Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24F—AIR-CONDITIONING; AIR-HUMIDIFICATION; VENTILATION; USE OF AIR CURRENTS FOR SCREENING
  • F24F11/00—Control or safety arrangements
  • F24F11/50—Control or safety arrangements characterised by user interfaces or communication
  • F24F11/52—Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24F—AIR-CONDITIONING; AIR-HUMIDIFICATION; VENTILATION; USE OF AIR CURRENTS FOR SCREENING
  • F24F11/00—Control or safety arrangements
  • F24F11/30—Control or safety arrangements for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
  • F24F11/46—Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
  • F24F11/47—Responding to energy costs
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
  • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
  • G05B19/00—Programme-control systems
  • G05B19/02—Programme-control systems electric
  • G05B19/418—Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/048—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/04—Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem"
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q50/00—Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
  • G06Q50/04—Manufacturing
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q50/00—Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
  • G06Q50/06—Energy or water supply

Definitions

• the present invention generally relates to automation controls technology and specifically to a system for managing the energy consumption of manufacturing equipment used in an automation setting.
• programmable logic computers have grown into computers to such an extent that nowadays popular programmable logic controllers use electronics similar to personal computers such as a computer system based on an Intel processor and are capable of running an operating system designed for personal computers, professional workstations and servers such as Microsoft Windows, different distributions of Linux or similar operating systems.
• Popular examples of such modem programmable logic controllers are the Siemens SIMATIC or the Beckhoff CX families of controllers.
• the manufacturing execution system is responsible for collecting cycle data from programmable logic controllers and sending data to these controllers in order to orchestrate manufacturing and coordinate material flow and other systems.
• Modem programmable logic controllers typically support multiple types of connections to facilitate the fulfilling of these connectivity requirements. For instance, multiple analog ports are available as communication extensions that can be connected to the core unit of the controller.
• the core controller uses a proprietary protocol such as EthemetIP, Profmet or EtherCAT developed by Allen-Bradley, Siemens and Beckhoff, respectively, to connect with most automation devices such as actuators, motors, sensors and robots. Also, since the early 2000’ s most programmable logic controllers have been equipped with at least one Ethernet port which allows them to communicate with the enterprise’s network.
• Determinism is a key requirement in the selection of the language used to program the controllers that interface with multiple devices critical to the execution and safety of manufacturing equipment.
• High-level interpreted languages such as Python and javascript are appealing to quickly develop complex programs.
• such languages cannot offer the assurance that code execution will consistently be ensured with predictable timing. They may be suitable for the development of user interfaces, part of the human-machine interfaces for a manufacturing automation system but should not be used to develop the logic that will orchestrate and/or interface with equipment and automation devices.
• Telemetry is another key requirement for automation controls.
• data originated from devices, processes and systems will ideally be captured and made available to allow for the analysis of such data.
• Benefits of making such data available include the ability to troubleshoot and diagnose as well as to better understand the behavior of equipment and systems to increase efficiency, quality and minimize failures.
• the present invention provides a system to track and handle energy consumption for manufacturing equipment.
• the present invention comprises a energy management system including a graphical user interface that is used via one or more user input devices such as a mouse, a keyboard, a voice input device, a touch input device for receiving a gesture from a user, a motion input device for detecting non-touch gestures and other motions by a user, and the like.
• user input devices such as a mouse, a keyboard, a voice input device, a touch input device for receiving a gesture from a user, a motion input device for detecting non-touch gestures and other motions by a user, and the like.
• Output devices such as a graphical display, speakers, printer, haptic devices, and other types of output devices may also be included in the user interface.
• the user interface is executed by an embedded computer that possesses one or multiple connectors to control and read data from manufacturing components such as motors, sensors, stack lights, furnaces, scanners, and like equipment that are used to manufacture products.
• the graphical user interface is executed on Windows and has been developed for Microsoft Visual Studio, using the C# (C-Sharp) language.
• C# C-Sharp
• the graphical user interface described in the current invention can be adapted to use other languages such as C++, Visual Basic, and the like and can also be modified to work on other operating systems such as Linux.
• the present invention comprises an extension or addition (or set of extensions or additions, sometimes referred to as plugins) to an energy management system or, in some embodiments, may comprise a standalone energy management system, in each case exposing a graphical user interface.
• the present invention orchestrates the actions of a plurality of manufacturing components and can receive information from these components regarding their energy consumption.
• an electric motor used in a factory is typically controlled by a motor drive that receives as input the target rotation speed and direction sometimes referred to as the set point and will send as an output the actual current speed of the motor as well as the electric current used by the physical motor. Accordingly, the energy consumption of the motor can be determined as a factor of the current that it draws.
• the power consumption of each component in a factory, line, subline or shop is known, and the consumption of each individual asset is multiple times, or within a predetermined safety factor, below the total amount of energy available.
• the present invention handles the orchestration of equipment to keep the overall consumption below the desired consumption level.
• the present invention offers the possibility to defer operations in a facility to keep the consumption below the desired level. This can reduce the overall throughput of operations but guarantees that operations will remain running. For instance, furnaces, conveyors, and robots could be all operated at the time to accelerate operation and increase the throughput of a production facility.
• the present invention is configured to coordinate operations of the manufacturing equipment in groups or in sequence to preserve headroom in energy consumption to maintain safety and account for any potential peaks or unusual or unpredictable power spikes or surges.
• the present invention works in closed loop control mode: the power allowed to be drawn by component is controlled either by distributing the power amongst components (grouping or sequencing), by throttling the power used by one or more components (for instance by limiting the current and speed allowed for an electric motor) or by a combination of both throttling and distributing the power.
• a benefit of monitoring and recording the instant energy used by each or a group of manufacturing components in the energy management system is that it generates repetitive patterns of signals that characterize the behavior of the equipment in each context or running mode. This characterization allows for a numerical modeling of the process and equipment and therefore enables identification of the pattern of a correct operation cycle for a given component, combination of components, or the entire manufacturing setting.
• Figure 1 is snippet of a graphical user comprising an information message panel enabled by the present invention.
• Figure 2 is a snippet of a graphical user interface comprising a property panel enabled by the present invention.
• Figure 3 is another snippet of a graphical user interface comprising an energy management module enabled by the present invention.
• Figure 1 depicts the typical components and interfaces of a manufacturing setting shown as visual elements within an energy management system comprising a graphical user interface in accordance with the present invention.
• the user interface (101) comprises an informative message panel (102) that displays messages related to the execution of the process for the manufacturing setting, debugging tools (103) that allow the user to manipulate the components connected to the energy management system and a layout panel (105) which contains multiple components representing physical and logical functions and the components of the manufacturing setting.
• An energy management module (104) is integrated into the layout to enable users to view and determine the different states of energy consumption in the manufacturing setting. Based on settings, the energy management module (104) can control the amount of power consumed by the component interfaced with the controlling computer executing the energy management system.
• Figure 2 depicts an embodiment of the property panel of the energy management system.
• the default property panel for any component (201) in the energy management system is augmented with a property section (202) specific to the component.
• the maximum power available (103) for the manufacturing setting is highlighted and, in this example, is limited to 3200 Watts.
• the energy consumption management preset ‘PreferredPowerMode’ is currently disabled, while other presets (104) are available: Throttle and Orchestrate. Accordingly, the property panel permits the user to access one or more presets which reflect or corresponding to a predetermined energy management protocol to be sent to one or more of the components.
• FIG 3 is a screenshot of an energy management module instantiated in the user interface enabled by the energy management system.
• the manufacturing setting controls a 35-Watt electric motor driving a small conveyor and a stack light.
• the left-hand module (301) shows a monitoring mode which reflects a peak power consumption (303) of 36W and an average power consumption over a cycle (304) of 7.91 Watts.
• the righthand module (302) shows settings of a predetermined limit not to consume more than 20 Watts by limiting the peak power consumption (307) while the average power consumption over a cycle was just over 6 Watts.
• the described energy management system can be implemented within a single processing device but can also be distributed across multiple processing devices or sub-systems that cooperate in executing program instructions.
• processing system include general purpose central processing units, application specific processors, and logic devices, as well as any other type of processing device, combinations of processing devices, or variations thereof.
• Storage system can comprise any storage media readable by processing system, and capable of storing software.
• Storage system can include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.
• Storage system can be implemented as a single storage device but may also be implemented across multiple storage devices or sub-systems.
• Storage system can comprise additional elements, such as a controller, capable of communicating with the system.
• storage media include random access memory, read only memory, magnetic disks, optical disks, flash memory, virtual memory, and nonvirtual memory, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and that may be accessed by an instruction execution system, as well as any combination or variation thereof, or any other type of storage media.
• the storage media can be a non-transitory storage media.
• at least a portion of the storage media may be transitory. In no case is the storage media a propagated signal.

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• 2021
  • 2021-11-11 WO PCT/US2021/058903 patent/WO2022103920A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2021-11-11 EP EP21892782.0A patent/EP4244542A4/en active Pending
  • 2021-11-11 JP JP2023528642A patent/JP2024502396A/ja active Pending
  • 2021-11-11 KR KR1020237019634A patent/KR20230107310A/ko unknown

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