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Study shows that Profienergy could cut energy use by at least 50%

18 April, 2011

A study by German researchers is said to have confirmed that the ProfiEnergy system can cut energy use in factories by up 50% or more during times when plant is idle.

The researchers – from the Institute for Automation & Industrial IT at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences – studied production lines at Daimler’s Sindelfingen factory and Volkswagen’s commercial vehicles factory in Hanover. Among other things, they analysed load curves and the distribution of the plant and its components.

In addition, they analysed the influence of operating modes on energy consumption, and the frequency and duration of pauses – including both planned and unplanned pauses and idle times. With up to 15 measuring points, they were able to record typical load curves in the plant from the main incoming supply to individual electricity consumers.

The results indicate that in some production areas, the potential savings from implementing ProfiEnergy could be more than 50%. During the analysis it became clear that unplanned pauses – which accounted for about 60% of all stoppages – can also be exploited, because even pauses of three to five minutes are significant when using ProfiEnergy, and could represent appreciable potential savings. 

Before this study, only limited data was available on the relationship between energy consumption and operating modes, especially with regard to idle times.

ProfiEnergy is a Profinet profile that allows the power consumption of automation equipment to be managed via a Profinet network. It is intended to save energy by reducing energy use during planned and unplanned breaks in production. ProfiEnergy pilot applications are currently being tested at several user sites.




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