Posted to News on 8th Apr 2009, 11:39
Profinet to support energy-efficient production
PI (Profibus and Profinet International) is currently tackling the issue of energy management. This was initiated by a request of the AIDA (Automation Initiative of German Automobile Manufacturers). Companies active in the AIDA use Profinet in their systems. They have tasked PI with providing functions and mechanisms for Profinet that support energy-efficient production.
The high cost of energy and compliance with legal obligations are forcing industry to deal with the issue of saving energy. For this reason, manufacturing companies have been taking stronger measures to reduce energy consumption for several years. This issue is of particular interest because other company goals, such as resource preservation and reduction of production times, can be achieved by introducing certain energy efficiency measures. Different equipment manufacturers already provide local energy saving options as well.
To implement an integrated open and user-appropriate system, PI decided to define and standardise a manufacturer-independent energy saving profile based on Profinet. A special working group was formed and is already making good progress. The use cases and requirements from the users' perspective have already been defined; they form the basis for the specification work that started in February 2009.
The system stipulates the definition of different energy saving modes for the devices. Using the energy saving profile, the energy saving modes of the devices can be addressed uniformly and easily by a controller and their responses can be evaluated. This allows a system controller to optimise energy consumption during production and breaks.
