace 2, a hydraulic scale breaker (HSB) 3, a roughing mill 4, a finishing scale breaker (FSB) 5, a finishing mill 6, a run out table (ROT) 7, and down coilers 8a and 8b. Rolled materials 200a to 200c are transported from the heating furnace 2 toward the down coilers 8a and 8b. In Fig. 2, the rolled materials 200a to 200c are transported from left to right. The same applies to Fig. 3 described later.

The rolled material 200a extracted from the heating furnace 2 passes through the HSB 3. The oxide film formed on the surface of the rolled material 200a is removed by the high-pressure water of the HSB 3. The rolled material 200a is rolled several times by multiple rough rolling mills 4, each rotating forward and backward. The rolled material 200b is in a state where it has been rolled to a certain thickness by the rough rolling mills 4. The rolled material 200b passes through the FSB 5. The oxide film formed on the surface of the rolled material 200b is removed again by the high-pressure water of the FSB 5.

Then, the rolled material 200b is fed into the finishing mill 6. The finishing mill 6 includes multiple rolling stands, and the rolled material 200b is rolled to the desired product thickness by passing through each rolling stand.

The rolled material 200c is cooled with cooling water by the ROT 7 to obtain the desired product quality. The cooled rolled material 200c is wound by the down coilers 8a and 8b.

The equipment in each facility is mainly driven by electric motors. The electric motors are connected to the feeders via circuit breakers such as MCCBs (Molded Case Circuit Breakers) or VCBs (Vacuum Circuit Breakers), and the equipment may be switched on and off by turning the circuit breakers on and off. In addition, the electric motors may be driven by the output of a drive device such as an inverter connected to the upstream of the electric motor. In this case, the drive device is connected to a feeder. Several of these feeders are grouped together and connected to a higher-level feeder. In a hot rolling line, feeders are branched from the power receiving point of the factory, and supply power to the end feeder while being stepped down and branched along the way. Feeder and upper-level feeders may be provided for each subzone, or may be provided across multiple subzones, as described below.

In addition to the above, the hot rolling line is equipped with other equipment, not shown, such as table rolls for transporting the products and compressors for producing compressed air to be sent to the equipment. These devices are often connected directly to the feeder without going through an inverter or the like, and as mentioned above, operation and stop are switched on and off by an MCCB or the like.

In the example of Figure 2, the entire process of the hot rolling line is divided into four zones. Zone A includes the slab heating process including the heating furnace 2. Zone B includes the rough rolling process including the HSB 3 and the rough rolling mill 4. Zone C includes the finish rolling process including the FSB 5 and the finish rolling mill 6. Zone D includes the cooling process and the coiling process including the ROT 7 and the down coilers 8a, 8b.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the hot rolling line of FIG. 2 divided into a plurality of zones and further divided into subzones.
The divided zones, from zone A to zone D, can be arbitrarily determined by the user of the energy management device 10 .

Subzones are set according to the tracking points of the tracking system 20. A tracking point is a position where a sensor that detects the leading or trailing end of a material, such as an HMD (Hot Metal Detector), is placed. When the leading end of the material passes the tracking point, the tracking signal is made active, and when the trailing end passes the tracking point, the tracking signal is made inactive. In other words, a subzone is an area that determines whether or not the material is within the process set by the tracking system 20, and is determined by the configuration of the tracking system 20.

As described above, one or more subzones are provided in a production line, and if multiple subzones are provided, adjacent subzones are provided so that there are no overlapping areas. The divided zones can then be set as any combination of subzones. The relationship between the divided zones and subzones is as described above, and therefore one subzone will not be set across multiple zones.

As shown in FIG. 3, in this example, the area is divided into subzones 1 to 11 based on the request of the tracking system 20. In terms of the zone division, zone A is set to include subzone 1 and subzone 2. Zone B is set to include subzone 3 to subzone 6. Zone C is set to include subzone 7 and subzone 8. Zone D is set to include subzone 9 to subzone 11. This is just one example, and as mentioned above, the zones can be set arbitrarily depending on the combination of subzones.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the time variation of the tracking signal set for each subzone.
FIG. 4 shows waveforms of tracking signals corresponding to five subzones different from the subzones shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 above.
As shown in Fig. 4, a tracking signal is generated for each subzone by the tracking system 20. When there is no material or product in a subzone, the tracking signal outputs 0, and when a material enters, a value indicating the product ID of the material that has entered is output. For example, when a material with a certain product ID enters subzone A, an output indicating the product ID of the material is generated, and when the material leaves subzone A, the tracking signal becomes 0.

This example shows that the tracking signals in each subzone may overlap across multiple subzones. When multiple tracking signals with the same product ID overlap, the tracking processing unit 12 processes these tracking signals to generate and output a tracking signal from which the overlapping portions have been removed, as will be described in relation to FIG. 8 below.

By collecting such tracking signals and using them as tracking data, it is possible to determine in which subzone a material or product with a specific product ID is located based on the entry and exit times. Note that this tracking signal is just one example, and other forms of existing tracking systems that can determine the entry and exit of materials in each subzone can be applied.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hot rolling control system including an energy management device according to an embodiment.
5, the energy management device 10 is connected to a tracking system 20, a host computer 30, and a remote IO system 40 via a control network 50. In this example, a PLC 42 is also connected to the control network 50.

The energy management device 10 receives a tracking signal managed by the tracking system 20 from the tracking system 20 via the control network 50. The energy management device 10 may directly receive the tracking signal transmitted from the tracking system 20, or may receive a duplicate of the signal transmitted from the tracking system 20 to the PLC 42 by mirroring. Alternatively, the energy management device 10 may utilize the tracking signal on the control network 50.

Similarly, the energy management device 10 receives product information regarding the product being manufactured from the host computer 30.

The remote IO system 40 is hardwired to the MCC (Motor Control Center) board 44, the high voltage board 46, and the drive device 48, and collects information output from the meters provided in each of them and data information output from microcomputers, etc. The collected information includes current information output from an ammeter, voltage information output from a voltmeter, power factor information output from a power factor meter, power amount information output from a watt-hour meter, and torque information and speed information output from the microcomputers, etc. of the drive devices. The energy management device 10 receives current information, voltage information, power factor information, power amount information, speed information, torque information, etc. from the remote IO system 40 via a control network 50.

By collecting this information, the energy management device 10 can utilize the power consumption of each motor, device, etc. during the manufacturing process, tracking information, and product information.

The operation of the energy management device 10 according to the embodiment will be described.
The energy management device 10 calculates the power consumption Wf [kWh] in the power consumption calculation unit 13 based on the information received from the remote IO system 40. The power consumption Wf [kWh] is calculated using a formula according to data obtained from an instrument, a microcomputer, etc.

When the data of the feeder current value If [A], the voltage value Vf [kV] of the system to which the feeder is connected, and the power factor value cosθf [per unit] of the system to which the feeder is connected are acquired at each sampling period τs [s], the power consumption Wf [kWh] is calculated using the following formula (1).

Wf [kWh]
= √3 × If [A] × Vf [kV] × cos θf × τs [s] / 3600 (1)

The coefficient 1/3600 is used to convert the power consumption in the sampling period τs [s] to [kWh]. 1 [h] = 60 [s] x 60 [min] = 3600 [s].

When a drive device such as an inverter device is connected to the feeder and the motor is driven by the drive device, the power consumption Wf [kWh] can be calculated using the torque T [Nm] and speed [rpm] data of the motor managed by the drive device. The power P [kW] of the motor is expressed as P = N [rpm] x T [Nm] ÷ 9550. The coefficient 1/9550 is used to convert the speed N [rpm] to angular velocity [rad].

For example, when an electric motor is driven by an inverter device, data on the torque T [Nm] and speed N [rpm] of the electric motor are sent from the inverter's microcomputer to the remote IO system 40. The energy management device 10 can collect data on the torque T [rpm] and speed N [rpm] of the electric motor via the remote IO system 40. Therefore, the power consumption Wf [kWh] is calculated by the following formula (2) instead of the above formula (1).

Wf [kWh]
= (N [rpm] × T [Nm] / 9550) × τs [s] / 3600 (2)

If a power meter is installed on the feeder and its signal can be received, the energy management device 10 will not perform calculations using the data, but will treat it as time-series data for the power consumption Wf [kWh] at that feeder.

By using the above formulas (1) and (2) and the actual measured data of power consumption, the energy management device 10 can obtain time series data of power consumption [kWh] for each device or equipment, or for each feeder. Hereinafter, this time series data of power consumption for each device or equipment, or for each feeder, will be referred to as an energy item.

If power consumption data can be obtained for each motor, the energy item represents the power consumption for each motor. If multiple motors are connected to the MCC panel 44 and power consumption data can be obtained for each MCC panel 44, the energy item is treated as a single group of the power consumption of multiple motors.

Here, there may be cases where there is no instrument to measure data for calculating the power consumption of each device. In many cases, a feeder is provided with an ammeter, and the current value If is obtained by the ammeter of the feeder to which the device is connected, and the power consumption Wf [kWh] of the device can be calculated by setting the system voltage value Vf [kV] of the feeder and the system power factor cosθf [per unit] as constants in advance. For example, if the device is connected to a 3.3 kV system feeder, the power consumption Wf can be calculated by setting the system voltage value Vf to a constant of 3.3 kV and the system power factor to a temporary value such as 0.9.

Energy items are set for each subzone. Setting an energy item for a subzone will hereinafter be referred to as registering the energy item for the subzone. In the energy management device 10 of the embodiment, the total amount of power consumption for a subzone is calculated by calculating the power consumption of the energy items for the subzone. First, a method for registering energy items for each subzone will be described below.

FIG. 6 is an example of a division of subzones in a tracking system.
Since the energy item is included in the calculation of the basic unit of the product, the energy item needs to be registered in one of the subzones. The energy item is registered in the product basic unit calculation unit 14. Fig. 6 shows an example of the division of the subzones in the tracking system of the C zone and the D zone. In this example, the FSB 5 is arranged in the subzone 7, the finishing rolling mill 6 is arranged in the subzone 8, the ROT 7 is arranged in the subzone 9, the first down coiler 8a is arranged in the subzone 10, and the second down coiler 8b is arranged in the subzone 11.

In this example, the energy item registered in subzone 7 is time series data on the power consumption of the electric motors used to operate FSB 5. Similarly, the energy item registered in subzone 8 is time series data on the power consumption of the electric motors used to operate finishing mill 6. Energy items are similarly registered in each subzone for subzones 9 to 11. It is not necessary to register one energy item in one subzone; multiple energy items can be registered in one subzone. For example, in subzone 8, the power consumption of the electric motors that drive the seven mills can each be registered as an energy item.

Next, a method for linking an energy item registered in a subzone to a product ID in the product basic unit calculation unit 14 will be described.
FIG. 7 is a schematic operational waveform diagram showing a method of linking the energy item data to a product ID by applying a tracking signal to the energy item data.
FIG. 7 shows, as an example, a method for determining energy items registered in subzone 8.

The top diagram in Figure 7 shows data for energy items registered in subzone 8, and shows time series data for power consumption Wf [kWh]. Note that factory equipment, including rolling systems, is often not turned on and off frequently during product manufacturing, and therefore power consumption often fluctuates continuously like this.

The second diagram in Figure 7 shows the time change in the tracking signal for a certain product ID in subzone 8. A product with this product ID enters subzone 8 at time t1, and the tracking signal becomes H level (the level of product A's ID). Then, the product leaves subzone 8 at time t2, and the tracking signal becomes L level ("0").

The bottom diagram in Figure 7 shows energy item data for subzone 8 of a product with a product ID. The area of the shaded region in this diagram represents the power consumption Wf [kWh] across subzone 8 of the product with the product ID.

In the energy management device 10 of this embodiment, when registering an energy item to a subzone, the energy item is not limited to being registered to one subzone, but can be registered so that the energy item belongs across multiple subzones. For example, in the case of a low-voltage electric motor with a relatively small capacity, an ammeter or the like is not provided for each feeder to which the electric motor is connected, and the current or the like is measured at a single upper feeder that combines several feeders. The energy items of such an upper feeder are not necessarily located across multiple subzones, and the electric motors connected to the motor are not necessarily all included in the same subzone. In such a case, it is necessary to register one energy item to multiple subzones.

When one energy item is registered in multiple subzones, multiple tracking signals will overlap for one product ID, so the process for this case will be described below.
When a product having the same product ID exists in both adjacent subzones, the tracking signals for the same product in each subzone are overlapped. Depending on the length of the product, the product may exist across three or more adjacent subzones. If the overlapping tracking signals for the same product are used to calculate the power consumption of one energy item in each subzone, the power consumption will be calculated overlapped, making it impossible to calculate an accurate power consumption.

In the energy management device 10 of the embodiment, when tracking signals of the same product ID overlap, the tracking processing unit 12 generates a new tracking signal in which the overlapping period of the tracking signals is removed. The product basic unit calculation unit 14 links the energy item to the product ID based on the new tracking signal from which the overlapping period has been removed, so that the amount of power consumption can be calculated accurately without duplicate calculations.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a tracking signal when a product having one product ID is present in multiple subzones at the same time, and a new tracking signal processed for each subzone.
The upper diagram in FIG. 8 shows the change over time in tracking signals of the same product ID in subzone n to subzone n+2 before processing.
The lower diagram in FIG. 8 shows the change over time in tracking signals of the same product ID in subzone n to subzone n+2 after processing.

Subzone n to subzone n+2 are set in order along the product transport direction. Subzone n and subzone n+1 are adjacent subzones, and subzone n+1 and subzone n+2 are also adjacent subzones. Energy items are registered in each of subzone n to subzone n+2.

As shown in FIG. 8, a product enters subzone n at time t11. At time t12, before the product exits at time t14, the product enters subzone n+1. Furthermore, before the product exits subzone n and subzone n+1, the product enters subzone n+2 at time t13. The product exits subzone n at time t14, exits subzone n+1 at time t15, and exits subzone n+2 at time t16. In other words, during the period from time t12 to time t13, the tracking signals of subzone n and subzone n+1 overlap for the same product ID. Furthermore, during the period from time t13 to time t14, the tracking signals of subzone n and subzone n+2 overlap for the same product ID. When the tracking signals of the same product ID overlap, the power consumption in each subzone is calculated, and a value larger than the actual value is calculated.

As shown in the lower diagram of Figure 8, the tracking processing unit 12 performs logical calculations on the tracking signal to eliminate overlaps between the periods from time t12 to time t13, time t13 to time t14, and time t14 to time t15. This eliminates overlaps in power consumption in subzones with the same product ID, allowing the power consumption of each subzone to be accurately calculated.

In this way, the product basic unit calculation unit 14 can determine the power consumption of the energy items registered in the subzone. If multiple energy items are registered in the subzone, the product basic unit calculation unit 14 calculates the total power consumption in the subzone by adding up the power consumption of all the energy items. The product basic unit calculation unit 14 can calculate the power consumption of each zone for each product ID by adding up the power consumption of all the subzones belonging to one zone.

9 and 10 are examples of displaying the amount of power consumed in each zone for each product.
As shown in FIG. 9, by adding up the sub-zone power consumption for each zone, a more accurate representation of the power consumption for each zone by product can be obtained.
9, the display data 100 includes a data display area 101 and a display data setting area 102. The data display area 101 displays the integrated data of the power consumption in each zone for each product ID (represented as coil ID in the figure). In this example, zones A to D are displayed in different colors for each product ID.

The display data setting area 102 includes multiple pull-down menus and data input fields. These pull-down menus and data input fields can set data extraction conditions using the steel type, length, and thickness associated with the product ID as keys. In addition, since the production date is associated with the product ID, data extraction conditions can be set using the production date as a key.

For example, the target date setting menu 111 allows the user to set the range of manufacturing dates. The coil ID input field 112 allows the user to output data on the amount of power consumed by a product with a specified product ID. The steel type pull-down menu 113 allows the user to extract only data on the desired steel type and output data on the amount of power consumed by the product.

As shown in FIG. 10, in addition to displaying a graph on the display screen as in the above example, it is also possible to output in a CSV file format or the like. Examples of displays are shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10. FIG. 9 is a screen that displays a list of products. This is an example of a method for displaying the amount of power consumed in each zone for each product ID.

The effects of the energy management device 10 according to the embodiment will be described.
In the energy management device 10 of the embodiment, the tracking data is acquired from the existing tracking system 20, and the power consumption of the energy items registered in each subzone is calculated, thereby making it possible to calculate the power consumption for each subzone. The subzones can be arbitrarily combined to set a divided zone, and a zone can be set according to the energy visualization of the production line.

In the energy management device 10 of the embodiment, the power consumption calculation unit 13 can register one or more energy items for each feeder, each MCC panel, and each device that drives an electric motor, etc., in a subzone, so that the power consumption in each subzone can be calculated without omission.

When registering energy items, even if a load such as an electric motor installed in one subzone receives power from an upper feeder that spans another zone, the power consumption from the upper feeder is registered as an energy item for each subzone. This means that items that were previously omitted from the power consumption calculation can now be included in the power consumption of the subzone, allowing for more accurate calculations of the power consumption of the subzone.

In the energy management device 10 of the embodiment, even if products with the same product ID exist across multiple subzones, the tracking processing unit 12 can process the overlapping tracking signals to remove the overlapping parts. This makes it possible to accurately calculate the power consumption for each subzone.

To apply electrical energy to other product basic units such as fuel or water, energy items can be registered by collecting the flow rates of fuel and water in chronological order as flow rate data according to the flow meter measurements. By linking each registered energy item related to fuel, water, etc. with a product ID, it is possible to calculate the energy consumption for each subzone for each product ID, just as in the above case.

The energy management device 10 may be realized, for example, as a computer device equipped with a central processing unit (CPU) and a storage device, in which the CPU sequentially reads and executes steps of a program stored in the storage device. When the energy management device 10 is realized as a computer device, all or some of the components shown in FIG. 1 etc. perform the functions described above by being executed by one or more steps of the program.

According to the embodiment described above, it is possible to realize an energy management device that calculates the amount of energy, fuel, etc. consumed by each product in each zone and calculates detailed product basic units.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their variations are included within the scope and gist of the invention, as well as within the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims. In addition, the above-mentioned embodiments can be implemented in combination with each other.

1 Hot rolling system, 2 Heating furnace, 3 Rough rolling pre-scale remover (HSB), 4 Rough rolling mill, 5 Finish rolling pre-scale remover (FSB), 6 Finish rolling mill, 7 Run-out table (ROT), 8a, 8b Down coiler, 10 Energy management device, 11 Data collection section, 12 Tracking processing section, 13 Power consumption calculation section, 14 Product basic unit calculation section, 15 Display section, 20 Tracking system, 30 Host computer, 40 Remote IO system, 42 Programmable logic controller (PLC), 44 MCC panel, 46 High-voltage panel, 48 Drive device, 50 Control network

Claims (2)

a data collection unit that receives a first tracking signal including information on entry times and exit times of a first subzone preset by a tracking system and linked to one product identification number , receives a second tracking signal including information on entry times and exit times of a second subzone preset by the tracking system and linked to the one product identification number, collects product information linked to the one product identification number from a host computer system, and collects first time-series data from a process controller for calculating energy consumption of a first device arranged in the first subzone and a second device arranged in the second subzone ;
a tracking processing unit that links the product information to the first tracking signal and the second tracking signal via the one product identification number;
a power consumption calculation unit that calculates energy consumption of the first device and the second device based on the first data;
a product basic unit calculation unit that associates the energy consumption of the first device and the energy consumption of the second device with the first tracking signal and the energy consumption of the second device, respectively ;
Equipped with
An energy management device in which the first device and the second device are operated by receiving energy from a first energy supply source common to the first subzone and the second subzone . the tracking processing unit, when the first tracking signal and the second tracking signal are overlappingly active in the first subzone and the second subzone, generates a third tracking signal by deactivating a period during which the second tracking signal is active and overlaps with a period during which the first tracking signal is active;
2. The energy management device according to claim 1, wherein the product basic unit calculation unit associates the first data with the third tracking signal.

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