Extensible Energy Management Architecture for Industrial Automation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional energy management systems for industrial automation are inflexible and inefficient, unable to seamlessly expand or adapt as more devices are added to the system, leading to duplicated infrastructure and suboptimal energy management.
Innovation Solution
An extensible energy management system utilizing energy agents embedded within microprocessors or controllers, which are self-aware and capable of monitoring, controlling, and communicating with each other to manage energy efficiently, track energy properties, and adjust operations dynamically to meet energy objectives.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional energy management systems are added separately to existing automation infrastructure, then energy management operations can be provided, but infrastructure duplication occurs and system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines energy management functionality with existing automation control systems by integrating energy management agents into the distributed control architecture. Instead of adding a separate parallel system, energy management capabilities are merged into the existing controller network, allowing both automation control and energy management to coexist within the same infrastructure without duplication.
Solution Approach 2:
The automation control system is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously - both traditional automation control and energy management. The distributed controllers and communication networks serve dual purposes, managing process control while also monitoring and optimizing energy consumption across the industrial system.
2Reliability
If conventional energy management systems are used, then basic energy management is achieved, but the system cannot efficiently expand as more devices are added
Solution Approach 1:
The energy management system is divided into independent, modular agents distributed across various devices and controllers in the industrial automation system. Each device or controller runs its own energy management agent that can independently monitor, control, and report energy consumption. This segmented architecture allows new devices to be easily added to the system without requiring centralized system reconfiguration, as each agent operates autonomously while communicating through the existing network.
3Reliability
If energy management systems duplicate existing infrastructure, then energy management can be implemented, but loss of energy increases due to redundant operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges energy management operations with existing automation control operations, allowing both functions to share the same communication networks, processors, and data infrastructure. This eliminates redundant infrastructure and reduces energy consumption by avoiding duplicate system operations while maintaining full energy management capability.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
An energy management system may include a plurality of industrial automation devices and a first energy agent embedded within an industrial automation device of the plurality of industrial automation devices. The first energy agent may monitor one or more energy properties that correspond to the industrial automation device. Also, the first energy agent may adjust one or more operations of the industrial automation device based at least in part on the energy properties and an energy objective.