Factory automation was developed to control machines and processes, improve quality and productivity, and to reduce the need for human intervention. Increasingly it is used for managing energy costs.

By fully integrating energy management with other enterprise systems processes can be streamlined and potential savings realised whilst product quality, production reliability and overall productivity are enhanced.

Uses existing infrastructure

Whether PLC or PC based, automation has been very effective in reducing costs, and is increasingly used to help business win further savings through energy management.  One of the big advantages, is that uses the existing infrastructure of hardware and networks to integrate energy saving within the control and reporting. Little of no new capital investment is needed.

To further simplify the process, Mitsubishi Electric introduced its Energy Control Pack (ECP), which collects live data from all points of energy consumption for analysis by multiple levels of management systems. The current third generation ECP is based on Mitsubishi’s Manufacturing Enterprise System-Information Technology (MES-IT) e-F@ctory concept that has already proved itself in many industrial environments.

Its key features are the ability to limit power consumption overtime and the ability to be aware of and manage power peaks to minimise cost The latter make ECP particularly appropriate for organisations with irregular power consumption patterns. It uses proven control modules, to provide an out of the box solution that can be selected, configured and scaled to suit any given application, new or existing.

80% pre-optimised

It bundles together hardware, software and documentation for out-of-the-box Energy Management. At initial start-up, it is likely to be 80 % optimised for the host application; this can easily be enhanced to a 100 % fit during the straightforward commissioning process. Typically, the ECP will be connected to further energy systems such as air, gas, oil, water, space heating or air conditioning.

ECP is optimised for easy integration into new or existing applications and will support it throughout the operating life of the plant. It does not require complex programming; instead parameters are simply set via am HMI. A series of screens are called up on the terminal to set load type. tariff schedule and other parameters.

Once operating, the terminal displays current data as it is collected. This is protected to different levels of security for shop floor operation, technical management and enterprise decisions,

Open the Energy Control Pack brochure from 999 Mitsubishi