Energy Saving Implementation in Hydraulic Press Using Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

With the growing cost of electrical energy, the necessity of energy-saving implementation in industries based on energy audits has become a major focus area. Energy audit results indicate energy-saving potential in an application and require the physical presence of the auditor’s team for monitoring and analyzing the energy consumption data. The use of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for remote data monitoring and analysis is growing and new industrial applications based on IIoT are being developed and used by various industrial sectors. Possibilities of a mixed method of physical and remote energy audit using IIoT in industrial applications and its advantages as proposed in this research work needs to be explored. Existing hydraulic press machines running with direct online starter (DOL) can be run with variable speed drive (VSD) for energy saving but this requires an extensive energy audit. Key electrical and operational parameters of the hydraulic pump motor were monitored and analyzed remotely using IIoT in this research work by operating the hydraulic press with DOL and VSD motor control methods one by one. The input power factor of the hydraulic pump motor showed an improvement from 0.79 in DOL control to 0.9 in VSD control at different motor loads. The hydraulic pump motor starting current showed a reduction of 84% with VSD control. The hydraulic pump motor’s continuous current was reduced by 40% and 65% during the loading and unloading cycle, respectively, with VSD control. Electrical consumption was reduced by 24% as a result of operating the hydraulic pump motor at 35 Hz with VSD control without impacting the performance of the hydraulic press. These results indicated more efficient control by changing to VSD control in comparison with DOL control. A combination of physical and remote energy audits as performed in this research work using the proposed IIoT framework can be utilized for implementing energy saving in hydraulic presses thus motivating industries to adopt available more energy-efficient technologies at a faster pace.